Since Day 2 wasn't real eventful in regards to the hunting aspects, I decided to combine Day 2 and 3 into one thread.



Day 2 < !--color-->



We spent much of the morning caping our tahr while we were still at the hut in the Lord of the Rings valley. Then we drove back out the same route we had come in -- along the little two-track and across many rivers.















A few hours later, we stopped by O'Rourke Bros's. taxidermy shop in the small town of Pleasant Point to drop off the horns and capes from our tahr. By then it was already late afternoon, so we headed to the mountains near the Mount Hutt ski area and glassed for chamois. Althought we spotted several, they were way too far off to even think about going after that evening.



So it was back to the comfy lodge to drink a few Speights around a warming fire and chow down on some fine cooking.



The front of Tim and Vanessa's Alphenhorn Chalet.







The rear of the lodge.







Tim stokes the fire.







And then he and Aussie guide Brad Orszaczki get to making dinner.











Then it was chowdown time.







And what better way to close a day before hitting the sheets than taking a long soak in the hot tub. My hunting partner, Troy M. is on the left and Brad is on the right.







-TONY

And...on to the next day!



DAY 3 < !--color-->



As the weatherman had predicted, a storm had moved in during the night and dumped some rain. Although the skies were still foreboding when we woke up, the rain had stopped -- at least temporarily.



After a hearty breakfast, we headed to the ranch where Tim hunts red deer in a high-fenced area of several hundred acres that he leases from the rancher.



When I went to the SCI convention in Reno last january, I had spoken with at least four different NZ outfitters about hunting red deer. Everyone of them told me the same thing: The ONLY way to get a good stag is to hunt them on a private ranch, and since I didn't plan to spend all that money to get there and kill something I could kill in Texas, I decided the ranch hunt would be fine as long as it offered some challenge.



Before booking with Tim, I had asked him about the stag hunt because I didn't want a "shooting-fish-in-a-barrel" scenario. He was quite honest about it, telling me that it wouldn't be as challenging as a hunt on public grounds, but it also wouldn't be a "Shoot that one standing there" hunt. So that's exactly what we got.



After parking our vehicles at the ranch house, which was quite nice, as these photos show...











...we boarded ATVs and headed to the hunting area. On the way we also watched the surrounding hills for wild deer, which often move into the nearby fields to feed. In the meantime, a light rain began.



When we walked through the gate into the red stag area, I looked at the hill in front of me and said to Tim, "We gotta climb that, huh?" He laughed.



It wasn't quite as steep as the mountains we hunted tahr in, but I had to stop a few times to catch a breath when my lungs protested. About halfway up, Troy and Brad went one way and we went another. That was the last we saw of each other for several hours even though we were hunting in the same fenced-in area.



At the top, I got a much better view of the hunting area. It was tucked up against the mountains and offered a mixture of grassy hills, deep cuts that contained trees & heavy vegetation and some scrub bush areas along the edges. It reminded me very much of elk country in the USA, though the big tall fir forests were missing.



We spent the next two hours moving along the edges of the timber and glassing likely areas where the stags might be. All we saw were some grazing sheep, however.



The amusing part was that Tim had told me there were at least 20-30 deer in the "pen," with a mixture of SCI silver medal stags, hinds and calves. Still, we hadn't seen a hair on a deer yet.



We eventually made our way from one side to the other and started to drop down off a hill through a narrow opening between two stands of trees. That's when my stag decided to roust itself out of its hidng spot in the trees and burst into the open. He was about 50 yards away at that point, trotting downhill and away from us.



Tim and I spotted him at the same time. As I clicked off the safety, I asked, "Should I shoot" since I had no idea if I was looking at a good one or not. Tim quickly said "Yes."



I raised my rifle and held the crosshairs at the base of the stag's neck where it joined the back and let one rip. We heard the bullet "whap" and it poleaxed the deer on the spot. Tim pulled out his rangefinder; it was just at 125 yards or so, and the bullet had passed through, blowing out the front of the neck.



When I got down to the deer, I was more than satisfied with it. The browtines, bezes and third points were exceptionally long and the top on one side of the 9x10 rack was cupped enough where it could hold water. It also has nice mass to it, with the upper main beams bigger than I could get my hand around.



And here it is with Tim and me.







A side view that shows the lengths of the first three points. Note the nice cup effect on the nearest side to the camera.







And the last one of me alone from the front.







I'll add my partner's hunt details tomorrow since I got to watch the whole thing thru binoculars, including his 7mm mag bullet nailing his stag. -TONY

Well done. Red Stag is a magnificent animal.

Great job, Tony.

I always enjoy your hunt reports, but especially your photos.
I'm constantly scanning them, trying to pick out the little details that make them stand out from the run-of-the-mill photos. (Like mine)

Hmmm... Note to self: Color-coordinated frames...



Rick.

Thanks, Rick.

Selling photos contributes a major part of my income now, but it took me about 30 years of practice to make that a reality. And having good photos to illustrate an article also makes selling a package easier.

RE: frames

I try to use them just as I do when I mat a print or photo. Use colors that will accent those colors within the photo itself. -TONY

And now for the detail of Troy's stag hunt. < !--color-->



After I shot my stag, Tim left to go get my cameras, which were back with the ATV. As he walked around a bend, another stag burst from its bed and ran downhill. I watched it cross an opening for about 50 yards, then it disappeared into the trees.



Tim had left a radio with me, so he called back and asked if I had seen it, then mentioned that it was heading toward the area where Troy and Brad were hunting.



I left my rifle where my stag fell and took a walk up the hill where I would have a good view of the surrounding country, especially the area where the stag had gone. I sat between two large clumps of tall grass and started glassing. A few minutes later, I picked up not one stag, but two of them. They also had three hinds with them and were cavorting in a small opening next to a deep, thickly vegetated ravine. They were about 300 yards from where I was sitting.



One of the stags had a very symmetrical rack and the other was extremely wide and had points going every which way. It probably would have been my choice of the two.



I immediately tried to get Brad on his radio, but Tim answered instead. He had finally got to the top of the hill and could also see the deer. Then he told me he could also see Troy and Brad. They were perched on a sidehill and only about 200 yards from the deer. After Tim told me, I aimed my binoculars in that direction and could barely see them through a line of trees.



I was about 1/2-way between them and the deer but well off to the side, sort of like the third angle of an equilateral triangle with lines between me and the deer and me and the hunters. It was a great vantage point for the next 20 minutes.



Troy had already set up his shooting sticks and had his rifle cradled in them. But I later found out that the deer were hanging too close to the treeline, so he had only brief glimpses of one or the other stag as they played tag with each other. In contrast, I had a great view of them because I was off to the side and the ravine with the tall trees was directly in front of me.



We also found out later that Brad had left the radio in his pack, which was back at the ATVs. So there was no way for me to let them know what the deer were doing. Instead, I just watched the hunt play out.



It took quite a while, but the deer eventually moved far enough into the opening where Troy could see them both. I heard the bullet hit and saw the one with the symmetrical antlers buckle. Then I heard the crack from Troy's 7mm mag.



The deer walked stiffly toward the trees, I could see the spot of blood; the shot was a perfect lung/heart hit. The stag fell and then regained his feet. Although he was now getting to where I couldn't see him, I thought I saw him stumble again as if he was going down.



By then, I heard the whine of an ATV and a minute later, Tim was heading down the hill toward me. He had heard the shot and asked me what happened. I told him I thought the stag was a goner.



I hopped aboard the ATV and when we got to the spot, we located the deer. It had fallen once at the edge of the clearing, and the second time it had fallen and rolled, coming to rest in some heavy vegetation about a 1/4 way down into the deep ravine. Ten minutes later, we heard Troy and Brad breaking their way through the trees in the bottom of the ravine.



We then found out that Troy had opted to shoot the one with the good symmetry and leave the wide-racked deer for someone else.



The four of us dragged the stag out of the hole for photos at the edge of the clearing. As the result of Troy's fine shooting shows, he made a good choice.



Brad is on the right in the first photo.

I love your pics tony - makes me want to jump on a plane and go hunt.
Nice stag - you'd have to be over the moon with that one.

shehuntz,



Thank you much.



I see you're in Australia. Tim's No. 1 guide, Brad Orszaczki, is an Aussie and lives in Victoria. Are you near there?



Troy and I were both VERY pleased with the stags we shot, and once mine is hanging on the wall, it will remind of one of my most memorable hunts over the last 45 years or so. Both NZ as a country and the people we met there made it so. The hunting wasn't too bad either. -TONY