2006/07 Hunting Season Report

July 2007 

Hello Everyone,

The last couple of years have been a bit of a blur.  2006 produced a really good SCI 13 point red stag and a good look at one of the biggest reds we have seen on the property (what a stag).

As you will see this was yet another build up year for our business. We are now able to offer more trophy animals than ever before, thanks to our sustainable management philosophy and our unending drive to gain more access to bigger and better properties. 

Annually we can now offer:

• 8 Red Stags

• 4 Sambar Stags

• 8 Fallow Stags

• 8 Chamois Bucks

• 8 Bull Tahr

• 8 Wild Bulls (cattle)

• 8 Sika Stags

On top of these we now have access to unlimited Estate Hunting for most any size or type of animal required. 

Over the last two years I have renewed old friendships and made some new friends in the hunting world, so we now have a full range of very good Australian animals to offer you as well as a full compliment of Canadian animals. 

A lot of 2006 was taken up arranging for a US TV crew to come down here and hunt with us, and at long last it happened.  We had Mr Roger Raglin of Roger Raglin Outdoors and Mr James (Charger) Wiley of Dual Shot Outdoors, join us in March / April 2007. 

We started out hunting chamois on the West Coast of the South Island in the Southern Alps with our main guide Steven Langridge.  Roger took two animals, one of which went 9 ¼”.   We started up on the tops of the mountains (helicoptered – it’s over 8 hours on foot straight up) and finished hunting on the flats. 

Charger took a good chamois too.

We also did some salmon fishing from the jet boat, they were not biting that day but we saw lots in the crystal clear waters of the West Coast.  On a side note a friend of Steven’s got a 15lb salmon in the same spot the day before and their best one for the year to that point was 18lbs.

We then flew to the North Island for the rest of our filming.  We started on Red Stags, the rut was just beginning.  Roger shot a really good 11 point stag who was wandering around looking for females.  

This years shows will screen in America exclusively on the Outdoor Channel:

• Saturday Night – 9:30 p.m. est
  Friday Afternoon– 12:00 p.m. Noon est
  Tuesday – 3:00 a.m. est 

This is taken from Roger’s website: www.rogerraglin.com

 Show #4 Week of July 23 and Oct 22
"The Long Trip to the Land Down Under"
Roger travels to New Zealand to hunt red stag and chamois.
This is a free range hunt and Roger finds out he's not as young
as he used to be.

Show #5 Week of July 30 and Oct 29
"The Long Trip to the Land Down Under" part 2
Roger continues his hunt in New Zealand. This time he's
after red stag, but not before spending some time in the
hospital.   

This years shows from Charger www.dualshotoutdoors.com will air in America on:

• The Sportsman Channel: Dual Shot Outdoors
  Sun. 2:00 PM
  Mon. 9:00 PM
  Wed. 6:30 AM
  Fri. 12:00 AM
  Fri. 11:30 AM      

Somewhere around the 1^st December and again in February 2008 – I will keep you posted. 

While I was off playing TV star (surprised the camera didn’t break) our Red deer guide Micheal Taylor was doing the hard work and guided Steve to a really good 14 point Red Stag.  They were roaring full on and the two of them went out at night on the full moon and videoed 17 reds roaring with two pairs fighting.  All just on the flats not a half mile behind the house.    Steve figured that was worth the trip by itself. 

We also guided for another very good 12 point Red Stag Easter 2007. 

In June I took two hunters, Don and Steve, out to our Fallow deer block and we scored right away on the first evening with a great stag that only went 11 points under the Douglas Score book.  The next morning we shot another very respectable stag and then decided to go a different way home to see some other parts of the property.    With two quads, 1 deer and several people we were moving slowly along when we looked up to see two of the largest stags we have seen to date on the property.  The big one Steve shot went 189 DS so that makes these two stags 220+ (very big for truly free range NZ Fallow). 

Our Sambar guides have also been busy as Bruce Gunn shows us some photos of a very large Sambar at close range:

Lee Meads guided for an exceptional 35” Sambar:

Management Hunts:

With our sustainable management programs in place and working very well to produce top trophies,  we have a percentage of cull or management animals that are taken each year. 

We now have Red, Fallow and Sambar available for females and non trophy males at very reasonable rates.

Corporate Trips:

We did our first corporate hunting / fishing trip in February this year at our Red deer block with a company called Aquitherm from Auckland NZ.  What a great bunch, we got deer, fish, crayfish, paua and had a real good time doing it.  At that time of year we tend to see a large number of females and young males, it is not uncommon to see 30 deer a day.  We can make these trips as relaxed or full on as the group desires. 

Well that’s the update for now.  Be sure to keep an eye out for updates on our website and if any of this tempts you to come for a hunt be sure to give me a call so I can set you up for a hunt of a lifetime (as Roger describes it!). 

Happy hunting, 

Jason Wood

2005 Hunting Season Report

October 2005 

Hello Everyone,

Well, it has been another very successful season for us this year as we went seven for seven.  It started with an Australian (Damien) in April, chasing Red Deer: we thought we had four days to hunt, but it turned out to be only two as he had a very tight time frame.  He shot a 200 SCI, 12 point stag in just over 24 hours, after looking through ten or more good stags just in the front country.

The down side to this story is that our main Red Deer guide, Michael Taylor and I, had both within 48 hours of Damien’s stag being shot seen far bigger 12 and 14 point stags.  It just goes to validate my belief in a four day minimum, as in the rut there are more stags showing up all the time. 

Our second hunter, an American (Joe), came over to hunt 5 species with us from the beginning of May.  He started with Fallow stags and wild bulls (cattle) and as some of you know: the biggest one you see is often the first one. 

As it was just after the rut for Fallow we passed up a very good stag in hope for a better one:  it was not 15 minutes into the first day of the hunt.  He did get a huge brindle colored bull during the first hunt on the third day.

Joe then went on the ferry between the North and the South Islands down to one of our Chamois properties on the east coast. 

There he hunted with guide Don Cameron and took a 24 SCI Chamois (8 ¾ inch).  They saw several bigger bucks but with Joe’s health being questionable and the Chamois a way off, Joe decided on the buck in front of him.  

I then flew down to Christchurch, Don and Joe picked me and we drove south into our Tahr country.  By 10am the next morning we had a good bull Tahr down: 37 SCI.  We had seen at least 8 – 10, ten inch plus bulls, but with Joe’s limited walking ability he opted for a good rest and a long shot that paid off. 

Next was the Sambar deer and the patience game began: 4 days and not a sighting, the sign was there only hours old, everyday (my bad luck).  We sit and wait on our Sambar as they are quite nocturnal and we do not like to disturb them in their bedding areas. 

On day five our main Sambar guide, Bruce Gunn, took Joe to the same area and by that night they had seen six animals:  one of which was a very big stag, but presented no shot opportunities. 

The next morning by 7.15am my cell phone rang only minutes after first light and they had taken their Sambar, he went 138 SCI with 27” main beams. 

Joe shot a Fallow stag on a return trip after he had taken his other animals.  This sent him home with his five animals. 

Our final hunt of the year was with a friend of mine from New Zealand.  We were after Sambar in August.  We took a very heavy stag on day three which went 148 SCI.

Our sustainable management philosophy is now paying off and the numbers we can take are increasing each season:

• 4 Red Stags
• 3 Sambar Stags
• 4 Fallow Stags
• 6 Chamois Bucks
• 5 Bull Tahr
• 4 wild Bulls (cattle)

On a final note, the main guide Steven Langridge, from the South Island block (that we did not hunt this year), has seen two of what he estimates to be 13 “ Chamois and  I still have not got the big 14 point Red stag of the back of our east coast property.  I had him roaring at me at no more than 100 yards again this year.  So things are looking exciting for this next season.

Happy hunting, 

Jason Wood