JD from Amalgamated Helicopters dropped us off in clear skies and zero wind.
It was our first time in this area, so it was great to be able to see the locale as we flew in.
After dealing with our gear, we headed up over Mt Hector and Winchcombe Ridge, where we spotted good numbers of deer up in the tussock. However the stags we saw were all eight pointers or less.
We reached the last big tussock basin and heard a stag roaring, soon locating him high in the tussock in an easy spot to take. A closer look revealed he was a large mature stag with one good right antler of six points and no antler on the left so we left him in the hope that he could restore to a full head next year.
The next day we headed north towards Dennan Ridge and Table Top. A number of stags were roaring, and we finally located a big eight pointer that was worth a closer look. Getting to within 200 metres we could see he had a really nice head and, as this was supposed to be the last day with
