THE MIDNIGHT BULL
The U-shaped valleys carved by ancient glaciers tower over me, covered by dense podocarp forests that climb up the imposing granite bluffs reaching to the sky. This is where the keas soar above the windswept tussock and snowcapped peaks. The echoes of the helicopter disappear once it’s over the saddle. I stand next to the deep lake waters that look the same colour as the cup of tea in my hand, stained with tannins from the lush foliage constantly delivered by the rivers and countless waterfalls that appear only when rain falls
The local weka appears to greet me and I see plentiful trout lazily swimming by as I battle hungry sandflies. Suddenly the silence is broken by the reason I have come to this place…it almost doesn’t seem real… it’s the sound of a bugle from a mighty Wapiti bull, part of an historic herd that has called Fiordland home since 1905.
To me, chasing these animals during the bugle is the greatest and most challenging hunting experience to be had in New Zealand. I've been hunting Wapiti in Fiordland off and on for ten years and I have well and truly ‘caught the bug’. All of the adventures I've had there have been with my father Paul. I’m very proud and grateful to have been able to share this passion with him. We set the goal early on to work towards taking a mature modern day trophy bull each with as many pure Wapiti traits as possible. I'm predominantly a trophy hunter and not ashamed to say it. We also decided to focus on one particular valley that has strong bloodlines with a rich heritage of trophy Wapiti, and then try to get to know it as well as we could.
It had
