NZ Red Stag hunting

As we wrestle the antlers of a mighty trophy stag out of the bracken fern an international trophy hunter who once lived in New Zealand says. "Chris this is just like it was over forty years ago." You know then you have got one hell of a red deer area.

Like taking a step back in time

To hunt our red deer area is like taking a step back into New Zealand's past. Before the deer herds exploded and trophy quality was lost, and long before the venison industry sprang up and shot the great public land herds to just a memory of what they once were. This is New Zealand hunting at its finest, free-ranging red deer, roaming, rutting and fighting for dominance in the majestic Southern Alps.

 A free-range red stag hunt with Lake Hawea Hunting Safaris is a hunt of a lifetime, New Zealand hunting at its absolute best, red deer hunting the way it used to be 70-80 years ago!

Options: Private land or game estate

Private land free-range trophies: Trophies range from 10-16 points, 35-40 inches in length, a typical trophy is a symmetrical royal stag, 12 points, 36 inches in length.

Estate trophies: Estate trophies start from SCI silver medal 280-340, 14-20 points, 36-42 inches in length. Gold medal and gold medal plus stags available, right up to 500+ SCI

 

The best time to hunt red stag is the rut or roar. At this time the stags are extremely vocal and exremely busy challenging other stags and keeping hold of their hinds. In New Zealand the roar begins around the middle of March and continues until the last week in April. Stags are in hard antler from mid February until the end of August and can be hunted any time between these dates.

Red deer are the animal that first attracted overseas trophy hunters to New Zealand, as early as the 1920's. Red deer were introduced to New Zealand in the 1870's and in particular two famous South Island herds became established. The Otago herd and the Rakia herd. We have access to two famous properties to hunt these two unique herds, the Otago stags generally carry many points with back tines facing back in toward each other to produce a really nice shaped head. The Rakia stags are typically heavy and longer in antler but carry fewer points, so we have two different properties for the different styles of trophies. The Otago property was part of the original station where the Otago herd was liberated and the Rakia property is the actual liberation point of the Rakia herd, two very speical properties to take free-range trophies.

With our estate hunts we have access to stags as big in trophy size as any other New Zealand outiftter. We understand that a big red stag is the number one priority for most overseas trophy hunters who visit New Zealand, we can provide a hunt in breathtaking scenery and a trophy as big as you've dreamed of.

 

 

SpiderWeb Design