Sika Deer 

The Sneakiest of the Deer Species.

Introduced from Asia, the Sika Deer, is sometimes referred to as the ‘Ghost Deer’ because of its elusiveness and its seemingly supernatural ability to move quickly and silently through dense bush and undergrowth.

Found only in certain areas of the North Island, the Sika population is a healthy one, due in a large part to the difficulty a Sika hunt can present to even the most experienced of hunters.

A typical trophy animal bears a 4×4 (8-point) rack. The Sika is smaller than a Red Deer but larger than the Whitetail or Fallow and it offers one of the most exciting and challenging hunting opportunities available anywhere in the world. The screech of an alarmed Sika is a sound guaranteed to startle anyone, and it will definitely stand the hairs on your neck to attention.

During their April and May ‘Rut’ the Sika stags are extremely vocal and aggressive. Their antlers remain hard from February through until September.

FEB

MAR

APR

MAY

JUN

JUL

AUG

SEP

OCT

NOV

DEC

JAN

HIGH

MID

LOW

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Our latest Sika Deer stories…

Stag Hunt

New Zealand Stag Hunt Just in Time There was an hour of light left in the day and we were closing the distance on a group of red stags we had been tailing all day. We were hunting in the Hunters hills range on the South Island of New Zealand. It was steep hill...

New Zealand Tahr Hunt

New Zealand Tahr Hunt

  New Zealand Tahr Stalking Bulls in the Southern Alps It was early afternoon when Kerri arrived in Christchurch, New Zealand.  She was coming over from Nome, Alaska for a backcountry hunting excursion. It was a 5 day hunt that we were about to embark on in...

Red Stag Roar
Red Stag Roar

Red Stag Roar

This time of the year in New Zealand is the beginning of fall, and the stags that roam the hills are coming into the most exciting time of the year, the “rut.” The “rut”, or otherwise known as the “roar” for the red deer starts in the month of March and goes through April in New Zealand.

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