Thread: Catlins genetics.

Hi, just went out for a little wander in the catlins today for the first time, managed to see a young stag(10 pointer). Does anyone here now what the heads are like in the catlins in general? seems to be a few animals where I was today, bush was pretty tight but still huntable.

Cheers.

Originally Posted by kiwigreen

Hi, just went out for a little wander in the catlins today for the first time, managed to see a young stag(10 pointer). Does anyone here now what the heads are like in the catlins in general? seems to be a few animals where I was today, bush was pretty tight but still huntable.

Cheers.

Not saying its all good but I have seen a few very nice heads come out of the catlins. Have a friend in Balclutha that has done well.

Seen and killed a few from the Catlins over the years. Unlikely that you'd get a world beater. Best head I've seen was a 12 about 34"X34", most much smaller. Good sized body wise though, almost always quite fat.

There have been a few good things come out of the Catlins... about 1.5 km up the Chaslands turn off in particular...

I've only really been into the main catlins block off the catlins River track. Great place to take the young dog to get her onto her first few deer but never saw any stags.

Will be looking for some new blocks in the area to take the dog while that one's off limits after the 1080 drop.

Went out for another look yesterday into another area, shit loads of pig sign and bugger all deer. Took my possum dog out and she found 10 possums in a few hours too. Apparently there's a few fallow around in some areas?

These 2 are pretty typical.


This one is exceptional.


All taken from the northern end of the Catlins. Unfortunately, the story to go with that great head is terrible. He jumped into our deer farm with our brand new velveted stud stag and yearling hinds and we couldn't convince either of them to leave. We would have been perfectly happy to let him mate the hinds if we could have got the farmed stag out but it wasn't possible, they both knew they were onto a good thing. Still guts me every time i see his head in my garage...
@JoshC will have examples of the best there is on offer down here no doubt.

Depends on where in the Catlins you're talking, and if the animals access to good tucker. There's a variety of genetics down there, with some escapees improving the wild herd. The forest park is a large area, then there is a lot of native private land too. Scrubby heads are typical but occasionally the odd decent one pops up. Decent ones aren't your typical Otago looking head, they usually have a bit of character like the one above. Usually in fringe country the stags are consistently better, for obvious reasons.