Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Australia NZ red stag for a newb

I’m A newb to wanting to go hunt international.
Africa just doesn’t call out to me. Mountains, lakes, rivers and elk is my addiction.
I’ve seen some monster red stags and some big bulls from New Zealand . Would love to scratch that off of My bucket list and get me a solid wall Hanger. As well as do little fishing and sight seeing of those incredible mountains.
Seasons? Public land or private/ranches?
Bring your own rifle or borrow/rent?
Flight, hunt, shipping of horns ...approximately $?
Thanks in advance
Andrej

NZ has some of the best Red deer in the world. They also have Wapitit in Fiordland, but you will need to be very prepared and the trophies are better in Idaho. Moose were also released in Fiordland, but they have never been a viable herd and may well be locally extinct.

The Red roar is late March early April. Plenty of public land hunting in NZ, but also plenty of guides hunting private land (supplements traditional farming income). The Department of Conservation are the best place to check, but be warned NZ uses more poison on wild animals than any other country in the world. I'm reading reports from hunters who go out for a week during the roar in a known area and see nothing because the DoC choppers have been through with poison baits.

To my mind there are some great classic heads coming from NZ, there are also some very grotesque heads coming from there too. This latter group are down to breeding for the antler trade (velvet farming) and some limited hybridisation with Wapiti to increase body size for the meat trade. Deer farming is business in NZ.

With the recent gun law changes in NZ it would be a smart idea to check out the laws for your rifle before assuming it will be easy. If you have the money to go with an outfitter start asking them questions and get a feel for the service they offer.

You might also take a look at Argentina

Thanks.
I’ll concentrate on the red stag as we don’t have those here. I think I’d want one of those non typical monsters.
As for Argentina,I’ll have to look that up.

I have hunted New Zealand only once, so take this with a grain of salt, but if you want a truly monster red stag, you're going to need to do a ranch hunt. I've got nothing against that, did it myself, but do feel you should be aware of it. Some of the ranches are huge and they're absolutely fair chase, but they're not truly free range. Those monster, freak stags are generally bred for their genetics and brought to the ranches. They may be on the ranch for months, if not years, and some may have been born there, but I think you'd be hard pressed to find one of the gigantic stag that New Zealand is known for that is truly wild.

There may be some outfitters that specialize in huge free range stags, but I suspect they'd be far and few between. All the free range stags I have hunted (in New Zealand, Argentina and Europe) look like normal, mature 6x6s, not the freaky behemoths.

I am not trying to dissuade you, just wanting you to know what you're getting into. I wouldn't have my freak NZ stag on the wall if I didn't feel good about how I hunted it.

Lots of deer on public land but you would be extremely lucky to get a wall hanger. No seasons.

Good answers from T_Inman and brianmac. Red roar (rut) is normally late March to early May. Fallow deer mid April - mid May. Thar and Chamois May / June, but are hunted all year round. If you come down you have to hunt Chamois and Thar, NZ is the only place in the world that you can do that without spending a fortune. Many guides in the South Island will have access to reds, thar and chamois.

The new gun laws in NZ have banned all semi-auto centrefires, rinfire magazines greater than 10 rounds, and semi-auto shotguns with a mag capacity greater than five rounds. Bolt actions no problem.

Me too. I've talked to a guide and some of his references. Really not more expensive than a Elk hunt out West, except for getting there.