Deer Stalking In Era Of Record Trophy Heads

Press, Volume C, Issue 29638, 7 October 1961, Page 3

Deer Stalking In Era Of Record Trophy Heads

IReviewd by B.N.C.]

My Stalking Memories. By Major R. A, Wilson. Pegasus Press. 135 pp.

To have penetrated into the rugged, wildly magnificent mountains in the remote Fiordland and Southern Lakes regions of the South Island in quest of trophy heads rivalling those to be found anywhere else in the world has been the rare experience eg Major Wilson. In his book. Major Wilson describes expeditions he made into famous South Island game areas, in an era when distinguished sportsmen from all over the world were attracted to this country in search of trophies of the hunt.

It is only within recent years that New Zealand rifle sportsmen have begun to produce books on deer shooting in this country. In a land in which deer and other prized game have found conditions k favourable that they are now found in pest proportions, there will undoubtedly be many more books written on the subject Major Wilson’s work is a fitting addition to two other books which come to mind. “Deer Hunter," and “A Good Keen Man,” which describe professional deer shooting. Yet “My Stalking Memories” 'is unique in that it deals almost solely with the Southern Lakes and Fiordland region which harbours one of the biggest concentrations of deer in the world. Not only this., but it has produced a large number of world class red deer heads, and also possesses the only wapiti herd in the Southern Hemisphere—animals which have outstripped their forbears in North America in the size of heads. Major Wilson takes the reader on stalking expeditions into mountain country which is almost legendary among shooters, the Wills. Hunter Landsborough. Burke, and Makaroa; all of them rising amidst the tangled ranges in the southern part of the South Island, and containing extensive shooting country some thousands of feet above the valley floors. The author’s stalking trips were made when many of the isolated side valleys, and the basins in their headwaters, had been viewed by only one or two of his contemporary stalkers. Even today some are visited only rarely. One can thus readily understand

the delight which he expresses in this type of deer shooting, Combining exploration, stalking, and mountaineering in one. In the high country in which Major Wilson's exploits are based, straddling the main divide and with peaks rising to more than 9000 ft, there are many privations for the stalker. In one watershed in which he camped he describes the great difficulty of finding a flat enough area to camp because of the steep country. “Eventually I built a platform on a tree with branches extending horizontally from the rock face. A niche in the rock gave us a small level spot for cooking. It made quite a comfortable camp ...” he says. In two instances he relates of even deer being seen to lose their footing and plunge to their deaths down the steep slopes of the glacial valleys. Then there are the everpresent hazards of torrential rain, and swollen rivers which cut off the stalker’s retreat down valley, while fog and storm clouds blanket the tops, and belly down against the bush in the valley heads. But, he says, one soon forgets the arduous toil undergone, the discomfort endured, and the depression caused, by bad weather or lost opportunities, and remembers only the glorious frosty mornings and fine days among the crags and the snow, the triumph of the successful stalk, and the friendships commenced by long days on the hills together and cemented by evenings spent round the camp fire. “To climb on to the tops on a fine day and with a wonderful panorama spread round one to climb about the ridges and peaks, always opening up new scenes and fresh country, with the lure of an immense stag always round the next spur; this to me is the cream of sport” the author says in yet another glowing account of the country which lured him back year after year for many rearing seasons. Where else can such shooting be had amidst snow-capped ranges, bush, rivers, lakes, and glaciers? The book Is extremely well supplemented by more than 80 photographs of the country and of world and New Zealand record heads taken from the region. Also included are maps of the areas, a list of record trophy heads, and comments on the Government’s deer destruction policy.