We flew Calgary to
Vancouver to Auckland to Taupo where Gerald picked us up and drove us the two
hours back to his main ranch. The plan was to hunt stag and fallow buck there
then move to three other properties for the other deer species. We were
assigned a very comfortable cabin right on the property and we ate our meals at
the main house which were prepared by Gerald's wife Brenda. The food was
excellent!
The drive to the
4,000 acre hunting area was only a few minutes and the property was
spectacular. It's a working dairy/sheep farm comprised of rolling hills with the
perfect blend of grass opening and heavy stands of vegetation. The red deer and
the fallow deer populations are totally self-sustaining and all run together on
the entire farm.
Gerald had one stag
on the place that had injured itself as a yearling and one antler grew at a
funny angle out of its head. Several bow hunters had tried to harvest it
throughout the season but had been unsuccessful so he asked Vanessa if she was
interested. She definitely was so the hunt was on. It was late morning on Day
one when our paths crossed with a huge fallow buck. We'd actually decided to head
back to the truck and go for lunch and were just walking along when we caught a
flash of antler behind a small hill. After finally getting a better look at the
buck we were shocked at his size and Vanessa wasted no time putting him down. It
was one of the best fallow bucks that Gerald had ever taken. That afternoon we
got a brief glimpse of the big stag we were after but he offered no time for a
shot.
We spent the entire
next day pussy footing around the property and despite seeing many great stags
and fallow bucks our path never crossed with the "funky" stag. The
next day we elected to take a break from red deer hunting and drove to a nearby
property to hunt sika deer. We saw numerous bucks first thing in the morning
including one that looked magnificent to me but not long after sunrise they'd
all melted back into the heavy stand of manuka and we never saw another. On a
bit of a sad note, we did find two magnificent red stags in different locations
that had become entangled in the vines and couldn't escape. Both were dead.
Early that
afternoon, it was raining quite heavy so we thought the sika deer might be out
early and they were. We saw many hinds and a few smaller stags and then as the
afternoon wore on, we came across a very tall stag with great weight and deep
forks. While impressive I liked the width on the one we'd seen in the morning
better. I'm sure Gerald was questioning my sanity but on we pressed, hoping we'd
made the right decision. An hour or so later we spotted a lone stag on the edge
of the manuka and one look through the binos confirmed it was our boy. After a
lengthy stalk, I put him down at 154 yards with the 270.
The following day
was spent back in search of the red stag and despite walking in excess of 12
miles we couldn't find him. Gerald suggested we give it one more day on him and
then go hunt sambar to give the big stag a rest. We were greeted with a heavy
snowfall the next day and the conditions were perfect for sneaking silently
through the rolling hills. It was near dark and we had just about given up when
Gerald spotted him on a distant ridge. We carefully closed the gap to about 150
yards. Time was running out and several other stags in the vicinity were getting
nervous so Vanessa was faced with taking a tough quartering away shot. At the
report of the rifle the stag was obviously hit but he took off at a trot into
the heavy cover.
Blood was sparse but
in the fresh snow trailing the stag was relatively easy. Just before dark, we
spotted a bedded stag in a heavy stand of trees but we couldn't tell if it was
him or not. Gerald snuck in for a look and it was our boy but he was up and
running and offered no opportunity for a follow up shot. It was a long night
staring out the window at the heavily falling snow. We walked in circles for
several hours the next morning and somehow managed to find a tiny speck of
blood. It took several hours to unravel the trail but at the end of it, we
found Vanessa's magnificent trophy. He was everything she dreamed of and more.
Highway closures due
to the snow delayed our departure the following day so it was very late in the
afternoon when we got to the area we were to hunt sambar in. This was a free-range
hunt and just at dark we watched a nice stag and two hinds come out of the
heavy kanuka about 400 yards below us. We had a plan for the following. The
real trick in the morning was going to be getting by the paradise ducks without
them putting the entire valley on alarm.
We tried to sneak in
under cover of darkness but the ducks were on to us and flew noisily up and
down the valley announcing our presence. We spent the entire morning glassing
the deep valleys and spotted two hinds and a young stag but there was no sign
of the big guy. It was early afternoon when the rain stopped and the sun came
out and shortly afterward we noticed several hinds and a small stag on a ridge directly
across from us. They came out to lounge in the warm sun. Finally we caught a
glimpse of the big stag but he was bedded behind a tree and offered no shot. It
was an hour later that one of the hinds caught a bit of our scent on the
afternoon breeze and became extremely alarmed. The stag came to his feet and
moved into the open. At 274 yards I placed the bullet perfectly in his shoulder
but he never even flinched. I launched a second one that caught him a bit far
back and down he went. It took well over an hour to reach him but I couldn't
have been more pleased.
While packing the
sambar out, we spotted a huge old goat that we'd seen the evening before and I
decided I'd take him if the opportunity presented itself. A couple hours later
we were right above him and I took him right in the spine. I really didn't want
to have to chase him down into the bottom of the valley.
We ran out of time
to hunt rusa so we elected to head back to the main ranch and try for a huge
old arapowa ram we'd seen earlier in the week but we never did find him. It
will be a great excuse to go back one day.
After having hunted
both the North and South Islands now, I'd say you have to do both to do New
Zealand justice. The topography and vegetation are so different and each Island
offers its own unique species. I was amazed at the number of turkeys and
peacocks we saw during the hunt. I'd love to go back and hunt them....and those
noisy paradise ducks of course! Seeing the amount of animals we did was incredible.
We figured we walked between 50-60 miles for Vanessa's stag and many more for
the other animals. It was definitely an enjoyable style of hunting and the snow
just made us Canadians feel right at home.
Wildside Hunting Safaris www.wildsidehunting.com
Guide/Owner: Gerald Fluerty
Equipment: Rocky Mountain Rifle 270WSM, Zeiss Conquest 4.5-14x44 Rapid Z800, 140 grain Hornady SST handloads
Wildside Hunting Safaris www.wildsidehunting.com
Guide/Owner: Gerald Fluerty
Equipment: Rocky Mountain Rifle 270WSM, Zeiss Conquest 4.5-14x44 Rapid Z800, 140 grain Hornady SST handloads
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