Begining the process of researching ideas for a trip for March 2025. There will be 6 of us, my family: wife, son (14), daughter (10), and my inlaws both in their 70's in great physical shape.
Would like ideas for an outfitter to do some hunting as well as ideas for family outtings/excursions. My son, daughter, father-in-law, and I will likely all do some hunting mixed in with family outings. We will be there 10-12 days.

Anyone who's taken your faimly over with an outfitter, I would love to hear about your experiences. What you liked, disliked, and what you would do different.

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Originally posted by TXHunter65:
Begining the process of researching ideas for a trip for March 2025. There will be 6 of us, my family: wife, son (14), daughter (10), and my inlaws both in their 70's in great physical shape.
Would like ideas for an outfitter to do some hunting as well as ideas for family outtings/excursions. My son, daughter, father-in-law, and I will likely all do some hunting mixed in with family outings. We will be there 10-12 days.

Anyone who's taken your faimly over with an outfitter, I would love to hear about your experiences. What you liked, disliked, and what you would do different.

I just returned from NZ; my second hunt there but with the same outfitter, who is mostly retired at this point.

Don't be fooled by the photos of big red stag antlers and think they are free range; they are not. At the Auckland airport I spoke with a woman who together with her husband owns a hunting film company - she had no idea stag hunting was little different from hunting fenced whitetails in Texas.

You can hunt free range chamois and tahr and even red stag (but they won't be huge).

Thank you for the reply. I'm aware of the estate vs free range stags in NZ, having hunted high fence vs low fence (free range) on 3 trips to Africa and all over Texas.
Mainly looking for any one who's hunted with an outfitter that is family friendly and is able to arrange outtings for the family. I'd like to spend 4 days on the north island primarliy sight seeing with the family, then 6-8 days on the south island hunting/family excursions.

Texas Hunter 65, did you find an outfitter or get any recommendations. The wife and I are looking for red stag/tahr hunt and some vacation time.

https://forums.accuratereloadi...131039012#7131039012

Have a look at my report from 2015 with Exclusive Adventures New Zealand.

Hope it helps

Try these guys.

Gerald is a member here too.

My wife and I are going to be hunting with Leithen Valley in June, so I can't give a recommendation yet but I'll certainly let you know afterwards. We've gotten to know the owner (Rachel) over the years after being booth neighbors at the DSC show and are confident it will be a first rate experience. We're in the process of planning the week of traveling the country after the hunt, so I hope others will chime in on ideas for places to see.

Where are you going to be hunting at MNR? Just finishing up a 2 week visit to NZ where the 1st 3 days were hunting and then we have been touring around the next 12 days.

Going to be dropped off in Queenstown after the hunt. Have five days to travel from there before flying up to Auckland. Have a 24 hour layover there with the purpose of driving down to Matamata so my wife can see the Hobbit movie set. Would also be interested to know if there's anything else that's a must-see in that area and within that short timeframe.

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Originally posted by buzz4me2:
Where are you going to be hunting at MNR? Just finishing up a 2 week visit to NZ where the 1st 3 days were hunting and then we have been touring around the next 12 days.

I’m heading to Christchurch today for a few days. Will report back on what we liked. We didn’t spend much time around Christchurch, just 2 days. We hunted a few hrs away and then went to the west coast and back up the east coast. Wānaka is a really nice place to visit. Cool mountain type town. Queenstown was also nice but obviously a larger population. The luge ride and shotover net boat ride was a ton of fun. Must do the luge and gondola if you go there. Mount Cook was also beautiful with a glacial boat tour. All of these places are 3-5 or 6 hr drive from Christchurch. Car rentals are cheap if you book in advance and relatively no crime that we have seen. Food is amazing everywhere we went. It’s getting colder and more rain off and in since we got here 2 weeks ago.

In Christchurch I would definitely recommend the Riverside eatery for lunch. Ton of small food huts indoors and plenty of great options to choose from. The Tram ride around town is also really nice. It’s hop on and off as you wish. Botanical garden was a nice free adventure. The Artic Museum was really amazing as well as I’d recommend that visit. We visited Quake City but that wasn’t worth it to me. Tells the history of the 2010 and 2011 devastating earthquakes. The gondola is also a great adventure to do. If you get a car and want to get out of the big city feeling that Christchurch has then I’d spend a night in Oamaru about 2 hrs away. It has a great old Victorian area down by the water with shops and restaurants. The Steampunk Museum is also really cool.


Try paying for your hotels online before you get here. Everyone charges a 1.5-3% CC fee. Or get a large wood of cash from the ATM and just pay for everything in cash. We haven’t had a bad meal yet. Only 2 meals were ok but the rest were all excellent and that’s for every town we were in. Beer and drinks are a tad expensive as compared to the states but you will pay less for meals and get a dam good meal. Hope this helps and everyone here is super nice. Good luck on the hunt and adventure.

What I described above is for Christchurch. For Queenstown I’d definitely take a trip to Arrowtown about 20 minutes away. Great little gold mining town with shops and a great little museum. We are at Flame and had a great meal. It’s a steak house right in city center. Definitely do the gondola and get some luge rides. That’s a ton of fun. Buy a combo ticket that includes the ride up and 5-10 luge rides. We also did a shotover jet boat trip and that was really fun. Have a Fergburger. It’s a 20 minute wait but YES it’s worth it. Go walk around the city center as you wait for your order. They have the orders on their website so you can easily check if your order has been called. We also ate at the Blue Kanu and the food was amazing. It’s the offseason so you probably don’t need a reservation. We also went to the Cardrona whiskey distillery which is about 45 minutes from Queenstown and that was amazing. Stay a night in Wānaka as that is a smaller version of Queenstown with a lot of hikes to go on. If you can get over to Te Anau for a glow worm tour that is worth it. It was one of my top 3 activities on this trip. Or get down to Milford sound. Again one of my top 3 stops. The other one was obviously hunting

This is excellent information. Thank you for sharing. We're taking notes.

You gotta give it to NZ guys, they got the red stag hunts done to perfection with all the accommodations and big trophies

And ask your guide to take you night time possum hunting. It’s a blast with a .22 and using a spotlight. They are a pest and the ranchers want them gone.

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they got the red stag hunts done to perfection

As long as you are fully aware that those magnificent "trophies' are farm raised and NOT wild deer.

If thats your thing then have at it , but please ask in advance if the hole in the stags ear is from an ear tag , rather than a lucky escape from a hunter previously

hi Muzza
I’m aware of it and wouldn’t do it but their marketing is simply awesome
Lots of places in Europe has great hunting but they lack of accommodations and English