20+ Hours Of Travel -- The Final Hunt For Stag

Finally, after more than 20 hours of travel I'm home in Montana. With the long days hunting, it was a real rush to finish up the hunt and get to the airport. But the last hunt was incredible.

A strong wind was coming off the mountains as a low pressure front slid across the bottom of the south island. Finally the chopper was fixed -- a new tail rotor had been delivered from the States and tested (good idea). I really wanted to film some aerial footage of the mountains, lodge and wildlife. Flying was not an option with the high winds.

It was the last day. I was starting to worry. Stag was still on the menu so we worked through a couple of drainages figuring they would be down low and out of the wind. No luck. Back at the lodge we had lunch, but the pressure was on. We had to find a good stag.

As if scripted, the wind died down and the clouds moved off. I wanted chopper footage so Sam (also the resident copter pilot) brought the Robbins R22 up to the lodge. We pulled the door and I attached my harness to a hard point on the seat. Off over Mt Cecil Station we went -- filming fallow buck, hinds (red deer females) and even a few tahr females. We set up a few nice landscape aerials then did the obligatory lodge circling shot. Great light = great footage!

Back at the lodge Henry, our cameraman, said he hear stags roaring above the lodge. After a five minute run up with the Yamaha Rhino 4x4 we were high on the ridge above the lodge. We walked into the wind and through the grass tussocks. After working over a couple of minor drainages we spotted several stags feeding up the drainage.

It was a text-book stalk. Wind in our face. Lots of knee high grass tussocks for cover. We crawled to the edge of the ridge before it dropped into the drainage. The stags had no idea we were there. Sam picked out the largest -- he would go 340-350 inches and sport a rack with 7x8 points. I sat up with the silenced 300 win mag on shooting sticks. The shot was a mere 150 yards. The stag turned broadside. One shot and he dropped.

What a great way to end a 7 day hunt in New Zealand.

Next month I head to British Columbia for a spring black bear hunt with hounds along with a little turkey action.