Where it began
At 100% Grunt Aotearoa, outdoor adventures are a way of life. My childhood memories are filled with riding horses in the Whakatere ranges, hunting with my Dad and uncle. Weekends were spent fishing for eels, trapping possums, or working on the farm without any internet or phones. Pighunting was a major event in Waima. Watching family and their dogs chase pigs through the hills inspired my love for the outdoors. Rugby played a big role in my younger years, thanks to my dad's passion for the game. But as I got older, hunting captured my heart. My excitement soared when my cousins took me pighunting for a hangi to celebrate my 21st birthday. It was then I realised this was better than any rugby game. Working at Affco Moerewa, my brother and I saved up to buy a Hilux, and we got ourselves a dog to kickstart our hunting adventures.
We got to join our older cousins and siblings who helped us start our hunting journey. We participated in pig hunting contests around Northland, meeting many hunters and forming lifelong friendships. We shared hunting stories and enjoyed plenty of fun and camaraderie, fostering connections through a shared passion for the outdoors.
100% Grunt Hokianga
As our group expanded, we began filming our hunting trips. My brother used a Sony Handycam with a flip-out screen, considered state-of-the-art in the 90s. It took tape cassettes, and watching replays of our hunts was thrilling. We loved sharing footage of the dogs capturing big boars with our friends.
We figured that pighunting as a sport was becoming popular and people really liked see what we got up to. It was decided we were gonna make a DVD to sell and this is where 100% Grunt Hokianga was born (later to become 100% Grunt Aotearoa) from 3 friends sitting having a beer and coming up with the name.
I decided to do a Diploma in Multimedia Production to learn how to use all the software required for production from design, editing, website building, advertising and eventually produced my first DVD selling copies and giving them away at the pighunting comps. A lot of credit goes to whanau and friends who gave me permission to incorporate there footage with mine to create a Hokianga feel to the DVD and one day I will put it online for everyone to see.
Changing Times- You Tube
The DVD era eventually gave way to a new source of visual entertainment Youtube and the internet, changing the way the world will see us at the click of a button.
We had to adapt with this new era and accept that people wont need to pay to see our footage so we changed our mindset and focused on sharing our little part of the country to the world,showing everyone how awesome we have it here in Aotearoa.
Its been cool to see how long we have come watching technology always changing and our films going from 4:3 ratio back in the days to 16:9 HD Widescreen, all the younger generation watching our old films and getting viewer from all over the world.
My Jouney continues
My journey in the hunting world eventually brought me to the South Island and experiencing different versions and thrills. Pighunting has always been my passion but now i have been getting into hunting deer which has been an exciting challenge. I have managed to shoot a few deer but this year I aim to get the kids more involved in the sport getitng them out as much as possible. We will see how we go when the rugby season starts for them :)
