Managing New Zealand's deer, chamois, tahr and wild pig populations by including hunters in policy decision making, will better fund and protect the country's natural environment, according to the Fiordland Wapiti Foundation (FWF).

The FWF is a hunter group that has been internationally recognised for its pioneering work managing and marketing a Wapiti deer herd within 175,000 hectares of the Fiordland National Park's 5.5 million hectares.

It also funds and runs an active conservation programme that includes pedator trap lines, whio habitat protection and the culling of around 1000 deer from the park annually.

A Wapiti bull within Fiordland National Park's FWF managed area. Photo: Fiordland Wapiti Foundation

FWF General manager Roy Sloan said New Zealand's current blanket approach to large game animals was failing.

"We've tried in New Zealand for hundreds of years to reduce and eliminate deer and it just doesn't work."

"One moment the deer are low, next thing they're putting huge pressure on their environment and native species certainly don't benefit from that at all."

"But in a managed environment where we manage deer and keep them at an acceptable level, most of the time, our native specialists do very well."

"New Zealand's always had browsers, and once upon a time those browsers were Moa [up to] the size of deer. So our forests are basically designed to take browsers."

"[However FWF] understand that to have deer in New Zealand, we've got to base it around good conservation outcomes and that's how we do it in the Wapiti area."

"So number one is about looking after conservation. Number two is that we're providing a resource for hunters to hunt as well, and then resources are going back into conservation, so it's kind of a win win for everybody."

Sloan said the White Tail deer in Stewart Island and Whakatipu could benefit from being managed as 'Herds of Special Interest', a designation made by the Minister of Conservation and the Game Animal Council.

There are currently no Herds of Special Interest in New Zealand, with the Fiordland Wapiti and the Central North Island sika being the closest examples of what they could look like.

"People seem to be scared of a Herd of Special Interest popping up," Sloan said.

"But once we have a Herd of Special Interest, there's more science in more eyes and more data around managing that herd, than any other herd we've had in New Zealand, so all of a sudden the measurement systems around those herds is very transparent."

"Once it's transparent, you've got to manage them properly, you got to ensure your outcomes are correct," Sloan said.

Sloan acknowledged hunter access played a big part in managing numbers and that there were certain areas in New Zealand that deer should not be.

Sloan said that while the poison 1080 had a place, "we need new tools, [but] we're got bugger all in the toolbox."