A Trip of Firsts
During the months leading up to the rut, stags try to put on an as much weight as possible to get into good condition for their mating season. This can be a great time to scout out those roar spots as the animals are often out feeding for longer periods of time. With this in mind in February 2019 my mate Chris and I set off on a two-night trip with the aim to find either of our first red stags.
We had been hunting public land for a couple of years at this stage and had turned down a few stags holding out for a decent head to start our trophy hunting on a high. This was our first trip going completely off track into an area neither of us had any experience in; no huts or markers, no water tanks or bunk beds- just the gear on our backs and our own ability to find clean drinking water and a good campsite.
The first day consisted of a steep climb up through beech forest and eventuated into our first experience of bashing through monkey scrub. What we expected to be a four-hour climb turned into an eight-hour battle, which pushed our minds and bodies further than the usual stroll up a DOC track. Our progress was further slowed by my constant desire to get my new dslr camera out to take photos of, well, pretty much everything… sorry Chris! However, the added stops did provide the opportunity to fully immerse ourselves into the surrounding bush and appreciate the diverse wildlife that thrives within New Zealand’s native environments.
The first major success of the trip was breaking through the monkey scrub- who knew that a bunch of sticks could make you so angry! The second success was reaching the summit- which happened just as the sun was disappearing over the peaks to the west.
The plan for the trip was to climb up and over the main ridgeline to find camp by a group of tarns at the head of the next catchment to hunt the surrounding area. We woke to an absolute pearler of a morning: no wind, no clouds and enough optimism to believe anything was possible. We set to work glassing the head of the catchment as the morning sun lit up the scrubby faces. In our eyes, it was only a matter of time before that ‘stag of a lifetime’ would present itself.
About three hours later Chris could barely contain himself as he burst out, “now that’s a stag!” He had earlier spotted a couple of spikers feeding in the sun- the only deer we had managed to pick up all morning. Now that it was nearing 10am, our optimism was starting to falter, so Chris had gone back to looking at the spikers that were about a kilometre away.
I don’t know how he spotted it, but sticking out from the shade of a large boulder nearby was an antler thick enough for us to immediately realize that this stag had some age. The old fella was smarter than the nearby spikers; knowing better than to be feeding so far out in the open. With this being an area WARO operates in (we saw a chopper flying off from a nearby ridge with a bunch of deer slung beneath) the animals that manage to grow old are usually pretty cunning. This stag demonstrated how some animals find a way to outwit the choppers that circle above by finding folds in the landscape to survive in.
We set off down the valley with a plan in mind for the stalk. He was bedded amongst a bluff system down a steep ridge, which forked off from the leading ridgeline. We aimed to stalk down the ridge beside him to keep our wind well away from him and hopefully get a look across the gully for a shot.
About Mitch Thorn
I was raised to hunt from an early age. My old man taught me most of the skills I know and showed me the importance of being an ethical hunter and respecting the animals we harvest. I am absolutely hooked on adventure and I can’t get enough time in the backcountry- always searching for that next mission.
