Hunting comp honours Sir Howard

Howie Morrison's hunting and fishing competition in honour of his father, Sir Howard Morrison, gets underway tonight.

Whenever Sir Howard Morrison wasn't off singing around the world, he'd be out hunting and fishing with his family.

So he'd be pretty chuffed to know a competition in his honour, which gets under way tonight, is still going strong.

The competitors will gather at the Lakehouse Tavern in Rotorua for the briefing for the Sir Howard Morrison Super 4 Club Competition.

Twenty teams of about 20 competitors will spend until Sunday trying to catch the biggest wild boar, red stag, rainbow trout and sea species to claim the top prize of a trophy and $5000 cash.

The teams this year are from Rotorua, Reporoa, Otorohanga, Tihoi, Kaituna, Hawke's Bay, Te Teko, Turangi and Tokoroa.

Second place overall will get $2000, third $1000 and fourth $500 and there are top prizes valued at thousands of dollars for each category from first to eighth.

The purpose of the briefing is to announce the mystery sea fish species and to go over the safety and rules of the event.

Organising committee member Shay Dender said safety was paramount to the competition and the teams would be reminded about gun safety and being safe.

Mr Dender said the competition first graced the hunting calendar in 2009 and had been a great success at every event.

Originally the winning region was to be the host the following year, but Rotorua had proven the best hosts so it was decided to keep the competition local.

Howie Morrison Junior said he started the competition to honour his father, Sir Howard.

"We'd be out [hunting] nearly every day when he was not overseas singing. Him and our uncle Terry Tapsell."

Mr Morrison said he saw the opportunity to bring together a community of keen hunters and fishermen from all walks of life to share in a common interest, like he did with his father.

The competition finishes on Sunday with a final weigh in at 2pm at Waikite Rugby and Sports Club, Koutu.

This year the competition will be filmed to air on Choice TV later in the year on Hunting Aotearoa. A film crew will accompany the Waikite Pig Hunters Club into the bush and on the lake and film them in the quest to win the big prizes.

The public are welcome to attend the prizegiving and weigh in. The prizegiving starts at 5pm. There will be a $10 hangi, sausage sizzle and bar.