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New Zealand – The North Country

There are numerous, free-ranging game available on New Zealand’s North Island.  The North Island is a deer hunter’s paradise!    Hunt for red stag, fallow deer, Sika stag, sambar, Rusa stag, wild ram or goat, and wapiti bull.    Your guided hunt in New Zealand will be on private land so you will not see any other hunters in the field.  You will, however, see a lot of deer and can expect to take wonderful trophy stags!  You will enjoy hunting in a beautiful country with crystal clear streams, rainforest with countless ferns, emerald green grassland, and snow-capped volcanoes.  You can generally see 20 to 40 red stag per day and sometimes more!  The deer are not subjected to heavy hunting pressure and can reach maturity and get the chance to grow antlers of trophy quality.  Trophy stags grow racks from 5 X 5 to 7 X 7 points and 32 to 40 inches in length. Wild red stag rarely exceed 300 points, do not confuse these wild stags with the “penned” giants on the South Island.  In New Zealand, you can rifle hunt during the rut.   The best hunting times here are mid-February through August for trophies with late March through mid-May being the rut.

Fallow deer are widespread in New Zealand so in some places, red stag and fallow buck can be hunted simultaneously. The North Island is one of the few areas in the world that fallow deer can be hunted in a fair chase environment. The striking palmated antlers of a fallow buck are often compared with those of caribou.  This is also home to the best Sika deer hunting in New Zealand.  You can see 20 to 40 Sika per day and enjoy some superb hunting in the spot-and-stalk style with glassing from high points, revealing many deer. The trophy potential is world class.