Hunters should stay away from Te Urewera National Park until the board which oversees it has finished reviewing its permit process, board chair Tamati Kruger says.
A $170 million settlement, which passed legislation in July, means Te Urewera National Park is now a new legal entity governed by a board of Tuhoe and Crown appointees.
No new permits will be approved and hunting has been suspended while the board considers changes to how permits are issued.
Mr Kruger said the new process would consider safety measures such as improved monitoring of hunters' locations.
"The fact that you have over 1000 hunting licences already been issued, we don't know where all of these people happen to be at, so there's a health and safety issue."
The validity of the current Department of Conservation-issued permits was still being discussed and the review should be completed in a couple of months, he said.
Iwi spokesperson for the Deerstalkers' Association Alec McIver said hunters need to be patient while the matter is sorted out.
"At the moment there's just no hunting for anyone including Tuhoe people until the legal permit system is up and running."
Mr McIver said the new system will be better managed in terms of tracking hunters and monitoring game populations.
