Conference this year has been and gone and unfortunately I was unable to attend, but the Branch was again well represented by our delegate Keith Matthews and also in the running of the AHT competitions with our resident national judges and manager. From all accounts conference ran smoothly and actually finished ahead of schedule, which is something that does not happen very often. The branch's entries into the AHT, photographic and literary sections did extremely well, so will have more on the results later.

Spent an enjoyable day recently helping install bait stations with the operators doing the poisoning operations in the Te Tapui reserve, so all thanks to Bill and Luke for letting me tag along. I intend to hopefully spend another couple of days in the reserves helping them do their work. With all the noise we were making I did actually get to see a doe standing 20 metres away and also heard a number of deer walking about. I am very disappointed, that at this stage, that besides myself, only one other person has actually made an effort to go along and help. They are very keen to get some help with pre feeding, installing bait stations etc and by offering our help will portray our willingness in managing and ensuring the survival of the fallow herd in the reserves. The information with regard to what you need to do to volunteer has been made available in flyers, at social nights, the news letter and via e-mail, so there is no excuse that you have not been informed.

Next month applications will become available for applying for grants from the WEL energy Trust, so the branch is seriously considering apply for a grant to purchase five PLB's (Personal Locator Beacons) to be made available to branch members and also for use during our HUNTS course.

The weather is starting to improve and the days are getting longer so now is a good time to start planning spring hunting trips, in fact any time of the year is a good time to plan hunting trips, so lets all get out there and do what we all love - HUNTING.

Hot Barrel and Tight Lines.

Regards
John