Hunting and Fishing Experiences in Wānaka: Connect to the Land

Glen Dene Hunting & Fishing operates with conservation, community support, and food resilience at its core. Their guided hunts are built around the principles of sustainable harvesting, regenerative tourism, and respect for natural resources, with every conversation on the hill reinforcing their role as guardians of the land. They also offer guided fishing tours, with options for fly fishing, drift fishing, lake and heli fishing.

This family business is actively involved with Wai Wānaka, Upper Clutha Deer Stalkers and Hunters for Hope, holding several major environmental awards that recognise their leadership in this area. Each season, they supply around 300 meals to the Wānaka Food Bank, supported by the Upper Clutha Deer Stalkers group; they provide venison to staff; and they donate significant quantities of venison to local community groups. Last year, Glen Dene donated over $200k to conservation and charity groups worldwide, while their clients donated over $30k to the Hunters for Conservation Trust during the 2024-25 season.

Catch a Fish Wānaka operates as a fully sustainable, eco-friendly fishing charter provider, using electric trolling motors, offsetting carbon emissions, and contributing a portion of every booking to environmental initiatives through Love Wānaka and Love Queenstown. They encourage responsible fishing methods and promote catch-and-release practices where appropriate, while also giving guests the opportunity to harvest fish as a way of supporting lake-to-plate food sustainability.

The crew also feeds monitoring data into local conservation programmes, helping support long-term protection of Wānaka’s waterways. Think fishing with purpose: low-impact, authentically local, and with respect for the generations to come.

Recognised internationally for its pioneering climate-positive, regenerative farming practices, Lake Hāwea Station is a free-range hunter’s paradise. Home to red deer, chamois, tahr, fallow deer and pigs, their private high-country hunting experiences promote biodiversity and ethical harvesting, provided through a thoughtful environmental management plan. The station is also actively working towards restoring native habitat, fencing waterways, and investing in predator control to support native birdlife.

Red deer and other game animals are carefully managed as part of their wider ecological balance strategy, with hunting a tool for both food resilience and land regeneration. With each excursion, guests are invited along on the conservation journey, learning about the systems in place to help manage hunting and fishing sustainably.

Accessible only by helicopter, Minaret Station offers unique guided hunting and backcountry fishing experiences that combine luxury with land stewardship. Here, a temperate climate and the absence of natural predators offer trophy opportunities as well as an important and essential conservation benefit. Meanwhile, backcountry fishing trips take visitors deep into remote river systems and alpine lakes to cast for wild brown and rainbow trout in pristine waters, reinforcing the connection between place, harvest, and guardianship of the land.

The station invests significantly in predator control and habitat restoration to protect native species and support long-term ecological resilience across its alpine terrain. Here, hunting and fishing are positioned as opportunities to participate in conservation, not to take from it.

• Wānaka Fishing Charters offer guided lake fishing experiences, with an emphasis on responsible catch limits and respect for seasonal conditions.
• Adventure Wānaka is a Tiaki Promise operator offering guided fishing and nature-based experiences with education around lake health and environmental responsibility.
• Silverpine Lodge is a classic fly fishing and trophy hunting retreat lodge, providing access to high-country nature activities with a focus on land stewardship.
• Southern River Fly Fishing offers conservation-led guiding on rivers and alpine streams, promoting catch-and-release and ecosystem awareness.
• Hook is a lake-to-plate salmon fishing experience right in Wānaka, where visitors can catch their own salmon and enjoy it cooked fresh in-house.
• Telford Hunting and Fishing are a premier guiding service offering fair chase hunting, bow hunting, and fly fishing experiences that respect land, wildlife and visitor education.

Engaging in outdoor pursuits here is all about balance. Hunters and fishers play a vital role in maintaining ecosystem health through animal population control, predator management, and the harvesting of introduced species that would otherwise put pressure on native environments. When practised responsibly, hunting and fishing in Wānaka supports biodiversity, local food systems, and the ongoing work of conservation groups safeguarding these places for future generations. If you’re new to the region or to the practice of hunting and fishing responsibly, get in touch with an operator above for an educational experience that will give you the knowledge you need to hunt or fish sustainably.

Being able to engage in mahika kai (food gathering) is a privilege that also comes with an important responsibility: to care for our land in return, to give back through conservation and restoration efforts, and ensure we can continue to harvest the land for generations to come. Wānaka is home to numerous conservation groups doing just that, including Predator Free Wānaka, Wāi Wānaka, Southern Lakes Sanctuary, and the Upper Clutha Tracks Trust, who work to restore riverbanks, protect native birds, and improve water quality. Visitors are encouraged to contribute by joining volunteer days, reporting sightings, or donating to local environmental funds such as Love Wānaka.