Headed to New Zealand for Stag

[Jon Boy]

Are you kidding me?! Thats an awesome stag!!! Looks like such a fun hunt. Can you compare it to elk hunting in the states or is it an entirely different hunt?

[Bitterroot Bulls]

Sweet. Just incredible stuff, Montana.

[Kevin Root]

Nice pictures Montana. I enjoied reading the story. That surely was and is an awesome memory for you.

[Umpqua Hunter]

Those are two awesome stags Montana! What a great time. Thanks for the story.

Years ago, I told my dad if I had a work opportunity there, I would move to New Zealand sight unseen.

[Fink]

Wow, those photos are amazing. Sounds like an awesome time. I may have just added this to my list of things to do before I die.

[hvfd21walker]

Congrats Montana, what an adventure of a Lifetime.

[Montana]

Thanks Everyone..

JB.. Pretty much exactly the same as elk except next to zero hope of harvesting on public land, at least of high quality. But just like any public land hunt here... I'm sure there must be some good ones that come off. The hinds look A LOT like our cow elk.

[Bitterroot Bulls]

I just read somewhere that a DNA study was completed and while people thought for decades elk (wapiti) and red deer were the same species, they found out elk were genetically closer to sika deer than red deer.

Sorry about the vague "read somwhere" reference. I will see if I can dig it up.

I have heard a decent 5 point is a good public land stag in NZ.

[Vanish]

I just read somewhere that a DNA study was completed and while people thought for decades elk (wapiti) and red deer were the same species, they found out elk were genetically closer to sika deer than red deer.

Sorry about the vague "read somwhere" reference. I will see if I can dig it up.

I have heard a decent 5 point is a good public land stag in NZ.

It has always bugged me that they are declared the same species. Sure, they look a bit similar, but ..

1.) Different colors
2.) Make different sounds
3.) Have different antlers
4.) Have different habits

[Edelweiss]

The current CITES naming convention for red deer, elk and sika puts them in the same genus. Which means they are closely related, can interbreed and produce sound fertile offspring.

The last time I looked into this was in 1998, and Sambar and Rusa were also in the Cervus genus. So they have updated things a bit.

Even among elk in North America we have/had the 5 different sub-species/races Tule, Roosevelt, Rocky Mountain, Manitoba and Eastern.

Tule and Roosevelt elk are as far away from Rocky and Manitoba elk as they can be in habits, coloration and horn configuration. Tule elk have crown points like red deer do, and their breeding season is during the heat of their central California summer.

Genus Cervus
Red Deer (Cervus elaphus)
Corsican Red Deer (Cervus corsicanus)
Yarkand Deer (Cervus yarkandensis)
Bactrian Deer (Cervus bactrianus)
Kashmir Stag (Cervus hanglu)
Maral Deer (Cervus maral)
Tibetan Wapiti (Cervus wallichi)
Sichuan Wapiti (Cervus macneilli)
Manchurian Wapiti (Cervus xanthopygus)
American Wapiti (Cervus canadensis)
Sika Deer (Cervus nippon)
Thorold's Deer (Cervus albirostris)