Skip to main content

Kōrero: Deer and deer farming

Live capture by net gun

Image
Live capture by net gun

A New Zealand invention, the net gun was initially hand-held and later helicopter-mounted. Aiming the gun required excellent flying skills and sometimes dangerous manoeuvres, especially as deer numbers fell and the animals were more difficult to get close to. Net guns – unlike dart guns – avoided the need for drug licences, although the deer were often sedated after capture while being transported back to base.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Canterbury University Press

Reference: David Yerex, Deer: the New Zealand story. Christchurch: Canterbury University Press, 2001, p. 93

This item has been provided for private study purposes (such as school projects, family and local history research) and any published reproduction (print or electronic) may infringe copyright law. It is the responsibility of the user of any material to obtain clearance from the copyright holder.

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Ken Drew, Deer and deer farming – From deer stalking to helicopters, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/photograph/15804/live-capture-by-net-gun (accessed 4 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Ken Drew, i tāngia i te 1 March 2009.

Comments

Bronwyn Smith
21 February 2011
Murray Ernest Jones, of Takaka, New Zealand, was the inventor and developer of the first net gun. An Engineer by trade, Murray had a share in a helicopter with a few friends. They spent many hours after deer in the high country. One such trip ending in the Bell helicopter crashing into a gully. He had an idea for a better way to capture deer out of the helicopter and he set about developing a working prototype. An idea developed by a small-town Kiwi has gone on to become a worldclass product. A trusting man, Murray showed his friends and demonstrated the new invention. It was then that one of these friends had the idea patented without Murray's knowledge and without any credit to Murray.