Deer Hunting in New Zealand

We offer a range of red deer hunting opportunities for the trophy hunter, hunting in public lands either in the South Island backcountry or hunting public and private blocks of land in the North Island province of the Wairarapa (the birth place of New Zealand’s deer hunting).

Additional charges are required for most private blocks but they offer better hunting opportunities on easier country.

We offer free range hunting for red deer in public hunting areas (Department Of Conservation lands) in the central region of the South Island. No staged hunts when you come with me! The best time to hunt for a free range hunt is March April during the rut.

Sika deer Cervus nippon Sika can be hunted on either public or private blocks though bookings need to be made well in advance to secure the best private blocks.

View our Sika Deer Hunting page for information on Sika deer hunting.

Fallow deer Dama dama private hunting blocks for fallow are also available.

Red Deer Cervus elaphus were first introduced in the province of Nelson back in 1851 with another 220 further liberations taking place until 1923, with stock being acquired from both England and Europe. This has led to a wide variety of antler grow and form in different parts of the country. With some areas having great trophy bearing potential while other areas have almost none. For this reason local knowledge of an area’s history is essential when planning where to go.

According to deer culler and author Jeff Thomson the first deer shot in this country was back in 1873 when Major F.E. Campbell illegally shot a Red stag in the Wairarapa that he claimed had charged his wife. Control of red deer was originally handled by acclimatisation societies and tags were sold to shoot stags during the rutting period only (the roar) and a new profession was born in this country the Hunting Guide!

Early guides included the Muir brothers who guided visiting clients mostly from England taking some great heads in the heyday of stalking in the 1920’s. However this honeymoon period was not to last as by the 1930’s the unchecked deer herds had reached plague proportions and trophy potential fell and all protection was lifted from all introduced game animals. Another new profession was born the Deer Culler! For more information about Deer cullers see www.nzdeercullers.org.nz At first the plan was to reduce the deer numbers and improve trophy potential hence the name deer culler, but this idea soon past as cullers were never able to totally manage the deer despite shooting many thousands, but the name culler stuck and is a term still used to this day.  Rex Forester restarted the guiding business back in the late 1950’s but by the mid 1960’s could not compete with another new profession the venison industry.

Deer numbers were finally brought under control by the use of helicopters to shoot and recover deer. Later deer were captured using a net gun fired from the helicopter and put onto farms.  As deer numbers on farms built up during the late 1980’s the aerial hunting pressure on wild deer populations began to decrease. Once again the guiding business has again rekindled, with some operators choosing to use farm bred animals to produce trophies that out shone anything ever taken in the wild back in the early days of the 1920’s. Stags are confined to fenced enclosures and clients are guaranteed trophies of a set standard.

Other guides like myself, prefer to hunt only for wild animals hunting either on private or public lands. While we can never compete on the antler size we can excel on the true pleasures of hunting with all its uncertainty and thrill of hunting wild animals in wild places. It is something you simply can not buy behind a wire fence.