New Zealand trip of a lifetime

[ASHQUACK]

Thanks guys! When I get over "jet lag" I'll type up a story.

[NOCK NOCK]

SWEET!!!

[ASHQUACK]

So here goes.
In February of 2023 a friend calls me up and says hey what do you think about hunting red stag in New Zealand instead of going on that Africa hunt. I immediately said I'm in. The planning process started and research commenced. One of the website pages that popped up was a guy in Te Kahara and he videos his hunts. The place is called Ample Hunting. I watched a few of his videos and shared them with the other 3 participants of the trip. They all agreed that this looked and sounded like a good place to go. One of the biggest reasons was this hunt would be on private land with free ranging Stags and there was a wide berth on the size of animals we could take. 3 of us settled on "gold" and one decided to go bigger. I messaged BJ (owner) and began the process. The deposits were paid and we were booked for April 2025. We began making plans for flights, hotels and added a few days on each end for touristy stuff. I contacted a travel agent who I had gone to school with and told her the plan we had. She set up everything except the hunt itself and I can truly say that that was the best decision. We left here in April 1st and boarded an absolutely stuffed airplane bound for Vancouver BC then onto another plane headed for Auckland. The 2nd plane was only about 60% full and made for a nice 13 hour overnight flight. I actually slept on that plane, which I normally can't. Once in Auckland we transferred to a third plane bound for Gisborne. Once on the ground there we figured out that one of our bags never left Vancouver Airport. At least the airlines acknowledged their mistake and in 2 days the bag was delivered to our hotel door. We did spend a couple days touring the island. One of the things that really struck me was that you'd be driving down the highway on the left side you would go from agriculture land to deep thick rain forest jungle in about a hundred feet. That and the coast line was impressive to say the least. We had dinner that night at "Lone Star Restaurant" and while having dinner we asked if they had their work uniform shirts for sale. Our waitress said hang on I'll check with my manager. We ate, had dessert and went to pay the bill and I asked the manager if I could buy a couple shirts. He dug around under the counter found the right sizes and handed the shirts over to us. When I asked how much he says "they're on me"... I will say every person we met were super nice and all very helpful.
    BJ called us the next morning and said he'd pick us up at the airport at 1. He was there by 12:30. We loaded his truck with all of our gear and made the 45 minute drive to his farm. There we were introduced to our rooms and the staff. Again all super nice folks. BJ then tells us to come down to the ranch house to eat a snack and we'll chat a bit. His house is an amazing place, he has a game room that would make most folks jealous. The house itself is a ranch house straight out of the old western movies with a few modern updates.  After lunch BJ told us we were going to hunt that afternoon and we should all go get ready.
   We all were dressed in fairly light clothing as the temperature was hovering around 73 degrees and it was fairly humid. He and his assistant arrived in what they call buggies (4 seat atv's). We departed the guesthouse called "The Rattrap hotel" and headed for the hills. We parked about half way up one of the hills and went on foot from there. Did I mention that BJ's full time job is a sheep/cow farmer? Well anyway he is, the sheep make deep trails in the grass covered hillsides and we followed those trails up into big open grass covered areas spotted with poplar trees and pine forest. As we approached the edge of a deep valley we could hear the famous roar of several Stags competing for the love of hynds. We got into a great vantage point and started spotting Stags. There were probably 20 in this particular hole. They would lock horns and push each other around and run each other off. As we were spotting the Stags and pointing them out to each other BJ would look at them and tell us "naw that one is just a baby" or "naw he needs another year or two". Hee grabbed his assistant guide and one of the other hunters and over the bank they went. They got into a better spot to shoot from if the "one" appeared.  After the other 3 of us had spotted and pointed out bunches of Stags the one gal with us says "oh look at that one". He was massive way bigger and obviously older than the rest of the Stags. As we're watching him we hear a shot and I can see blood on his front shoulder. Then another shot and the stag begins to falter and try to maintain his balance and finally succumbs to his wounds. 1st stag down and he's an absolute bruiser. Many pictures taken and eventually he is loaded whole into a cart that's pulled behind the atv and headed for the cooler. Now it's dinner time!

[h2ofowlr]

Sounds like a fun hunt.  Definately on my bucket list.

[ASHQUACK]

Video of a couple of our hunts.

[The100Road]

Very cool! Those crowns are awesome. I just went in February also. I almost went with BJ but ultimately went with another outfit. Looks like he runs a good hunt though! What did yours end up scoring? Mine just cleared customs last week and is on the way to the taxi.

[ASHQUACK]

Very cool! Those crowns are awesome. I just went in February also. I almost went with BJ but ultimately went with another outfit. Looks like he runs a good hunt though! What did yours end up scoring? Mine just cleared customs last week and is on the way to the taxi.

He was 414, well over what I paid for. But he has a policy that if he says shoot and it's over you still get it for what you paid. There's no hey look at that one he's bigger so it's going to cost you more stuff going on there. BJ is an awesome guy, great guide and runs one heck of an outfit there. I highly recommend anyone looking check him out.

[lewy]

saweet! Sounds like a feed lot lol

[ASHQUACK]

saweet! Sounds like a feed lot lol

It was anything but a feed lot. Free range Stags on 10k acres. It was simply a target rich environment.  He manages his property well.

[The100Road]

Very cool! Those crowns are awesome. I just went in February also. I almost went with BJ but ultimately went with another outfit. Looks like he runs a good hunt though! What did yours end up scoring? Mine just cleared customs last week and is on the way to the taxi.

He was 414, well over what I paid for. But he has a policy that if he says shoot and it's over you still get it for what you paid. There's no hey look at that one he's bigger so it's going to cost you more stuff going on there. BJ is an awesome guy, great guide and runs one heck of an outfit there. I highly recommend anyone looking check him out.

That’s awesome. Sounds like you had a blast. Mine scored 394. What taxi and mount are you going with?

[fishngamereaper]

 
Congrats..
One of the last few remaining dream hunts for me....maybe one day.

[ASHQUACK]

Very cool! Those crowns are awesome. I just went in February also. I almost went with BJ but ultimately went with another outfit. Looks like he runs a good hunt though! What did yours end up scoring? Mine just cleared customs last week and is on the way to the taxi.

He was 414, well over what I paid for. But he has a policy that if he says shoot and it's over you still get it for what you paid. There's no hey look at that one he's bigger so it's going to cost you more stuff going on there. BJ is an awesome guy, great guide and runs one heck of an outfit there. I highly recommend anyone looking check him out.

That’s awesome. Sounds like you had a blast. Mine scored 394. What taxi and mount are you going with?

One of the guys I went with is a retired taxidermist. When our animals get back here he will be the one to mount them. I haven't decided on the pose yet. We did cape them all long and I'm thinking about a pedestal mount with his head tipped forward a little bit. I really want to show off the crowns. Either that or a roar pose with his nose up mouth slightly open.  Did you bring your ivories back?

[ASHQUACK]

Congrats..
One of the last few remaining dream hunts for me....maybe one day.

Thanks! And I highly recommend going. I didn't think it was ever going to happen. But I had a buddy tell me once a long time ago. Put the deposit down, once you do, your committed! He was right! Rest his soul but I have done this a few times and he was absolutely right. He passed away young, from cancer. A lot of his wisdom still lives on to this day. But that is another post for another time.

[The100Road]

Very cool! Those crowns are awesome. I just went in February also. I almost went with BJ but ultimately went with another outfit. Looks like he runs a good hunt though! What did yours end up scoring? Mine just cleared customs last week and is on the way to the taxi.

He was 414, well over what I paid for. But he has a policy that if he says shoot and it's over you still get it for what you paid. There's no hey look at that one he's bigger so it's going to cost you more stuff going on there. BJ is an awesome guy, great guide and runs one heck of an outfit there. I highly recommend anyone looking check him out.

That’s awesome. Sounds like you had a blast. Mine scored 394. What taxi and mount are you going with?

One of the guys I went with is a retired taxidermist. When our animals get back here he will be the one to mount them. I haven't decided on the pose yet. We did cape them all long and I'm thinking about a pedestal mount with his head tipped forward a little bit. I really want to show off the crowns. Either that or a roar pose with his nose up mouth slightly open.  Did you bring your ivories back?

Ivory’s got shipped back with the antlers. Going to ask the taxi to mail them to me once he gets them so they don’t get lost.

I’m thinking a pedestal similar to this.

[ASHQUACK]

Very cool! Those crowns are awesome. I just went in February also. I almost went with BJ but ultimately went with another outfit. Looks like he runs a good hunt though! What did yours end up scoring? Mine just cleared customs last week and is on the way to the taxi.

He was 414, well over what I paid for. But he has a policy that if he says shoot and it's over you still get it for what you paid. There's no hey look at that one he's bigger so it's going to cost you more stuff going on there. BJ is an awesome guy, great guide and runs one heck of an outfit there. I highly recommend anyone looking check him out.

That’s awesome. Sounds like you had a blast. Mine scored 394. What taxi and mount are you going with?

One of the guys I went with is a retired taxidermist. When our animals get back here he will be the one to mount them. I haven't decided on the pose yet. We did cape them all long and I'm thinking about a pedestal mount with his head tipped forward a little bit. I really want to show off the crowns. Either that or a roar pose with his nose up mouth slightly open.  Did you bring your ivories back?

Ivory’s got shipped back with the antlers. Going to ask the taxi to mail them to me once he gets them so they don’t get lost.

I’m thinking a pedestal similar to this.

I do like that.