Advice for someone from Across the ditch coming to Nz to hunt som Red deer

Hi Guys,

This will be my first post on this forum; it's been suggested to me to seek advice for the following.

Im from Aus, Tasmania, to be exact, and it's been my father's dream to hunt red deer alongside me before he gets too old, which is rapidly approaching.

So far, our planning involves flying to the south island, probably Queenstown or Christchurch, either bringing our camping gear or buying/renting some when we arrive and then getting a chopper ride up to a hut somewhere that we can use as a base camp, and then hunting the surrounding area. Hopefully coming across a few opportunities on Red Deer, and fingers crossed at least see some stags.

Most of the people i have spoken to in Tas have suggested going to a ranch or some high fence area; this is exactly not what I want. I place more value in a hard-won 6 pt stag (which I would possibly live to see another day depending on what the NZ sentiment is (whether the deer are killed on sight or more tolerated)) than a 16pt world record that has been bred for hunting in a high fence situation (i would rather go home empty handed).

While I have hunted fallow deer extensively in Tas, I have never hunted any other deer species nor visited NZ before, so I'm uncertain of the conditions. I do know that i don't want to be camping in the snow because i have no experience and feel like its a recipe for disaster.

So initially, I'm chasing broad-stroke information to learn what I need to research specifically. I've looked at the DOC site extensively and have a rough idea of what I'm looking for and the terrain I'm interested in hunting.

If someone is keen to tag along and show us the ropes, that would be fantastic; more than happy to help supply the food for the trip, some beers for afterwards and some cash if necessary.

Fingers crossed we can shoot a Red stag of some description hopefully something nice, and if the opportunity arises, I would love to chase a chamois and maybe even a Tahr, too if we can find them nearby.

Cheers Tim

Good luck, plenty of opportunities in the south isle. You're in a fairly miserable place for hunting, tell us a bit of hunting opportunities in tassie.

Some good honest people on this forum will help you out, and you are going to have the hunt of a lifetime and thoroughly enjoy yourself over here

Let us know what you need and we can help out, might even loan/give you gear and leave it at a members house for you to pick up to help with the hunt

Just ask

Share pictures of your Aussie hunting and you will find people will share in return

Welcome to the forum Timp and good on you for not wanting to hunt behind the wire. There are a good number of members here from the South Island that I am sure will be able to give you the advice you seek. @Micky Duck and @Shearer will now see this and I am certain they will help spread the word. One thing to really be aware of is that weather in our high country can turn very quickly so please ensure that you and your dad are adequately prepared to deal with anything that Mother Nature throws your way.

What time of the year are you planning on coming over for your trip Tim? Will make quite a difference on the conditions you are likely to encounter.

Guys, it was me that suggested Tim join up, contribute and ask for some advice. He is a friend of one of my old mates from Tassie back when I was working over there.
I've got a few ideas for him and will help him where I can, and while I would love to offer to take them out for a hunt, winter is my busiest time of year and I can't commit to anything yet.
I'm sure there'll be plenty of ideas about, and maybe one or two of you guys might have an opportunity to take them on a mission.

well Im free pretty much for next month on and off...but Im bush hobbit....unless mousing along through shitty thick bush is your thing I m not a lot of use to you.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SmokeyJason

Good luck, plenty of opportunities in the south isle. You're in a fairly miserable place for hunting, tell us a bit of hunting opportunities in Tassie.

---

The hunting opportunities are extremely limited, to hunt fallow you must either be mates with the landowner or pay. We have been lucky the last 10 years with being friends of a landowner and shooting possums and wallabies for him most weeks, but his children are taking over the property and are likely removing all the current shooters in favor of a pay-to-shoot situation. We have limited public land access and a few ballot systems, but ive been told that you have more chances of seeing another hunter than deer in either of these options.

meanwhile, some of the biggest farms with the most deer are now paying for aerial culling rather than allow hunters to handle the deer populations, its all gone to shit really. they are also aerial culling our national parks as the fallow have spread into them as well, but they dont want hunters walking around the national parks chasing the deer and would rather pay for the aerial culling.

I have no real constraints on when to come over, but I don't think I would be really confident hunting in the dangerously cold/snow as I don't have any experience, when I spoke with JoshC from this forum he suggested the reds should have antlers for a while into spring before they lost them. so I'm debating whether to try and look at hunting in spring before they drop their antlers or waiting till the roar or just after next year.

Gidday. One of the best things you can do is to have an "acclimatizing" pre the main hunt sort of trip. Ive raken heaps of visitors goat or wallaby shooting so they get an idea of terrain, conditions and most importantly "get their minds round NZ hunting" itll be 2 or 3 days well spent, if needs be you can get into town to adjust gear etc.

Cheers

If you fly in and base yourself in a hut that pretty well give a two hour radius around the hut that gets heavily hunted

I prefer to be 3 or 4 hours from a hut and camp.
Then pretty well hunting virgin country all the time.

And you don't have to be in the back of beyond.
Deer numbers in the South island are the highest they've been since the 70s

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by akaroa1

If you fly in and base yourself in a hut that pretty well give a two hour radius around the hut that gets heavily hunted

I prefer to be 3 or 4 hours from a hut and camp.
Then pretty well hunting virgin country all the time.

And you don't have to be in the back of beyond.
Deer numbers in the South island are the highest they've been since the 70s

---

That makes sense, i think it would be a missed opportunity not to make use of flying somewhere with a helicopter if nothing else but for the experience, maybe it would be a good idea to go somewhere where we know there's a hut not too far away just in case things go sideways.

that way we will also be in an area that will still have good deer numbers as well.

Also like you have there is a lot of free range private land hunting available for a fee (Not High fence but free range, often into DOC land). The behind high wire stuff is largely targeted at the US and Northern hemisphere markets .
Stags probably hold antlers up until September.
So if you are looking at a late July-August September hunt to get one with antlers then our weather can get quite serious up high.

I can't help with locations as I'm North island based.
I would suggest spending a lot of time on the DOC website and making contact with some of the local Helicopter operators.
You may need to keep a couple of locations in mind and decide on which one subject to weather forecasts the day before. East or west side of the divide. At that time of the year you are probably looking at basing yourself on a valley floor and hunting up into the bush.

If you can hold of until Feb-March then flying in up high and camping is a much more doable option. Then you are glassing and hunting down into the side gut heads.
Z

Shame @JoshC may not be available to get you out. I am positive he could get you onto an animal you would be more than happy with.
As others have said, do some homework and give yourself plenty of options so you can change plans as the weather dictates. Once you have set some dates there will be any number of forum members willing to give you a hand getting onto some animals.

Probably best to target mid February, antlers just stripped or stripping. Warm weather and plenty of hours in the day.

Many stags will drop antler in August, or anything worth shooting. It’s still cold and plenty of snow about. Stags are quite dormant in the winter compared to the warmer months when they are up high. Also easier spotting in the warmer months with really red coats.

Happy to help with a good spot if coming in to Christchurch, but prefer by PM rather than advertise to the internet.

spend hours going through topo maps mate, if you've got the right gear you don't necessarily need to go in a hut, as a lot of hunting happens with a 2 hour radius or so of them, in saying that though, there is no shortage of deer at the moment, probably be best to come feb-april 2024 I reckon, I can hwlp poke you in the general direction if you want to come down southland ways especially if you want to do a day hunt before heading away in the chopper to get a general idea if nz terrain, just flick me a message if you want, cheers

what equipment is typically needed for camping out for a hunt?

Tents, food, sleeping bags i'm guessing

and I'm not certain but i believe its quite difficult these days to fly in with our own rifles, does anyone know if this is the case?

If its reds you are after I was always under the understanding that the north island had more area and animals

I found it hard to find deer in the south when I lived down there, tahr are as easy as it gets to find just need binos

organize with a heli outfit and get dropped off somewhere would be my recommendation

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Timp

what equipment is typically needed for camping out for a hunt?

Tents, food, sleeping bags i'm guessing

and I'm not certain but i believe its quite difficult these days to fly in with our own rifles, does anyone know if this is the case?

---

Firstly, welcome to the forum mate. Heaps of good advice passed on to you already so far by everyone who's replied.

I'm a fellow Aussie (now living in the top of the south) and trying to do the same for my old man, get him over here for as much hunting as he can handle before he can't.
Shoot me a private message if you like, always happy for a yarn but here's my input after 5 years of living here and getting going hunting.

- If you plan things well with the weather, a tarp and sleeping bag good for a comfy night slightly either side of freezing will be all you need. If you can't help what the weather is doing and want to be out there anyway, just like in Tassie you could get all four seasons in an arvo, end up wet to the bone so a solid (but backpackable) tent is the go.

- You can apply for a visitors firearms license but it has to be done no later than 4 months before you plan to arrive in NZ (I think they are valid for a year?)

- Winter hunting for Reds is extremely difficult, never mind the temperature/conditions challenge. The animals move very little from their yarding areas in the bush and this is the time of year that rookies like me will blunder around smelling a hut on the clearing outside the hut but not seeing a damn thing, while a seasoned kiwi bush stalker will shoot one in the same patch of bush that he's been shooting deer for twenty years. Spring to Autumn is best.

- Get a copy of Red Deer in New Zealand (https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/search?s...0new%20zealand) and if possible, Stalking the Seasons Round by the Roger Saxton and Frank Lentle. The latter is out of print and hard to come by, but maybe another forum member may be able to part with a copy. I reckon those two books have potentially saved me from years of learning it the hard way...

- Helicopters are great but they can cost an arm and a leg if you are flying outside of their busy times or to somewhere far off. If you want to do a fly in trip its cheapest to be doing it for a roar ballot period because the chopper is already running, but a one off trip could be a more expensive flight for the chopper company. They have to get landing concessions from DOC etc and this all ends up getting passed on to you.
There are definitely places you can go on foot that few bother to walk in to during the year but come the roar everybody flies in.

- Download the NZtopo50 south island map to your phone, if you haven't already.

Anyway, feel free to get in touch with me directly mate - I'll help out any way I can, and might be able to hook you up with a set of wheels to get around in if you choose to hunt the top of the south.

Re Bringing in a rifle. Check out the new web site
https://www.firearmssafetyauthority....rearms-licence

Biggest problem is that you have to demonstrate storage capability and an address for your rifles while in NZ.
For most people coming over they are either using a guide or staying with someone who has a licence and inspected security Safe etc.
I have not heard anyone complain that getting a visitor permit is unduly hard. Yes some hoops to jump through so start early to give yourself time to get documents in order.
Z

PS make sure you have your documents in place to bring the rifle back to Australia.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Timp

what equipment is typically needed for camping out for a hunt?

Tents, food, sleeping bags i'm guessing

and I'm not certain but i believe its quite difficult these days to fly in with our own rifles, does anyone know if this is the case?

---

good jacket and boots, med kit, knife, cooking system, GPS, clothes (layer system depends on time of year) good sleeping bag and sleep system, binos & ideally spotting scope. there's plenty more but thats just of the top of my head but if you bring half of that you'll be better of than most of the tourists doing the milford/kepler HAH, there are lists of recommended gear you can find online, that give you the general idea

What are your dates for coming over? Flick me a DM and I can share a couple of locations with you. Cheers

Lots of good info above. If you need help on rifle imports process, flick me a pm. The NZ permit is only good for the visit period. You need to have flight details to apply now and apply 3-4 months in advance. However I’ve done it in two. You do need to nominate a local licensed firearms holder to store rifle when not in use. Applying for the permit and borrowing a rifle makes a lot of sense.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dicko

Lots of good info above. If you need help on rifle imports process, flick me a pm. The NZ permit is only good for the visit period. You need to have flight details to apply now and apply 3-4 months in advance. However I’ve done it in two. You do need to nominate a local licensed firearms holder to store rifle when not in use. Applying for the permit and borrowing a rifle makes a lot of sense.

---

Do gunshops in Nz allow a temporary purchase type situation/hire? or would i likely need to find someone that would let me borrow a rifle over there?

You cannot buy a firearm on a visitors license. Need to borrow one.