Hello folks,

My wife and I are looking at a holiday in March or April. New Zealand is on the list as it is one of my wife's favourite places. I on the other hand have never been and never really had the urge. However, a trip involving some paddling, some fishing and a few days of hunting does sound pretty good.

Here is a brief run down on our very sketchy ideas. As I understand it, waterfowl hunting doesn't start until May, but Canada geese are open all year. My wife has a thing for hunting geese so that's something of interest. She also likes fishing, preffering casting to trolling, so we were thinking of some trout fishing. As for the hunting, I'm open to suggestions. I am pretty fence shy, stalking from a helicopter isn't for me and I don't see much point in traveling half way around the world to hunt North American game.(Yes I know I did just name Canada geese as something we are interested in hunting in NZ). Despite all those conditions, I am easily amused when it comes to hunting and would be happy hunting just about anything.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Dean

Red stags would probably be in the roar in April sometime.

red stag season starts in march, and you can go for fallow deer, arapawa rams (best skin i have ever taken), feral goats, chamois, tahr on the south island, you can get sika deer and sambar on the north.n it is a very enjoyable place to hunt.

Canadian geese and paradise ducks will be in season in some parts of the south island.

This website has all the game bird and freshwater fishing seasons http://www.fishandgame.org.nz/

You may enjoy a night or two of spotlighting rabbits and possums,its not hunting but is a lot of fun,with a semi-auto shotgun

The salmon may be running then , and there is always wallabies at Waimate , and you should never underestimate the fun of nightshooting our possums.

There is always hunting to be had all year round here .

Hello Dean

A few questions first - what sort of paddling are you into ?? I have good connections with both whitewater and sea kayakers, but which water you want will obviously influence where you go ("Queenstown" and environs offers pretty good rivers, but Stewart Is is tops for sea kayaking).

Guided or unguided ???

Further north in Canterbury/Marlborough is where "goose shooting" at its best in terms of being out in magnificent country, with the southern end of Marlborough in the Molesworth and Rainbow country being the ultimate if you can swing it. That will also put you in some pretty good Chamois country.

Unless its a cold season its not likey the Red Stags will be roaring until April, and it depends on how far south you are to some extent.

Finally no one has mentioned Goats yet, I like taking visitors for a goat shoot, we usually go somewhere in the mountains around Queenstown, which gives the ladies something to do (shopping), and is a great way of commencing getting "acclimatised" to our mountain terrain before trying for tougher game with a guide etc. Therre is no closed season for goats.

PM me if I can help.

Cheers - Foster

I wiuld recommend early April on the South Island for Trout fishing and Alpine Chamois Hunting.

goats are great, just find a mob and get stuck into them! IMO nothing else is as fun. and since you are coming all the way down here you will have to hunt red deer, getting close to a roaring stag is very exciting and sometimes it can raise the hair on the back of your neck, even if you didnt get to shoot one (which you will) its still well worth it.

possums and rabbits are good fun too, they are good after a hard day and you just want to get out there and shoot an animal or 20

Thanks for the replies and sorry for taking so long in getting back to the forum. Real life and all that crap keeps getting in the way.

Goats, geese and red deer sound great if I can avoid the fences on the deer. Chamois would be even better, but I don't know if my leg is up to it. Right now I'm having a hard time just walking the dog in the hills. I've got an MRI in a couple of weeks and will know more, but I don't want to make any expensive plans to hunt hard in the mountains just now. How difficult would it be to set up a hunt on real short (2 weeks?) notice? We had been hoping to travel without firearms (next to impossible if we were to have a connection in Hawaii) so renting or borrowing something would a must.

As for the geese, the ideal situation for us would be to find a place where we could hunt them in the morning and cook one up that night. A B&B run by a farmer who also ran a hunting operation would be ideal. I really wouldn't want to travel with decoys .

Dean

P.S.
Tentman, I'll PM you about the paddling.

There are two south island outfitters that post here,March/April would two of their most busy months,so short notice maybe a problem.

Most if not all outfitters will have firearms for clients to use.