Rugged Arapawa rams

The global pandemic threw travel plans out of the window for many hunters. But for me, out of the blue, my mate Scottie Dempster phoned. He had been in contact with an outfitter who could arrange a hunt for red deer stags across the ditch in the Land of the Long White Cloud’s South Island. Was I interested? I quickly agreed to the venture.

We discussed the details, setting our plans for the middle of the roar. We had also been told that there were some good fallow in the area. Topping the whole deal off, if time permitted, we would hunt an Arapawa ram each.

The vagaries of international border restrictions meant that the trip was delayed. We eventually