mdwest
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Just made it home last night after spending 9 days in New Zealand.. Exhausted (the flights we chose sucked.. but that's entirely on me...there are much better routes.. I was just a cheap ass and went with the lowest fare vs considering length of time sitting on layovers and which airlines are better than others)..
We (myself, wife, and one of my daughters) spent the first four days touring around (if anyone wants to know about seeing the South Island, I'd be happy to communicate what we saw and experienced while we drove all over the place and did our best to see all of the common tourist spots, etc... Its a wonderful place full of beautiful scenery, great food, and great people.. definitely somewhere we'll come back and visit again!).. We then planned on spending 4 days hunting with Jim Gibson @NEW ZEALAND SAFARIS , and then intended on spending one last day in Christchurch before going home...
Bottom line up front, Jim runs an exceptional operation. Literally everything is top shelf. The accommodations/lodge are super comfortable, clean, and well maintained. The cook/chef Anna prepares absolutely delicious meals, the terrain where we hunted was not only some of the most beautiful property Ive seen anywhere on the planet, the animals we saw were beyond anything we ever expected. Truly exceptional. To top is all off, I found Jim to be a highly skilled hunter and guide, and a genuine professional. (if pictures and story telling don't interest you, you can stop here... the summary of the hunt is there was little to nothing that could have been improved upon. We had an incredible time, and came away not only with an overall outstanding experience, but also with a couple of trophies that FAR exceeded all expectations).
On the first day of our planned hunt, we met Jim at the lodge just before sun up. We dropped off our bags, got our daughter settled in (shes not a hunter), and immediately took off with Jim. After a short drive we found ourselves in an absolutely incredible valley with steep mountains on each side and a fairly substantial run off catchment at the base. Tahr was the primary target for the day. One of the things that makes Jims operation a bit different than most in New Zealand is that everything he does is on private land (estate), but he maintains exclusive hunting rights to the properties he hunts on.. so the chances of seeing another hunter, or being limited in terms of where on a property you can go, what you can do, etc is nil)... This particular property was a huge valley nestled in between very tall/steep mountains on each side, with NO FENCES to be seen anywhere (so while a private property, the animals on this property are completely and totally free ranging)..
A couple of key things to note.. Late April is a very good time to hunt in New Zealand (In my opinion), but is a bit of a odd time.. the Red Stag are at the very end of their rut and are largely hiding out just trying to recoup and regain some energy.. the tahr haven't begun their rut yet, so while they've started putting on their winter coats, the bulls are still very solitary, staying at very high elevation, and pretty hard to find, the fallow are croaking like mad and running around insanely, right in the middle of their rut etc..
The other thing to consider is this is a pretty rainy time of the year.. When we landed in Christchurch we found rain in the forecast for 7 of the next 9 days... thankfully it appears that weathermen in New Zealand are just as unreliable as weathermen in the US, and we ended up with some very nice weather most of the days of our trip...
Unfortunately, this wasn't going to be one of those nice weather days.. in fact, it was absolutely the worst weather day of our entire trip.. by the time we got to the valley rain was coming in fairly hard.. by 10AM heavy cloud had started settling into the valley and the rain picked up even further.. We glassed the side of the mountains continuously, but the further we got into the day, the worse the weather got.. By 1130 we realized this just wasn't a day to be out hunting.. Mother Nature was not on our side.. we couldn't see more than a few hundred yards to our front, and the clouds were literally laying on the valley floor by then, completely preventing us from being able to see up the mountains into tahr country.. so we decided to return to the lodge, take a bit of shelter, get dry, and see if there was any chance of the weather improving..
It rained (and rained, and rained, and rained), until about 5AM the next morning... Not knowing that evening what tomorrow would bring, we decided that if things really cleared up, we'd return to the same place and go for tahr again, but if we thought there was any chance of continued bad weather, we'd take a longer drive to the opposite side of the same valley but on the other side of a major lake (Lake Tekapo), to a place where Jim knew there were some really great fallow, some great red stag, and a handful of elk..
The next morning the forecast was iffy.. Since we didn't know how well the weather would hold up, we decided that morning to head to a different property than we had been on the day prior.. there was a former cattle farm Jim hunts on the opposite end (but at lower elevation) of the same valley we had hunted tahr on.. we intended to look for either a particular fallow buck that Jim had seen a few weeks prior (that was supposed to be a monster), or a good red stag. Tahr are also found on the higher parts of the mountains that surround the cattle property, but truthfully the elevation and steepness of the surrounding terrain at the cattle property made them inaccessible for me and my wife.. if we were going to chase tahr we'd need to find a place that was a little more forgiving..
Upon arriving in the area we knew we had arrived in fallow and red deer heaven.. glassing the area we easily saw more than a hundred fallow in just the first hour as well as probably a dozen or so red deer at slightly higher elevations. Most were does/hinds accompanied by young bucks/stag, but being new to fallow and red deer they all looked "huge" to me lol.. it took a few hours before I began to be able to figure out what a "shooter" looks like vs a young guy....Something I found interesting about this place was, despite it being an "estate", I did not see a single high fence anywhere.. I have no idea how large the property was.. Im sure we didn't hunt all of it.. but it was at least 20,000 or more acres (I did hunt at least that much).. and all we saw were typical 4' cattle type fences and gates.. deer were pretty much free to come and go anywhere on the property that they pleased (or roam off property if they chose to do so).. we watched the rutting fallow do exactly that in fact and observed more than a few simply hop a low fence and head to the next open field or next wooded area, etc to chase ladies as they saw fit... )..
Before coming to New Zealand we thought our plan was for my wife to take a tahr, and I would pursue a red stag.. Much like when we hunt Africa however, we also agreed to be flexible and be happy with whatever the bush provided.. Flexibility has always paid off for us when we have hunted abroad.. New Zealand would prove to be no different..
The first animal that we found that looked really great that also provided us an opportunity to put a stalk on was a particularly big bodied, very dark fallow buck with exceptionally wide antlers.. Neither of us had really thought about a fallow, but this guy was really impressive, so we thought we'd give him a try..
With my wife on the gun we gave chase, but got busted pretty early on... Not willing to give up, we slowly followed in the direction the buck fled and in less than 10 minutes had eyes on him again, he was now sitting at probably 50 feet lower in elevation than we were, maybe 250 yards away, trotting along a 4' fenceline moving in a field between two different tree lines that had a small hill in between.. we watched him for probably 20 minutes.. he'd slip behind the hilltop where we couldn't see him for a moment, then come trotting out and move to an outcropping of trees and brush, then turn and move back behind the hill top, repeating the process a couple of times.. the problem is he never really stopped moving for more than a few seconds at a time, and most of the time when he did stop moving there would be some brush blocking a clean view of his shoulder, or he'd be facing away from us (no TX heart shots at the mdwest house!).. 15-20 minutes in, he became aware of our presence. While he didn't bolt and run, he clearly got much more skiddish and moved further away from our position and started keeping more brush between us.. We were busted.. it was time to move on and try to find another animal...
It should be noted that even the flat land in New Zealand is freaking steep lol.. and you do a LOT of walking.. its not particularly hard to stay quiet while on a stalk (the ground is largely soft and covered in grass at the lower elevations).. but I would STRONGLY advise anyone considering hunting there do a good bit of walking and lose a few pounds before traveling.. you're going to give your legs and lungs a work out..
Walking back to the base of the hill toward where we had parked the truck we heard the loud croak of another fallow buck, not far from where we were standing.. This was only 5 +/- minutes after coming off the previous buck.. To our left was a large section (maybe 50 yards deep, and 100 yards wide?) of brush standing between 4-8' tall... My wife spotted the top few inches of the croaking buck's antlers only about 100 yards from our position, so we all stopped briefly and tried to get quiet.. within a minute or two the buck came a little closer to us (maybe 80 yards?) and we were able to see his entire neck, head, and antlers.. he was definitely a shooter, possibly slightly larger than the buck that had busted us just a few minutes before.. but he only gave us a few seconds and never exposed enough of his body to take a shot, and he was gone.. he took off running opposite of our position and deeper into the brush..
It was time for a new plan.. We were a few hours in, and seeing a LOT of animals.. but were having a challenge in trying to figure out a way to approach and stalk them (again, lots of up and down hill involved, and lots of open fields making approaches complicated at times).. There were a couple of really nice stag on the side of one of the mountains, but they were each sitting near a small clump of trees with large open fields for several hundred yards surrounding them.. a path to approach and get within a reasonable shooting distance just wasn't there.. Fallow were running everywhere, croaking like mad.. but all of the ones we were seeing were young guys..
After a while Jim suggested that we drive a bit down the valley in the direction of the area we had hunted the day before and see what might be down that direction.. he said he had seen a few really nice stag there in prior weeks and there were some exceptional elk in that area as well...
Elk?????? I had no clue that New Zealand had elk..
I also had no clue that New Zealand Rocky Mountain elk are substantially larger than most American rocky mountain elk.. this was something I wanted to see if given the opportunity (but didn't plan on hunting)..
Moving down the valley a few miles, the terrain changed pretty dramatically with the mountains getting steeper and much more evidence of spring run off on the sides of the mountains/hills.. the soil was much more rocky in places as well.. After driving around a bend Jim spotted really nice red stag feeding on the back side of a little knoll just a few hundred yards from our position.. In order to avoid alarming the stag we just kept driving and stopped the vehicle maybe 300 yards further down the valley, and stopped behind another knoll that would hide our presence... We dismounted and started our stalk..
While our original plan was for my wife to hunt tahr and for me to hunt stag, my wife really liked this stag.. we hadn't gotten a great view of his body when he was first spotted, but he very clearly had a great set of antlers and had a deep red coat.. she wanted him.. so, she was on the gun..
We were able to move to a position behind a small hill and hide behind a couple of tufts of tall grass just 144 yards from the stag.. all three of us proned out.. the stag was feeding and completely unaware of our presence.. the problem was he was facing directly toward us... we waited and waited and waited for him to turn broadside, but he never did.. 10+ minutes into the wait, he was still standing facing directly toward us, putting his head down occasionally to grab another mouthful of grass, then pulling his head up to look around for a few minutes before lazily going for another bite.. then out of nowhere, and for no apparent reason he trotted off to the right.. he wasn't alarmed or running.. but also wasn't stopping.. he was headed somewhere to do something.. he was on a mission...
Jim knew that there was a small flow of mountain run off that was not too far from where the stag had been eating.. he thought the stag was likely just going to get a drink.. so we got up from our hiding position and started moving to what Jim thought would be a better shooting position when the deer returned to do a little more eating..
Jim knows these animals.. sure enough, less than 10 minutes later the stag returned to the area, less than a hundred yards from the position he had previously occupied, coming out from the brush (I cant remember the name of this particular bush/brush, but its everywhere, and grows in large patches, obscuring view of everything.. its thorny and leafless this time of year, but thick and difficult to move through or see anything).. Coming out from left to right, the turning to provide a nearly perfect broadside (just barely quartering away) facing to the left, the stag paused for about a minute, giving my wife a easy shot at just a little more than 150 yards.. 1 round from Jims 300 WSM (a tikka with an exceptional nightforce optic, suppressed, with a really nice aftermarket carbon fiber stock) dropped the stag in his tracks.. he didn't move 5 feet from where the bullet impacted.. SUCCESS!
We didn't measure or weigh the stag, but I think he is a pretty impressive beast for a free roaming animal.. 11 points on the left and 10 on the right.. and my best guess was he was somewhere in the 450lb range on the hoof (immediately following the rut)..
Earlier, while hunting the stag, we observed a small bachelor group of elk bulls.. As I said before, I didn't come to New Zealand with any intention of hunting elk.. I honestly didn't even realize elk were present in New Zealand until the night before.. and only then learned about it while laying in bed watching the Maori Channel (thunderstorm going on, so nothing much better to do).. there was a hunting show on featuring elk, speaking to it being a valuable and readily available protein source that was largely overlooked in New Zealand and how a particular group was now hunting them and delivering meat to needy families, etc..etc..
I immediately started googling and learned that Teddy Roosevelt had donated a herd of 20 elk to New Zealand in 1905 and now the species thrives both on public and private land, although many of the elk on public land have now been crossbred with red stag and the animal found in those areas are more of a hybrid.. I also learned that when you can find an elk in New Zealand (not a hybrid), it is far more often than not SUBSTANTIALLY bigger than its North American cousin.. with most New Zealand bulls weighing in at 800lbs or more, and it not being uncommon for a New Zealand bull to be a 7x7 or better..
When I saw the elk on Jims cattle ranch, what I learned on google was confirmed... HOLY SHIT! these were some freaking HUGE animals..
Living in Texas I don't see a whole lot of elk.. but, my wife and I do own a small property in Colorado where we see them occasionally.. and Ive been on a few elk hunts here and there (most recently in Idaho last October).. so they arent foreign to me.. what I was now seeing in New Zealand was significantly larger both in body mass and in antler mass than anything Id ever seen before in my life..
So with my wifes hunt now out of the way, I had a decision to make... chase Red Stag (the original plan)? or transition to elk?
At this point I already knew we'd be returning to New Zealand one day (she had her stag now, but I knew she still REALLY WANTS a tahr).. so I thought.. when we come back for her tahr, I'll chase a stag... lets take the bird in the hand (the elk) and make this happen!
So an elk hunt was on!
Theres not a whole lot to tell on this one.. the hunt looks a whole lot like my wife stag hunt.. We moved to a position where we could observe the elk.. there were a total of 3 bulls present.. from the angle I was seeing them they were all large, mature, shooters... 2 appeared to be 7x7's.. the third I wasn't sure I think he was probably a 6x7, but might have been a 6x6.. the 6x6 was a little on the narrow side, but had an exceptionally tall rack.. the 7x7 that I didn't select also was a little narrow, but also exceptionally tall.. the third (the one I chose to hunt) appeared to have everything anyone would want in a trophy.. he looked to be the oldest of the three (ancient).. his rack was both wide and deep... 2 of his points were chiped/broken (but still had a noticiable/verifiable "point" present), and his face and neck were scarred up from a lifetime of hinting..
All three animals stayed in close proximity to one another, so it took a couple of minutes to line up a decent shot as they would occasionally overlap each other or move like they were going to cross in front of or behind another, etc.. laying behind a tuft of grass and having a small hill in between us and the bulls, they were completely unaware of our presence.. finally the bull I wanted presented just barely quartering away facing left and gave me a clear shot at the heart and lungs.. I squeezed the trigger and he immediately buckled.. he didn't run at all and stood on wobbly feet, so rather than take a chance I cycled another round into the chamber and hit him with a second 200gr Hornady ELD-X.. that was enough.. he fell to the ground where he stood, and the hunt was over..
Its hard to appreciate just how big an 800+lb elk really is until you're standing next to it.. I knew when we initially saw them (at a distance of maybe 300-350 yards?) that they were absolutely huge.. but how "huge" they were I don't think I really understood until after the hunt.. Im no small man (6'4", hovering around 270lbs).. and this thing was easily 3x my size/body weight..
Now I have a new problem... where in the hell does one put a 7x7 elk and a 11x10 red stag in his house?????? (as always, the wife insists on taxidermy)...
So.. just 2 days into a 4 day planned hunt.. we had hit our budget limit lol.. I pretty bad wanted to go back and chase that big buck fallow we had seen at the earliest part of the morning.. or perhaps try to find another really nice red stag (we saw lots of young guys and a few other "shooters" at various points of the morning... but the shooters either presented themselves at a great distance, or at a place where there was no way we could approach them without getting busted, etc).. but I knew we had burned through our planned budget at this point, and we had a daughter back in camp that while content just to hang out and enjoy some peace and quiet and the beauty of the surrounding scenery, she'd be super happy if we could spend another day or two "touring" (she fell in love with the scenery, the people, etc)..
So we decided to spend the next 2 days seeing more of the country (Jims place is really close to several very nice tourist locales such as the Church of the Good Shepherd on Lake Tekapo, Mt Cook, etc..).. and is home to what is without a doubt the best bakery in all of New Zealand (if you ever get a chance, go to the Fairlie Bake House.. the savory pies there are out of this world delicious.. the creamy chicken and the venison and cranberry in particular are absolutely incredible!).. before coming come..
Oh.. as a by line.. one of the coolest things about hunting New Zealand if you enjoy game meat is.... US Citizens can bring the meat home.. its literally zero problem doing this.. freeze it.. put it in a cooler.. seal it up tight.. and check it onto the airplane with you.. regulations saw you can bring 50lbs per passenger.. but we saw other hunters bringing entire animals with them.. no one on the NZ side or the US side seemed to care at all...
Typically when we hunt in Africa we ask our outfitter to find us a suitable charitable organization in need of meat.. we purchase the meat from our hunts and donate it to local orphanages, rural schools, etc. we enjoy choice cuts in camp.. but since we cant bring it all home with us, we try to find a way to make sure whats left goes to people in need..
In this case, our freezer was in great need of elk and stag meat! lol..
We got home yesterday about 7PM.. by 10PM we had processed more elk and red stag steaks and roasts than we could possibly eat in a year and put them in the freezer... Jim also took a huge piece of meat from our elk and donated it to the local church..
anyway... to sum things up.. as stated near the top, everything about our experience with Jim and @NEW ZEALAND SAFARIS was top shelf.. wonderful accommodations (super comfortable, super clean, beautiful surroundings, etc).. wonderful food (Anna is an incredible cook.. you wont go hungry, and you wont believe how delicious each meal is).. wonderful people (everyone we met was friendly, courteous, and fun to be around).. wonderful hunting properties (New Zealand is one of the most beautiful countries Ive ever seen.. every place we visited, to include the hunting properties were post card perfect).. and truly incredible animals..
We'll definitely be returning within the next few years..
We (myself, wife, and one of my daughters) spent the first four days touring around (if anyone wants to know about seeing the South Island, I'd be happy to communicate what we saw and experienced while we drove all over the place and did our best to see all of the common tourist spots, etc... Its a wonderful place full of beautiful scenery, great food, and great people.. definitely somewhere we'll come back and visit again!).. We then planned on spending 4 days hunting with Jim Gibson @NEW ZEALAND SAFARIS , and then intended on spending one last day in Christchurch before going home...
Bottom line up front, Jim runs an exceptional operation. Literally everything is top shelf. The accommodations/lodge are super comfortable, clean, and well maintained. The cook/chef Anna prepares absolutely delicious meals, the terrain where we hunted was not only some of the most beautiful property Ive seen anywhere on the planet, the animals we saw were beyond anything we ever expected. Truly exceptional. To top is all off, I found Jim to be a highly skilled hunter and guide, and a genuine professional. (if pictures and story telling don't interest you, you can stop here... the summary of the hunt is there was little to nothing that could have been improved upon. We had an incredible time, and came away not only with an overall outstanding experience, but also with a couple of trophies that FAR exceeded all expectations).
On the first day of our planned hunt, we met Jim at the lodge just before sun up. We dropped off our bags, got our daughter settled in (shes not a hunter), and immediately took off with Jim. After a short drive we found ourselves in an absolutely incredible valley with steep mountains on each side and a fairly substantial run off catchment at the base. Tahr was the primary target for the day. One of the things that makes Jims operation a bit different than most in New Zealand is that everything he does is on private land (estate), but he maintains exclusive hunting rights to the properties he hunts on.. so the chances of seeing another hunter, or being limited in terms of where on a property you can go, what you can do, etc is nil)... This particular property was a huge valley nestled in between very tall/steep mountains on each side, with NO FENCES to be seen anywhere (so while a private property, the animals on this property are completely and totally free ranging)..
A couple of key things to note.. Late April is a very good time to hunt in New Zealand (In my opinion), but is a bit of a odd time.. the Red Stag are at the very end of their rut and are largely hiding out just trying to recoup and regain some energy.. the tahr haven't begun their rut yet, so while they've started putting on their winter coats, the bulls are still very solitary, staying at very high elevation, and pretty hard to find, the fallow are croaking like mad and running around insanely, right in the middle of their rut etc..
The other thing to consider is this is a pretty rainy time of the year.. When we landed in Christchurch we found rain in the forecast for 7 of the next 9 days... thankfully it appears that weathermen in New Zealand are just as unreliable as weathermen in the US, and we ended up with some very nice weather most of the days of our trip...
Unfortunately, this wasn't going to be one of those nice weather days.. in fact, it was absolutely the worst weather day of our entire trip.. by the time we got to the valley rain was coming in fairly hard.. by 10AM heavy cloud had started settling into the valley and the rain picked up even further.. We glassed the side of the mountains continuously, but the further we got into the day, the worse the weather got.. By 1130 we realized this just wasn't a day to be out hunting.. Mother Nature was not on our side.. we couldn't see more than a few hundred yards to our front, and the clouds were literally laying on the valley floor by then, completely preventing us from being able to see up the mountains into tahr country.. so we decided to return to the lodge, take a bit of shelter, get dry, and see if there was any chance of the weather improving..
It rained (and rained, and rained, and rained), until about 5AM the next morning... Not knowing that evening what tomorrow would bring, we decided that if things really cleared up, we'd return to the same place and go for tahr again, but if we thought there was any chance of continued bad weather, we'd take a longer drive to the opposite side of the same valley but on the other side of a major lake (Lake Tekapo), to a place where Jim knew there were some really great fallow, some great red stag, and a handful of elk..
The next morning the forecast was iffy.. Since we didn't know how well the weather would hold up, we decided that morning to head to a different property than we had been on the day prior.. there was a former cattle farm Jim hunts on the opposite end (but at lower elevation) of the same valley we had hunted tahr on.. we intended to look for either a particular fallow buck that Jim had seen a few weeks prior (that was supposed to be a monster), or a good red stag. Tahr are also found on the higher parts of the mountains that surround the cattle property, but truthfully the elevation and steepness of the surrounding terrain at the cattle property made them inaccessible for me and my wife.. if we were going to chase tahr we'd need to find a place that was a little more forgiving..
Upon arriving in the area we knew we had arrived in fallow and red deer heaven.. glassing the area we easily saw more than a hundred fallow in just the first hour as well as probably a dozen or so red deer at slightly higher elevations. Most were does/hinds accompanied by young bucks/stag, but being new to fallow and red deer they all looked "huge" to me lol.. it took a few hours before I began to be able to figure out what a "shooter" looks like vs a young guy....Something I found interesting about this place was, despite it being an "estate", I did not see a single high fence anywhere.. I have no idea how large the property was.. Im sure we didn't hunt all of it.. but it was at least 20,000 or more acres (I did hunt at least that much).. and all we saw were typical 4' cattle type fences and gates.. deer were pretty much free to come and go anywhere on the property that they pleased (or roam off property if they chose to do so).. we watched the rutting fallow do exactly that in fact and observed more than a few simply hop a low fence and head to the next open field or next wooded area, etc to chase ladies as they saw fit... )..
Before coming to New Zealand we thought our plan was for my wife to take a tahr, and I would pursue a red stag.. Much like when we hunt Africa however, we also agreed to be flexible and be happy with whatever the bush provided.. Flexibility has always paid off for us when we have hunted abroad.. New Zealand would prove to be no different..
The first animal that we found that looked really great that also provided us an opportunity to put a stalk on was a particularly big bodied, very dark fallow buck with exceptionally wide antlers.. Neither of us had really thought about a fallow, but this guy was really impressive, so we thought we'd give him a try..
With my wife on the gun we gave chase, but got busted pretty early on... Not willing to give up, we slowly followed in the direction the buck fled and in less than 10 minutes had eyes on him again, he was now sitting at probably 50 feet lower in elevation than we were, maybe 250 yards away, trotting along a 4' fenceline moving in a field between two different tree lines that had a small hill in between.. we watched him for probably 20 minutes.. he'd slip behind the hilltop where we couldn't see him for a moment, then come trotting out and move to an outcropping of trees and brush, then turn and move back behind the hill top, repeating the process a couple of times.. the problem is he never really stopped moving for more than a few seconds at a time, and most of the time when he did stop moving there would be some brush blocking a clean view of his shoulder, or he'd be facing away from us (no TX heart shots at the mdwest house!).. 15-20 minutes in, he became aware of our presence. While he didn't bolt and run, he clearly got much more skiddish and moved further away from our position and started keeping more brush between us.. We were busted.. it was time to move on and try to find another animal...
It should be noted that even the flat land in New Zealand is freaking steep lol.. and you do a LOT of walking.. its not particularly hard to stay quiet while on a stalk (the ground is largely soft and covered in grass at the lower elevations).. but I would STRONGLY advise anyone considering hunting there do a good bit of walking and lose a few pounds before traveling.. you're going to give your legs and lungs a work out..
Walking back to the base of the hill toward where we had parked the truck we heard the loud croak of another fallow buck, not far from where we were standing.. This was only 5 +/- minutes after coming off the previous buck.. To our left was a large section (maybe 50 yards deep, and 100 yards wide?) of brush standing between 4-8' tall... My wife spotted the top few inches of the croaking buck's antlers only about 100 yards from our position, so we all stopped briefly and tried to get quiet.. within a minute or two the buck came a little closer to us (maybe 80 yards?) and we were able to see his entire neck, head, and antlers.. he was definitely a shooter, possibly slightly larger than the buck that had busted us just a few minutes before.. but he only gave us a few seconds and never exposed enough of his body to take a shot, and he was gone.. he took off running opposite of our position and deeper into the brush..
It was time for a new plan.. We were a few hours in, and seeing a LOT of animals.. but were having a challenge in trying to figure out a way to approach and stalk them (again, lots of up and down hill involved, and lots of open fields making approaches complicated at times).. There were a couple of really nice stag on the side of one of the mountains, but they were each sitting near a small clump of trees with large open fields for several hundred yards surrounding them.. a path to approach and get within a reasonable shooting distance just wasn't there.. Fallow were running everywhere, croaking like mad.. but all of the ones we were seeing were young guys..
After a while Jim suggested that we drive a bit down the valley in the direction of the area we had hunted the day before and see what might be down that direction.. he said he had seen a few really nice stag there in prior weeks and there were some exceptional elk in that area as well...
Elk?????? I had no clue that New Zealand had elk..
I also had no clue that New Zealand Rocky Mountain elk are substantially larger than most American rocky mountain elk.. this was something I wanted to see if given the opportunity (but didn't plan on hunting)..
Moving down the valley a few miles, the terrain changed pretty dramatically with the mountains getting steeper and much more evidence of spring run off on the sides of the mountains/hills.. the soil was much more rocky in places as well.. After driving around a bend Jim spotted really nice red stag feeding on the back side of a little knoll just a few hundred yards from our position.. In order to avoid alarming the stag we just kept driving and stopped the vehicle maybe 300 yards further down the valley, and stopped behind another knoll that would hide our presence... We dismounted and started our stalk..
While our original plan was for my wife to hunt tahr and for me to hunt stag, my wife really liked this stag.. we hadn't gotten a great view of his body when he was first spotted, but he very clearly had a great set of antlers and had a deep red coat.. she wanted him.. so, she was on the gun..
We were able to move to a position behind a small hill and hide behind a couple of tufts of tall grass just 144 yards from the stag.. all three of us proned out.. the stag was feeding and completely unaware of our presence.. the problem was he was facing directly toward us... we waited and waited and waited for him to turn broadside, but he never did.. 10+ minutes into the wait, he was still standing facing directly toward us, putting his head down occasionally to grab another mouthful of grass, then pulling his head up to look around for a few minutes before lazily going for another bite.. then out of nowhere, and for no apparent reason he trotted off to the right.. he wasn't alarmed or running.. but also wasn't stopping.. he was headed somewhere to do something.. he was on a mission...
Jim knew that there was a small flow of mountain run off that was not too far from where the stag had been eating.. he thought the stag was likely just going to get a drink.. so we got up from our hiding position and started moving to what Jim thought would be a better shooting position when the deer returned to do a little more eating..
Jim knows these animals.. sure enough, less than 10 minutes later the stag returned to the area, less than a hundred yards from the position he had previously occupied, coming out from the brush (I cant remember the name of this particular bush/brush, but its everywhere, and grows in large patches, obscuring view of everything.. its thorny and leafless this time of year, but thick and difficult to move through or see anything).. Coming out from left to right, the turning to provide a nearly perfect broadside (just barely quartering away) facing to the left, the stag paused for about a minute, giving my wife a easy shot at just a little more than 150 yards.. 1 round from Jims 300 WSM (a tikka with an exceptional nightforce optic, suppressed, with a really nice aftermarket carbon fiber stock) dropped the stag in his tracks.. he didn't move 5 feet from where the bullet impacted.. SUCCESS!
We didn't measure or weigh the stag, but I think he is a pretty impressive beast for a free roaming animal.. 11 points on the left and 10 on the right.. and my best guess was he was somewhere in the 450lb range on the hoof (immediately following the rut)..
Earlier, while hunting the stag, we observed a small bachelor group of elk bulls.. As I said before, I didn't come to New Zealand with any intention of hunting elk.. I honestly didn't even realize elk were present in New Zealand until the night before.. and only then learned about it while laying in bed watching the Maori Channel (thunderstorm going on, so nothing much better to do).. there was a hunting show on featuring elk, speaking to it being a valuable and readily available protein source that was largely overlooked in New Zealand and how a particular group was now hunting them and delivering meat to needy families, etc..etc..
I immediately started googling and learned that Teddy Roosevelt had donated a herd of 20 elk to New Zealand in 1905 and now the species thrives both on public and private land, although many of the elk on public land have now been crossbred with red stag and the animal found in those areas are more of a hybrid.. I also learned that when you can find an elk in New Zealand (not a hybrid), it is far more often than not SUBSTANTIALLY bigger than its North American cousin.. with most New Zealand bulls weighing in at 800lbs or more, and it not being uncommon for a New Zealand bull to be a 7x7 or better..
When I saw the elk on Jims cattle ranch, what I learned on google was confirmed... HOLY SHIT! these were some freaking HUGE animals..
Living in Texas I don't see a whole lot of elk.. but, my wife and I do own a small property in Colorado where we see them occasionally.. and Ive been on a few elk hunts here and there (most recently in Idaho last October).. so they arent foreign to me.. what I was now seeing in New Zealand was significantly larger both in body mass and in antler mass than anything Id ever seen before in my life..
So with my wifes hunt now out of the way, I had a decision to make... chase Red Stag (the original plan)? or transition to elk?
At this point I already knew we'd be returning to New Zealand one day (she had her stag now, but I knew she still REALLY WANTS a tahr).. so I thought.. when we come back for her tahr, I'll chase a stag... lets take the bird in the hand (the elk) and make this happen!
So an elk hunt was on!
Theres not a whole lot to tell on this one.. the hunt looks a whole lot like my wife stag hunt.. We moved to a position where we could observe the elk.. there were a total of 3 bulls present.. from the angle I was seeing them they were all large, mature, shooters... 2 appeared to be 7x7's.. the third I wasn't sure I think he was probably a 6x7, but might have been a 6x6.. the 6x6 was a little on the narrow side, but had an exceptionally tall rack.. the 7x7 that I didn't select also was a little narrow, but also exceptionally tall.. the third (the one I chose to hunt) appeared to have everything anyone would want in a trophy.. he looked to be the oldest of the three (ancient).. his rack was both wide and deep... 2 of his points were chiped/broken (but still had a noticiable/verifiable "point" present), and his face and neck were scarred up from a lifetime of hinting..
All three animals stayed in close proximity to one another, so it took a couple of minutes to line up a decent shot as they would occasionally overlap each other or move like they were going to cross in front of or behind another, etc.. laying behind a tuft of grass and having a small hill in between us and the bulls, they were completely unaware of our presence.. finally the bull I wanted presented just barely quartering away facing left and gave me a clear shot at the heart and lungs.. I squeezed the trigger and he immediately buckled.. he didn't run at all and stood on wobbly feet, so rather than take a chance I cycled another round into the chamber and hit him with a second 200gr Hornady ELD-X.. that was enough.. he fell to the ground where he stood, and the hunt was over..
Its hard to appreciate just how big an 800+lb elk really is until you're standing next to it.. I knew when we initially saw them (at a distance of maybe 300-350 yards?) that they were absolutely huge.. but how "huge" they were I don't think I really understood until after the hunt.. Im no small man (6'4", hovering around 270lbs).. and this thing was easily 3x my size/body weight..
Now I have a new problem... where in the hell does one put a 7x7 elk and a 11x10 red stag in his house?????? (as always, the wife insists on taxidermy)...
So.. just 2 days into a 4 day planned hunt.. we had hit our budget limit lol.. I pretty bad wanted to go back and chase that big buck fallow we had seen at the earliest part of the morning.. or perhaps try to find another really nice red stag (we saw lots of young guys and a few other "shooters" at various points of the morning... but the shooters either presented themselves at a great distance, or at a place where there was no way we could approach them without getting busted, etc).. but I knew we had burned through our planned budget at this point, and we had a daughter back in camp that while content just to hang out and enjoy some peace and quiet and the beauty of the surrounding scenery, she'd be super happy if we could spend another day or two "touring" (she fell in love with the scenery, the people, etc)..
So we decided to spend the next 2 days seeing more of the country (Jims place is really close to several very nice tourist locales such as the Church of the Good Shepherd on Lake Tekapo, Mt Cook, etc..).. and is home to what is without a doubt the best bakery in all of New Zealand (if you ever get a chance, go to the Fairlie Bake House.. the savory pies there are out of this world delicious.. the creamy chicken and the venison and cranberry in particular are absolutely incredible!).. before coming come..
Oh.. as a by line.. one of the coolest things about hunting New Zealand if you enjoy game meat is.... US Citizens can bring the meat home.. its literally zero problem doing this.. freeze it.. put it in a cooler.. seal it up tight.. and check it onto the airplane with you.. regulations saw you can bring 50lbs per passenger.. but we saw other hunters bringing entire animals with them.. no one on the NZ side or the US side seemed to care at all...
Typically when we hunt in Africa we ask our outfitter to find us a suitable charitable organization in need of meat.. we purchase the meat from our hunts and donate it to local orphanages, rural schools, etc. we enjoy choice cuts in camp.. but since we cant bring it all home with us, we try to find a way to make sure whats left goes to people in need..
In this case, our freezer was in great need of elk and stag meat! lol..
We got home yesterday about 7PM.. by 10PM we had processed more elk and red stag steaks and roasts than we could possibly eat in a year and put them in the freezer... Jim also took a huge piece of meat from our elk and donated it to the local church..
anyway... to sum things up.. as stated near the top, everything about our experience with Jim and @NEW ZEALAND SAFARIS was top shelf.. wonderful accommodations (super comfortable, super clean, beautiful surroundings, etc).. wonderful food (Anna is an incredible cook.. you wont go hungry, and you wont believe how delicious each meal is).. wonderful people (everyone we met was friendly, courteous, and fun to be around).. wonderful hunting properties (New Zealand is one of the most beautiful countries Ive ever seen.. every place we visited, to include the hunting properties were post card perfect).. and truly incredible animals..
We'll definitely be returning within the next few years..
