New Zealand Hunting

Founder · Dec 15, 2011

So, we have a new sponsor to the site, New Zealand Mountain Hunters. They specialize in FREE RANGE hunts in New Zealand. I've never hunted New Zealand and I was not aware of how they managed their game until the other day. Far different than here.

Anyway, I'm posting this, partly as a plug for their business, but also to ask who all has hunted New Zealand? How was it? What animals did you hunt? Etc.

My buddy Adam hunted there last year. I'm sure what animal it was that his wife killed, but it was on a high fence ranch. He said it was fun, but was high fenced. This new sponsor we have definitely made the FREE RANGE hunt sound a bit more fun. They still hunt private property, but the area you hunt is much, much larger than the high fence areas. He also said that obviously, the animals within the high fence are bigger, just like elk here in the US I guess.

So, who's hunted New Zealand? Let's hear some details.

New Zealand Mountain Hunters is a new site sponsor. We've never had a New Zealand guide advertise on the site, so hopefully he gets looked at. If any of you are thinking of a New Zealand hunt, for sure take a look at his site.

Brian Latturner
MonsterMuleys.com

larrbo · Dec 15, 2011

I haven't yet but plan on going Red Stag hunting over there some day.

MTSHEDHEDZ · Dec 15, 2011

The Stag hunt is on my bucket list,I love the terrain and those massive racks!

scottyboy · Dec 15, 2011

I guided for an outfitter in NZ in 2001. I was there a full year. I was able to do quite a bit of hunting myself whilst there. A few tahr, a great chamois, a bunch of small stags and hinds and one big stag.
It's a beautiful place and it's locals are great people.

------------------
DRSS

woodruffhunter · Dec 15, 2011

Very interesting. I thought all the stag hunts in NZ were fenced. Sounds like a good hunt and one I have thought about in the past.

mozey · Dec 15, 2011

...been to Christchurch on the South Island a couple times for work and intend to go back someday for some fishing and hunts. The country is breath taking. I found Kiwis to be much friendlier than Aussies, who have that reputation but maybe not as deservedly so...

bigmoosie · Dec 15, 2011

Hunted there, for elk,stags,fallow deer,ducks,geese, and fishing. I guess we were on a high fence ranch but never saw it. All the animals that we killed were released quite a while before. They seemed to me to be quite wild. The outfitter told me that they couldn't put too many elk in with the stags because the stags would kill the elk.The ducks and geese were considered vermin and you could kill all you wanted. Very interesting country and people, really enjoyed it.

utahbigbull · Dec 15, 2011

LAST EDITED ON Dec-15-11 AT 01:21PM (MST)[p]Never hunted there but toured the whole Southern Island being part of a Utah All-Star basketball team in '93 before playing in a tourney in Melbourne Austrailia. In Kiwi land, we went to a new town and played against the local teams and each player stayed the night with one of the home town players families. For around a week and a half, it was a new town and new family every night. I have yet to see any land as breath taking as New Zeland and like said previously, the locals are as friendly, down to earth god faring people you will ever know.

The TOP thing on my bucket list is to return someday hunting the stag with my family in tote so they can finaly see the place I talk about so often.

treedagain · Dec 15, 2011

a big stag is on my bucket list...

BeanMan · Dec 15, 2011

Don't forget to go "Deep Canyoning" while on the south island.

Farms · Dec 15, 2011

Spent 3 weeks on the south island in March/April of 2006. Most of the time was spent in Wanaka, Queenstown, and Te Anau. Hunted chamois and tahr around Wanaka. Hunted stag on the very tops of the mountains in the Milford Sound area. Did a goose hunt (can't remember the little town now) one day and shot over 100 birds with 3 of us and could have got who knows how many more as we decided that was enough and quit early. Shot some possums which was really fun. Goats are thick everywhere you go and we piled a few of them as well. They are crazy about pig hunting with dogs there. Went with the guys but basically stayed out of the way cause that is some crazy stuff!!! Didn't fish at all but that is on the schedule for the next trip. Rode in choppers almost on a daily basis. No, we did NOT hunt from the chopper. Also stayed in Fiji for 4 nights but that story is for another time.

The best part... We stayed in a motel 4 nights of the 20 we were on the island. Know quite a few people down there and stayed with them. Didn't pay a dime to hunt anything and no high fences.

Another good part was on the last night of our trip we stayed in a motel in Christchurch. There was a casino across the street and I won about 3K that night that covered more than half of the trip.

Speights is the best beer in the world!

isayNUNYA · Dec 15, 2011

LAST EDITED ON Dec-15-11 AT 06:47PM (MST)[p] You can hunt NZ for free, DIY. No tags, No License, No game laws. Shoot what ever you want, when ever you want and as many as you want,(except for seals and different endangered birds). Made the trip last year. All you need is a plane ticket, $25 dollar firearms license and a back pack! Going back again soon!

sniper14 · Dec 15, 2011

What did you hunt? How are there no hunting laws? You would think all the red stag would be hunted to extinction.

isayNUNYA · Dec 15, 2011

Not many stag's around. I did see a few hinds (female red stag). They do get slammed pretty hard. If your going to kill a good one its going to be high fence or possibly private ground.
Killed several tahr and chamois and a herd of feral goats.

GotBowAz · Dec 15, 2011

isayNUNYA, any chance you have some pictures to share and a paragraph or two your experience over there?

Sent you a PM

GBA

OutdoorWriter · Dec 16, 2011

LAST EDITED ON Dec-16-11 AT 08:29AM (MST)[p]isayNUNYA has it all right. A friend and I made the trip to the south island in 2004 and had a great time. We hunted with an outfitter, though.

The people of NZ and the country were both superb. In fact, I enjoyed the trip more than the one to Africa the year before.

We hunted stags, tahr, chamois, possum, turkey, feral goats & rams, black swans, geese and ducks. If I recall, the only license/permit needed was for migratory waterfowl(swans, geese & ducks), but it was free.

Here are two of the many photos from that trip:

My tahr:

My stag:

TONY MANDILE

How To Hunt Coues Deer

springbear · Dec 16, 2011

LAST EDITED ON Dec-16-11 AT 11:05AM (MST)[p]I have done NZ as well. Went down for 3 months after school, covered both islands. Shot a lot of stuff, and hunted/fished a lot critters. All of it was pure DIY. Never did use a helicopter, but would have had better luck on the Thar and Chami if I did.

It takes some getting used to the no holds bar style of hunting. There really were no rules.... Have a discussion with a Kiwi about hitting a deer with your car, and they are amazed.... Why not just stop and shoot them mate!? The only thing that saves any of those critters (on crown land) is the steep mountains/cover. You simply can't get into or see a lot of it, and if you try you will hurt or kill yourself.

Very few "nice" stag are killed out in the crown land (public).... There are however pretty nice Rusa, Sambar, and Sika deer to be had. You are going to work your butt off to get one.

I have no idea how many goats I shot. Possum hunting is a lot of fun. I shot a truck load of turkeys and rabbits as well. Killed some deer, geese, ducks, and I am sure other things as well.

The Pig hunting is King down there! Them "Hound men" are thought of like the fly fisherman here, except they are some crazy dudes.... If you ever get hooked up with some "local boys" on a pig hunt, you better be ready.

Never met nicer people, I had zero plans and rarely had to sleep in my tent, as people would invite me into their homes. Willing to take you in and give you about anything. Often they would say when you get down to "where ever" give so and so a call and tell him I sent you... Regularly, they would drop what they were doing and come get me, and off one some adventure we would go. They never seemed to let money or the lack of it get in the way of a good time.

All I had was a fly rod and a back pack. Once a guy I met while fishing gave me his Browning Bar .270 with a Swaro scope, and said bring it back when you are done. I hardly even knew him, and he was not wealthy (logger). I was gone for a couple of weeks hunting... I was hitch hiking back out of the bush and some cops came by and picked me up! I was clearly armed and had a dead deer in my pack, miles from anywhere. They didn't even have any guns. NO BIG DEAL, they didn't even ask me any cop questions. I had no permits or anything for the gun. Imagine the exact opposite of the opening scene for "Rambo: First blood"; where I ended up grilling back-strap and drinking home-brew back at the cops' house.

ALL the 22's. I saw and shot came factory with threaded barrels for suppressors.

On the average they smoke a lot of weed down there, it was a bit shocking, even for a kid just out of college. I was also suprised at how racist they are on average, even for a country boy from Idaho.

There are A LOT of people from other countries down there as well. Don't know how many times I ended up on a mountain playing cards or in a hot tub drinking beer with a South African, a German, an Englishman, and/or a Sweed.

Sitting in the airport after my visa expired, was one of those moments in life. The decision was to go home or stay. Honestly, right up to the moment I got on the plane, I wasn't sure why or if I was coming home....

huntindad4 · Dec 17, 2011

Wow Springbear great post. I wanna go NOW!!

NZ has been on my bucket list for a long time hope I can make it someday.

Bill

Look out Forkie, FTW is watching us!

cmbbulldog · Dec 18, 2011

My wife and I leave in February for 2 1/2 weeks. We cant wait. My wife encouraged me while we were there to shoot a stag, so I am booked with an outfitter. Will post pics when we return.

Tsho86 · Dec 18, 2011

I've never tried it but want to! Is that animal in the 6th pic a cross breed between an elk and red deer?

DylanT · Dec 18, 2011

Looks awesome. Previously, all I knew about New Zealand was this:

http://www.aolnews.com/2011/02/25/stallion-semen-served-up-in-new-zealand-as-new-energy-drink/

MountainHuntersNZ · Dec 27, 2011

Hey everyone, this is Brent Moody from Mountain Hunters NZ. Great to hear so many nice comments about our country! Also good to see a few people have hunted in NZ and also hunted DIY.

There are some good trophies taken on public land, mainly Tahr, Chamois and Sika deer. But most Kiwi hunters hunt a lifetime without getting a trophy class Red Stag on public land. If your looking to hunt NZ DIY you will need to do some research, make sure your not heading into country that has recently been shot out by choppers or been 1080 Poisoned(which is quite a lot of country). In saying that if you get into good country and work hard and have a bit of luck you have a shot at getting a reasonable trophy Tahr or Chamois. (feel free to contact me if you want some info on DIY hunting in NZ and I'm happy to help)

Dad and I went for a 3 day Public land Chamois hunt on the west coast of the south island near Franz Joseph just before Christmas for a bit of fun. All the Land North of Franz had been 1080 poisoned in September so we headed south. The bush is so thick that we just hunted river beds and rock slips. Saw 3 Chamois for the three days and could have shot one but it was only a youngster. Just went for a bit of fun, something different and nice scenery. Here are some pictures:
Tsho86: It is a pure Red deer. The Hybrids occur in Fiordland.

Thanks to Brian for the post and yall for checking it out!

Founder · Mar 7, 2012

Those are some steep, rugged, thick mountains!

Brian Latturner
MonsterMuleys.com

glass_eye · Apr 29, 2012

Springbear and Brent Moody hit the nail on the head.
I was there last year hunting DIY for 2 weeks and only spent 3 nights in a hotel, the first night near the airport ( arrived too late to go anywhere) the last night near the airport, and one night in between while on a goose hunt. The rest of the time we were in tents or staying with friendly kiwis.
I'm going back again May 21st for a 3 week hunt, all DIY.
ps. it will no longer be free for foriegners. The forming of the new Game Animal Council will be funded by charging export trophy fees to foriegners.

azdogman · Jul 1, 2012

Glass eye. When does that export fee go into effect. I went last year in December and am going back again in November.

glass_eye · Jul 1, 2012

Don't know.
I just got back on june 13 but I didn't have the good fortune to see if I would be charged or not. I choppered up into the westcoast on a tahr ballot but got shut up in my tent the whole time by an epic storm.
If you get something in "Lo-vember" let me know if it's in effect and how much.

fishon · Jul 2, 2012

Hunted and guided it every year since 2007. Hunting a fishing is phenomenal. Done both free range and high fence. Both have their place.

I take people every march and april if anyone is interested.

Tony Abbott
The next buck to have a fawn will be the
1st.