Shane Tunnell’s Poronui Experience

Shane Tunnell’s Poronui Experience

Shane Tunnell is a lifelong hunter, a former hunting guide, and the President of Protech Marketing. After nearly 20 years of dreaming about hunting a red stag in New Zealand, he finally made it to Poronui.

I grew up chasing deer, javelina, quail, ducks. Pretty much anything you can hunt in Arizona, I’ve hunted or guided for. I spent years guiding in Arizona and New Mexico, and I’m on the board of a foundation that takes wounded veterans and disabled kids on hunts. I’ve also hunted in places like Mongolia, Newfoundland, and Canada. When I’m not working, I’m usually in the mountains with my horses, just getting some sanity back.

The first time I found out about Poronui was when I ran across them at an outdoor expo in 2005. I followed them up online, and started emailing them, even though I wasn’t able to make the trip to New Zealand at that time. But we kept emailing: for almost 20 years, the number one thing I wanted to do was go to New Zealand and hunt a Red Stag. I don’t know whether you want to call it a dream or a bucket list or something along those lines – or all of the above.

I had done a ton of research and looked at a bunch of different places, and I just felt comfortable talking to the people at Poronui. When I got to a point in life where I could make it happen, I pulled a few buddies together and we booked the trip.

On that first trip, I went all in with a three animal package: Red Stag, Sika, and Fallow. The hunting was unbelievable. Challenging, fair, beautiful country, and exactly the kind of spot‑and‑stalk experience I’d always imagined.

I harvested all three animals, and sharing that with lifelong hunting partners made it even better. We still talk about that trip as one of the best we’ve ever taken. All four of us had an amazing time and couldn’t say anything more.

I’ve been back twice. I came out in July for my birthday, joined by one of my lifelong hunting buddies, and I was there in March with my wife Robyn. She’ll come out and take pictures with me, but she’s never been part of a hunting trip before – but Poronui changed that. She took an archery lesson, went horseback riding, did a cooking session, and loved every minute of it. The team even helped us celebrate our anniversary with a private chef’s dinner in the Stables; we’d planned a night at the Safari Camp but the weather turned wild. It was one of the coolest experiences we’ve ever had together.

I got a few days to fish, too. It was towards the tail end of the fishing season, but it was still super fun and I caught some nice rainbow and brown trout. My buddies got to fish as well, so we had a blast.

Poronui is the people. From the people that check you in, to the hunting guides, to the cooks, to the wait staff, to the help, I’ve grown quite fond of a lot of people there and look forward to seeing them when I go back. More than anything I just can’t say enough about the entire staff at Poronui. The hunting is over the top but the people are really what make it special!

And the camaraderie at dinner is something I didn’t expect. The way Poronui brings people together and makes it fun for everyone is super unique and really cool. You’ll meet and talk to people from Jackson Hole, Australians, Kiwis, anglers, pheasant hunters, first-timers. Somehow everyone ends up talking, laughing, and sharing stories.

Robyn and I travelled from Taupō to Nelson to Queenstown, and everywhere we went, people were warm and easy to talk to. I could pick anyone out of the entire crowd and go up and have a great conversation with them. That’s the way I feel about New Zealand in general. It just seems clean and refreshing there to me.

If you’re thinking about going, my advice is simple: talk to the Poronui team. Tell them what you want from your hunt. They’ll listen, they’ll tailor the experience, and they’ll make it happen. I probably had 15 or 20 conversations with them before my first trip, and every one of them helped shape the experience into something unforgettable.

Poronui was a dream twenty years in the making for me, and it turned out even better than I imagined. I’ve fallen in love with the place, the people, and the country. And I’ll keep coming back as long as they’ll have me.