About Lake Hawea Hunting Safaris

Lake Hawea Hunting Safaris is a family business specializing in guiding international hunters in the mountainous regions of Otago and South Westland.

We are very proud of our high repeat hunter rate, with over 50% of our clientele made up of repeat hunters each season. Single species hunts are available and combination hunts are what we do best, we have a wide range of species to hunt and so much country to explore. Our wilderness concession allows us to hunt most of the South Island and we have access to six private land properties totalling over 250,000 acres of free range private land hunting.

We have a variety of hunting options available from extreme tent based wilderness hunts to Lodge based private estate hunts. Choose from one of our hunting packages or let us build a New Zealand Hunting package that is right for you.

Bronwyn and I live at Lake Hawea, South Island, New Zealand with our twin girls Emily and Lilly and their little sisters Gretchen and Lucy (yes that’s right four girls!) Hidden away and nestled beneath the towering bluff systems and peak of Mt Grand we have our own little piece of paradise.

History

The McCarthy’s have been in the Lake Hawea region since the Otago gold rush of the 1860’s, they settled at Hawea Flat and began construction on a stone homestead on their sheep and cattle farm in 1892 which is still standing proud today. Five generations later we still have the family farm and the old stone homestead.

Flights and Location

All our hunts are run ex Queenstown airport on New Zealand’s South Island. Lake Hawea Hunting Safaris is situated 1 hr 15 mins drive from Queenstown airport. Direct flights into Queenstown from Australia’s main centres are possible, especially in NZ’s ski season, (late June to September).

There are direct flights from Los Angles, San Francisco and Vancouver into Auckland (North Island); you will then need a short connecting flight to Queenstown. Christchurch is the biggest city on the South Island, you may also wish to check flights into Christchurch and connect to Queenstown from there.

THE HUNTING SEASON

Our season runs to a schedule of set dates, we begin in Late February and finish in early July, as we have no regulated season in New Zealand we target certain free-range species are they rut. As part of a combo hunt you will at least experience hunting one species as they rut, the highly desirable period of mid April to early May see’s red deer, fallow deer, tahr & chamois all rutting at the same time.

Lake Hawea Hunting Safaris. Quality trophies, quality experiences.