Hi guys
As a fan of the sika deer, I am always envious of the heads you guys manage to pull out of the bush. Can you post some pics from recent fair-chase hunts?

The subspecies we hunt in the UK generally don't have the spread or tine length of the sika I've seen coming from NZ...

A good representative trophy not record book but a good example. He was taken in the central north Island in open country in sleet and rain pre-dawn. This animal was jaw bone aged in his 11th year and had survived on public land with cunning, moving in the dark. He got careless luckily for me, I only had 10 seconds before my scope was covered in water but by then he was down.

While I am at it here is some eye candy of one of the fallow bucks on my place, not photo shopped it just came out this way and I like it.


The prey has to get it right every time, the predator only has to get it right once

Wheathered great photos!

Just a quick side question;

Are you targeting specific deer species when your out?

Or do the ranges of each specie overlap,and its whatever comes my way today?

Glad to see your sticking around....

thanks

dan

Sika in the central north island can overlap with red and you get hybrids but these are very easy to distinguish in regards to trophy size animals once you have the skull exposed.
The knitting of the bone on the cranium between the pedicles is either a Y or a T pattern. T for sika Y for reds.
When I hunt this weekend it will be in an overlapping habitat, goat, chamois, whitetail, fallow and red. I have no knowledge of fallow sika hybrids.

Nice pics weathered

Yeah, nice sika Weathered. What time of the year are we talking? I have ambitions (dreams) of catching up with a sika and N.Z. whitetail but can't get there until mid April or May in any given year. I hear that you need to hunt'em in March, is that correct?

Cheers,
Mark.

That sika was taken in March, I think they move around more then. I am no sika expert I only visit up there now and again mostly I mountain hunt

quote:

Originally posted by Weathered:
Sika in the central north island can overlap with red and you get hybrids but these are very easy to distinguish in regards to trophy size animals once you have the skull exposed.
The knitting of the bone on the cranium between the pedicles is either a Y or a T pattern. T for sika Y for reds.

T for sika Y for reds.

So what is the guide for a full blown hybrid,skull suture wise?

Are Kiwis Sika Dybowski or Manchurian?

In America we have 4 or 5 subspecies but most folks still have Japanese or Formosian, the little guys. Some ranches have Dybowski, but they are spendy!

Lots of Silks too.

Manchurian and Japanese. but they are pretty much mixed up now. stabilised breed no doubt. plus id be pretty sure there were no 100% sika in there anymore, they would all have a little red deer in them just like the wapiti/elk of fiordland.

red deer are superior...

Paul
I am sure you are right about that. But they are really nice Sika, probably the best in the world.

Ours can be very good, but most are little Japanese black guys.

Too bad you don't have the genetics we have for fallow deer.

The smallest sika I've seen are those taken in Maryland, where any branch antlered buck is a trophy.

Here in the UK we have some herds of pure Japanese sika and they don't get near the sizes of the NZ heads....of course they are just as hard to hunt and don't attract as much attention from trophy collectors so I guess there is an upside!

"As their name implies, Manchurian sika originate from the mainland of china, Korean penninsula, and far southeastern Siberia. The terms Manchurian and Dybowski are often confused. True ancestry is difficult to determine, as both originate from a similar region of mainland asia, and the Dybowski is thought to be a regional variation of the Manchurian sika. The primary difference is that Dybowski sika retain the spots of their summer coat throughout the year (though more muted in winter), while the Manchurians adapt a grey shaggy coat in the winter with very little spotting present.

Manchurian sika are the largest subspecies, with males approaching 300lbs. Horns are of the typical 4x4 japanese model, but much larger, with main beams over 26 inches, long tines, and bases of 6 inches being the trophy hunter's reasonable expectation."

Neat, I didn't know that much about those sika.

Thanks!

another thing to remember is New Zealand is very good at growing quality grass. especially when its had phosphate and lime applied on the farmed land.

good grass definatly helps grow decent antlers.

Considering our biggest sika live in Texas we have pretty good antlers on some ranches.

Sika are a 3rd or 4th rate exotic in America and I don't know why.

I have always loved them, most folks are wild about Chital, Fallow, and Red stags.

I have a herd reduction hunt booked for November with my father for some sika and fallow does. The guy told me he might give me a deal on a good Sika buck if I liked what he had. Too bad we don't get them for UK prices.

Ive shot a fair few jap stags in NZ

my best to date


a few of my mates




they dont come much bigger than this guy, biggest jap stag shot in NZ for the past 26years

Completely different antler formation to what I am used to in Wicklow,Ireland.
These are some good heads over the last couple of years. This is so fresh he is in the cold room ! <asrc="http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll234/sika98k/DSCF9095.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
The 3 skull mounts were taken in N.Wicklow.In fact if you walked off the land you could take a city bus to Dublin[ But you,d look bloody odd]

I like the style of those heads SIKA98K good strong trez

how far apart from each other were they taken? they are all very similar

Madness - they are some fine sika trophies you have there!! They are beautiful animals...

quote:

Originally posted by MADNESS:
how far apart from each other were they taken? they are all very similar

2 came from the same hill.The 3rd about 8 km away.

I thought tey must have come from the same blood

Do you get any other veriations in antlers style?

quote:

Originally posted by MADNESS:
I thought tey must have come from the same blood

Do you get any other veriations in antlers style?

Yes,we do.They come in all shapes and sizes.Those scored 2 silvers and 1 gold so I kept them.

what systum do you score them on the DS, SCI or another?

The sika in the UK are 99.9% Japanese but there is a suggestion that those in Lancashire might be Manchurian, apparently orange velvet is the giveaway like with one of those NZ heads above. Those antlers do not look at all like Japanese and are probably from at least a majority Manchurian stock.

There is also a suggestion that there are some Formosan in Oxfordshire but pretty much all other sika in the UK and Ireland are Japanese including those in Wicklow.

There is a significant problem with hybridisation with reds in some areas, particularly Scotland, but strangely not others where the two species co-exist.

Nice Sika trophies. Always thought all Sika in the UK were Japanese or at least the ones I've seen.

check these out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...Sgwk&feature=related

Hey guys,
Here are a few pics of some Jap stags shot in Japan, by yours truely. Seems they are somewhat bigger here.


This is a super rare non-typical stag with a brute of a friend. This picture was taken after season in March. Those are huge stags, not sure which one I would take, probably get nervous and shot the little tike.

Anyway, after looking around the net a bit, it seems that I have been taking the biggest sika deer in the world over the last few years. It is quite fun, with liberal seasons and bag limits.

Great animals - do the Japanese hunters have a trophy measuring system?

Also, what kind of (dressed) body weights are you getting? That top stag is a beast!

Those pics are a few years old? I have seen them previously somewhere,maybe here.

Mr Middle is a brute for sure

The only way that they measure horns here is to go from the base to the tip on the outside of the antler, ending up with a number like 75cm. My biggest so far is in the 95cm range.

You probably have seen those pics here, a couple years ago. I have taken less and less pictures each year. Those three stags are very lean from the long winter.

Honestly, I don't know what these things weigh, but I would guess a big stag (dressed) in the fall would go around 150kg, too heavy to get into the rig on my own anyway. I use a big red sled to haul deer out of the woods, and I also have a chain saw winch with 1km of rope, but I kinda like that wheel winch out of Australia. I'd like to put my rig in 4th gear and see how fast it'll pull.

Anyway, here is another picture.

MONSTER!

Freakin''' HUUUGEE!

Thanks for the photos... how do we go hunting on Hokkaido??

What sort of numbers do you have there?? Can non-residents hunt?

Old Hokkaido certainly dosent look like a resident at all to me.

I live here in Japan, just a few minutes away from good hunting ground. I have obtained gun and hunting permits here, which was by no means an easy task. Non residents are not allowed to hunt here at all. No exceptions. But I am open to the idea of taking someone along with me.

I have heard that deer density here is the highest in the world, but I am not sure how true that is. Nonetheless, there are plenty of deer around, especially when a guy gets off the roads.

Hokkaido can you PM me please,I cant seem to get one to your inbox. Gryph.

Hi again Hokkaido - I'd sure like to hunt there but I wouldnt do it unless I could get a permit. How could you take someone along if they couldnt get a permit???

Cheers for now
Matt

I'm happy to swap some of New Zealands Whales to go hunting in Japan

Hello Matt, anybody coming along would not be able to shoot. Other than that, there are no regualtions against taking someone hunting here, I suppose it's the same there.

Gryph, PM sent.

Preator, no need to do any trading, since I don't have any plans of heading south. Just let me know when you can come, I'll be here.