I arrived in N.C. on 4 Sept and hunted until 10 Sept, then rented a car and spent 10 days just touring the island on my own. The hunt was booked with John Clark's Coral Sea Safaris. I was guided by Jean-Francois Naillet,John's partner in the operation and the owner of the hotel in LaFoa where I stayed. Jean-Francois spoke excellent English, as did his wife, who actually ran the hotel.Let me say right up front that the accommedations, food, equipment, etc. were all first rate. This is a first class operation. I arrived about 8 PM from Sydney so the hunt started the next morning. After a leisurely breakfast, we went to the rifle range so I could shoot the Winchester model 70 in 300Wby I was borrowing( both it and the ammo I used were free by the way). We left the range after a few shots and headed to the ranch we were to hunt- less than 10 minutes from the hotel. The guide explained that the roar was in full swing and that the stags would be up in the timber roaring until about 11 AM, then they would come out of the woods and start fighting in the open meadows below. We started seeing does and young stags as soon as we entered the property and by the time we got to where we parked the truck and began hiking up the mountain to an overlook, we had seen probably 150 deer. A short uphill hike from the truck gave us a vantage point looking into a heavily timbered bowl with open grassland below. the next 2 hours were spent listening to 3-4 obviously large stags roar and 6-8 smaller ones squeal back in the trees. Sure enough a few minutes after 11AM the procession of stags began( the does had already begun filtering down hill about a half hour before). The smaller stags came first, quickly followed by the bosses. From then on it was just a matter of sizing up the choices. Jean-Francois finally made the decision and the stalk was on. After getting in position, I waited for an opportunity, then made a 175 meter steeply downhill shot through the chest, taking out both lungs and the heart. The stag ran about 10 meters and piled up. Four hours into my hunt it was finished. During that time I saw at least 8-10 shootable stags. My plan was to spend the balance of the hunt shooting turkeys and fishing. The next morning, again after a leisurely breakfast, we took a 22 mag and went after turkeys, which were everywhere. The strut was in high gear and we probably saw 75-100 turkeys that morning but none with a really long beard. After returning to the hotel for lunch we planned to head out and try again. During lunch a local rancher called Jean and said he had some good stags and wanted to lease Jean the hunting rights. He further said that if Jean had a client in town, we could come out, look the property over and shoot a stag for free( the normal trophy fee for a second stag is $1500 US). Well so much for the afternoon turkey hunt!! About 3PM we drove to the ranch and just started driving the service roads on th property. The weather had turned and rain began falling harder and harder. We soon found a deer herd with 10-12 does, 2 small stags, and absolute monster stags. The stalk was on. the deer were out in a huge meadow and using available cover we closed to about 100 meters. For the next 20 minutes we watched the 2 stags fighting and it truly looked as if one of them would end up dead. The light was fading, the downpour was increasing, the scope was fogged and soaked- and worst of all the longer I watched the 2 giants spar, the worse my case of "buck fever" got!!! There was nothing to rest the rifle on, so I sat my butt down in the mud and waited. T make a long story sad and short when the 2 stags finally separated momentarily, I took the shot and missed. No excuse in missing an 80-90 meter shot on the stag of a lifetime, regardless of the conditions but I did. I am still having nightmares about it. We went back the next 2 days hoping to see either one of the combatants ( they were almost equal in size),saw a lot of other really nice trophies but I had decided to pass on anything else if I couldn't find the one I wanted. On the last day when Jean drove me to the airport to pick up my rental car, we took the 22 mag and stopped at the same ranch because we had seen a huge long-bearded tom there while looking for the stag. As soon as we pulled in off the highway, we found the tom and that was that. One interesting side note- this ranch was less than 2 miles from the international airport and it was weird having jumbo jets take off right over your head while hunting. In summary the hunt was fantastic- I also could have shot wild pigs and goats if desired. All total I probably saw 350-400 deer(25 plus shootable stags) and at least that many wild turkeys. All game was completely free-range. Would I go back? YES!!!!!!!!!! The remaining 10 days of the trip were spent meandering around the island on my own and were equally as much fun, although the language barrier was a recurring problem. Few locals spoke English although they were as nice as they could be- they actually seemed to like Americans and since tipping is against local custom you knew they weren't just play-acting for money. All in all a super vacation.

a little different view of my stag. i have now idea of measurements and don't care but the guide did tell me the one i missed was the largest stag he had ever seen and that the main beams were at least 38-40 inches. needless to say that Really made me feel bad. Also note my "camoflage" turkey hunting attire-white tee shirt, shorts and sandals

I have know J C for over 20 years as a mate,he runs a very good operation as you say,last time he showed me his pic album it was overflowing with quality.

Shame about the big fella you missed but its part of why we hunt if it was all easy it wouldnt be so rewarding when we connected...eventually.