Come hunt with us on our private hunting ranch in beautiful Kaikoura, New Zealand, where the mountains meet the sea.
Join the Spey Creek Trophy Hunting family and you too will experience and enjoy the hunt of a lifetime! Call us today.
Contact Us
Wyatt McBride
PH: 559-303-4289
John W McBride
PH: 559-901-9505
Fax: 800-878-7312
1525 East Noble
Suite 113
Visalia, CA 93292
New Zealand Address
125 Scarborough Terrace
Kaikoura, New Zealand
Phone: 011-64-3-319-7169
Red Stag
Red deer were first introduced to New Zealand in 1851 from Europe. They have prospered in the predator-free environment. Not only are they found in the wild, but they are also raised for venison and velvet much like cattle are farmed in the U.S. The red deer is a majestic animal, with a rack like an elk’s, and a slightly
smaller body.
The red stag is similar to the elk in its mating ritual. Each autumn (March and April in New Zealand), the stags (males) gather a harem of hinds (females), and fight any stag threatening his harem. It is during this period that they “roar” (sounding similar to a lion), just as an elk would bugle. This is a fun and exciting time to hunt them; however, they can be hunted from March through August.
Tahr
This rugged relation to the goat has a dense, wooly winter coat that is reddish to dark brown and has a thick undercoat. With their winter coat, males also grow a long, shaggy mane around the neck and shoulders, which extends down the front legs. After the spring molt, the coat is much shorter and lighter in color. Their legs are relatively short and their head is proportionally small. The horns are triangular in cross-section and are found in both sexes, and curve upward, backwards, and then inwards, to a maximum length of 45 cm/18 inches, and are usually larger in males.
Himalayan thars are most active during the early morning and later afternoon. They spend the middle of the day resting among rocks and vegetation. Very shy and wary, they are difficult to approach, especially from downhill.
Elk
Elk in New Zealand are the Rocky Mountain Elk, and are raised commercially for venison and hunting. They were first introduced in the early 1900s, but did not fare well. There are no free-range elk in New Zealand today. Elk range in color from their tan summer coat to their dark brown winter coat. Their buff colored rump patch always makes them easily distinguishable from the other deer species.
They have a dark shaggy mane about their necks to their chests. Of all the deer species, elk are the most vocal. From a newborns first bleat or the wining or barking of the female, to the low-pitched bugle of the bull, elk are constantly communicating to one another. Elk have excellent smell, hearing, and sight, but depend on their sense of smell as their number one defense.
Chamois
Chamois is French for wild goat. Yes, the “shammy” that we use to polish our cars comes from the hide of the chamois. The short, smooth summer coat is overall tawny or reddish-brown, while in winter it becomes a chocolate brown, with guard hairs measuring 10-20 cm/4-8 inches long covering a wooly under layer. There is a slight mane on the throat. The jaw, cheeks, and nose-bridge are strikingly white, and there is a black stripe running from the eye to the muzzle. The slender, black horns are found in both sexes, the top third of which are sharply curved backwards like hooks, and can reach a length of 32 cm/12.8 inches.
When alarmed, chamois speed to the most inaccessible places, making leaps as high as 2 meters/6.6 feet and spanning as much as 6 meters/19.8 feet. Extremely nimble and surefooted, the chamois can travel up to 50-kmph/30 mph over steep or uneven ground.
Fallow Deer
The fallow deer were first introduced to New Zealand in 1864. Like the red deer, they came from Europe. They flourish on both the North and South Islands. They are the second most numerous deer in New Zealand, following the red deer. The fallow deer are smaller than red deer, with palmated horns, like those of a moose. They come in five basic colors: black, white, ginger, white and tan spotted, and chocolate brown. The rut of the fallow deer runs from early April to late May. They are a very aggressive animal during this period, and bucks, who lose all fear during the rut, may battle until death. Occasionally a fallow buck will even take on a much larger red stag. Their mating sound is similar to a bullfrog croaking, and is generated from deep in the throat.
Arapawa Ram
Arapawa sheep are one of the only black-faced sheep, and are unique to New Zealand. A mature ram will have a full curl, and makes a handsome trophy.
Arapawas vary in color from white, black, to a combination of the two colors. They tend to run in flocks, but bachelor groups of rams also roam the mountains. The hunting season for this trophy is year-round.
Rumor has it that Captain Cook first introduced the Arapawa to New Zealand in about 1773.
Boar
New Zealand has a large population of pigs, a combination of feral, Russians and blues. At Spey Creek, we have a large population of blues. They get their name from their grayish-blue color. We also have black Russian boars and feral pigs on the ranch.
Pigs are hunted year-round. A popular sport in New Zealand is to hunt pigs with dogs. But be forewarned: it requires great stamina to run up and down the mountains after the dogs. Once contained by the dogs, the hunter finishes the pursuit with a camera, knife or gun.
Brave Kiwis prefer using a knife!
Goats
Feral goats are formidable prey in New Zealand. They typically run in herds, with one or two big billies per herd. A mature billy goat will measure thirty inches or more from horn tip to horn tip. A real trophy is anything over forty inches.
Feral goats can be a variety of several colors, but white, black, brown and orange, or a combination of these colors, are the most common.
The domesticated Angora goat, also found in New Zealand, is easy to differentiate from the feral, as it has long white hair. Goats never drop their horns, and mate year-round. They can also be hunted year-round.
