Free Deer Hunting; In New Zealand

We have an enviable variety Deer species available to hunt for free in New Zealand, due to the fact deer are introduced and largely considered a pest hunters are encouraged to hunt year round.

Not all these game animals are strictly deer but they are all worthy trophy animals available to hunt free on public land in New Zealand.

Writing this list opened my eyes to how lucky New Zealander's are to have such a variety of trophy animals free-ranging on public lands available to hunt year round with few restrictions,

New Zealand offers Hunters world wide some of the best deer hunting in the world.

Species Available In NZ

Red Deer
Fallow Deer
Sika Deer
Wapiti or Elk
Sambar Deer
Whitetail Deer
Rusa Deer
Chamois
Tahr

All these animals are available to hunt free range on public lands for no or very little cost. Or if you visit New Zealand to hunt and time is short you can hunt a trophy animal in a fair chase hunting reserve.

Red Deer are widely spread through out New Zealand and is the mainstay trophy or meat animal when hunting in New Zealand, Red Deer from the UK were the first deer to be released in New Zealand.

They were selected from English and Scottish herds and they quickly adapted to New Zealand conditions to the extent they were quickly considered a pest and later a ecological disaster, until intensive Government culling plus commercial meat hunting or live capture began to control their numbers,

deer hunting became "free to all" due to deer numbers getting out of control - herd protection was lifted around 1930, with Govt funded culling of all deer followed.

This culling led into the "Venison Industry" the export of wild deer meat was a booming industry from 1950 on.

Helicopters and jet boats were employed to access the more remote rugged areas and to remove the carcass to a buyers chiller, then onto an exporter. Helicopter, jet boats or light planes quickly took over from hunting on foot (ground hunting), The value of venison became obvious with the increase of the meat exports,

So in came a law change in the 1960s to allow the farming of deer and then to using helicopters and net guns for live capture of deer from the wild for stocking of deer farms, The venison industry is still an important part of the New Zealand farming economy, normally deer are run in combination with sheep or beef.

Now the recreational hunter is used as the main method of deer control or in extreme cases the New Zealand Government uses the controversial 1080 poison to help keep the deer population down,

The aerial application of 1080 via helicopter is very unpopular with hunters and many conservationists in New Zealand, for good reason as the long term environmental affects of this animal control method is unknown

Red Deer : arrived 1851, released in the Nelson area, native to Europe, North Africa, Middle East.

Fallow Deer : arrived 1864, released Nelson, native to Europe, Middle East.

Sika Deer : arrived 1905, released in the Kaimanawa Ranges - Taupo, native to Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Russia, Vietnam, China.

Wapiti or North American Elk : arrived 1905, released George Sound - Fiordland.

Sambar : arrived 1875, released close to Rangitikei River - Manawatu, North island, native to India, Sri Lanka, South-east Asia.

Whitetail Deer : arrived 1905, released on Stewart Island and in the Rees valley - North of Lake Wakatipu, native to North and South America.

Rusa Deer : arrived 1907, released in the Galatea foothills - Bay Of Plenty, native to South-East Asia.

Chamois : arrived 1907, released near Mt Cook, native to Austria.

Tahr : arrived 1904-1909, released near Mt Cook, native Himalayan mountain goat.

Tips For Hunting In New Zealand Bush

If the access road ends with a Department Of Conservation track walk along the track for at least an 1 hour, get well away from the easy hunting close to the road, deer that live close to road ends are hunted to distraction, and are very alert.

As you walk along the track collect GPS way points so you will be able to find the track easily when it is dark

When you see fresh deer sign crossing the track, this is a good time to begin to your hunt, hunt off the track for an hour or so in a semi circle until you meet up with the track again...mark the track way point then repeat, keep doing this until you find where the deer are living.

Taking GPS way points as you hunt is sensible if you are totally new to hunting, or you are unsure of the area, this will make it very easy to find the track or to know how far the track is from you at all times, this is important if it is getting late in the day.

All ways carry a good map and a compass to back up your GPS.

When you see a deer it will almost certainly be close, 20 to 40 meters, you only have a split second to IDENTIFY YOUR TARGET pick the best spot to hit it and shoot.