Hunting with John Tate: Guide Jeff’s Story

Hunting with John Tate: Guide Jeff’s Story

Soon after his arrival at Poronui, I met John Tate [link to his story] at the Lodge. And over afternoon tea we discussed the objective of his hunt at Poronui: a trophy Red Stag.

First we had a session at the range for John to assess his gear was still in good working order after the travel, and for me to assess his ability with the bow (this guy can shoot!). After that, we drove around the property to see if we could locate a suitable stag for John, glassing a number of vantage points, and located a number of stags. Discussion over dinner that evening revolved around getting close enough to get an arrow into one of these beasts.

The following morning, from a vantage point above a small river system, we spotted a magnificent Red Stag bedded on a small terrace above the stream – and in a place which we could stalk in from down wind. Everything went to plan and John released an arrow from forty five yards. He placed the arrow perfectly behind the last rib for a quartering away shot, angled forward towards the offside shoulder. The Stag ran approximately fifty yards and expired. It was a clinical and well executed stalk and shot. John was excited and relieved to have finally secured a Trophy Red Stag.

Next, John decided a representative Sika Stag would be nice so off we went, bow in hand. We climbed Poronui Hill at the southern end of the property, which borders the Kaimanawa Forest – the home of our Sika herd in New Zealand.

Numerous representative and first class trophy Sika Stags reside on Poronui Hill, which makes stalking groups of Sika hard work. There are too many eyes. And we got busted by those eyes on numerous occasions.

Cresting a rise and looking into a small valley, we spotted a Sika Stag – not just a representative, but a very nice trophy too. We were at eighty yards, which was a distance John wasn’t comfortable shooting at. But the Sika weren’t aware of our presence, so we had some time to observe the Stag.

John turned and looked at me. The look on his face told me that he had just caught the “Sika bug” (if you have hunted Sika Stags, you will know what that is). A representative was off the menu and a trophy Sika was now on.

Unfortunately that big Sika beat us, as John shared [link to John’s story]. We spent the remaining days climbing up and down Poronui Hill in the rain and wind. We had some very close encounters, but didn’t manage to pull it off. But John has definitely caught the Sika bug, and I’m looking forward to hearing more about his Sika hunting adventures.

His parting words were “I’ll be back” and I hope I am lucky enough to hunt with him again! Thank you John.