Free-range hunting in New Zealand is going through a purple patch, meaning a period of excellence. Populations of all wild herds are up on private lands, and trophy quality is on the rise as more male animals are allowed to grow to maturity. This is because landowners no longer see wild game as pests but as a financial benefit and are managing the free-ranging herds on their properties. The trend particularly applies to red deer, tahr, sika and perhaps the biggest success story of all - fallow deer. Over the last decade a number of developing properties have fostered quality fallow buck populations that hunting outfitters have discovered and opened to the market. The latest new trophy herd to appear is in the South Island province of Otago, inland from the city of Dunedin.
Hunters will love this property, as the herd inhabits wide-open terrain, without forests or scrub, making for long-distance spotting opportunities, followed by foot-stalking adventures. The most dominant landscape features are sculptured rock tors, with thyme herb bushes and rosehip briars the main vegetation. The scenery is stunning, including flat plateaus, a deep river valley, numerous gullies and undulating hills against a backdrop of striking mountains.....
