Newsletter March 2026

Today, we’re launching a free online knowledge hub packed with resources for game bird hunters at every experience level.

Whether you're heading out for your first season or your fiftieth, the hub has you covered, with downloadable guides on everything from equipment selection and game bird identification to maimai construction, calling techniques, decoy strategies, and getting the most out of your harvest at the dinner table.

The resources can be downloaded and taken into the field, or read whenever you like on your phone, wherever you are.

The knowledge hub is a living resource, and we're keen to hear from game bird hunters about what else would be useful. Visit fishandgame.org.nz to explore the hub and share your feedback with media@fishandgame.org.nz

 

Fish & Game magazine hits record readership

The game bird issue of Fish & Game NZ magazine is hitting letterboxes this week, and the numbers behind it are something to celebrate. An independent Roy Morgan survey ranked us third among New Zealand's most widely read magazines, with a print readership of 130,000 per issue in the year to December 2025. That's an increase of 24,000 readers, or 22.6 per cent, and the largest readership jump of any major magazine in the country. Across print and digital, our total audience has grown to 208,000.

If you receive the print edition, your copy should arrive this week. It's also available online at fishandgame.org.nz.

 

Our Manifesto 2026: what we're asking of politicians

This is an election year, and Fish & Game has released our Manifesto 2026, calling on every political party to make firm commitments to anglers, hunters and the freshwater environments they depend on.

Our 175,000 licence holders are everyday New Zealanders from all walks of life and every corner of the country, equivalent to the population of Hamilton. Fishing alone contributes around $138 million annually to regional economies. These are people and places that deserve to be taken seriously at the ballot box.

The manifesto sets out five priorities: explicit recognition of fishing, hunting, sports fish and game birds in legislation; improved access to rivers, lakes and wetlands; stronger freshwater protections; better protection for wetlands; and maintaining a strong and effective Fish & Game.

Read the manifesto at fishandgame.org.nz and share it with anyone who cares about the future of fishing and hunting in New Zealand.

 

Stamp your mark on Fish & Game

Our Game Bird Habitat Stamp Photo Competition is underway, ending April 30, this is your chance to showcase New Zealand's game birds in their natural habitat.

The winning image will feature on the 2027 Game Bird Habitat Stamp and the Fish & Game Hunting Licence

Win $1,000 cash + $1,000 Kilwell Sports voucher

Perfect timing for pre-season scouting! Capture stunning shots while preparing your maimai and looking for hunting spots.

Eligible species include waterfowl like paradise shelduck, mallard, pukeko, and upland game such as pheasant and quail.

Help support wetland conservation across Aotearoa - the Habitat Stamp programme has already invested $2.6 million direct funding in wetland protection, restoration and creation!

Full details and entry form at: www.fishandgame.org.nz

 

Get your copy of the 2026 swan stamp

As a licence holder you can ask to have the special collector’s stamp featuring Steve Angus' image sent to you for free by simply filling in this form.

If you are not a licence holder but still collect our Game Bird Habitat stamps? Buy it here.

Proceeds go to the Game Bird Habitat Trust’s work retaining, protecting and creating wetlands so the species we manage have somewhere to live.

(Note from this year NZ Post has discontinued First Day Covers, Miniature Sheet First Day Covers, Limited Edition Artist Prints but continued with the stamp and miniature sheet.)