Nyles, New Zealand has one herd of Wapiti (Elk) in Fiordland which is a very rugged area on the South west bottom corner of New Zealand.
I belive the orignal animals released were a give from Roosevelt.
Over the years the herd has been in decline due to increased helicopter activity and interbreeding with Red deer (which are throughout pretty much all of NZ)
In recent years an organisation has been set up which ballots the hunting on public land (normally our public land is free for all hunting), ballot holders pay a donation and the money is used for aerial (helicopter) culling of red deer and poor wapiti type animals.
There are still some big Wapiti around but alot are hybrids. The one I shot was mainly red deer and was roaring flat out. We stalked to within 100 metres and waited on a steep rocky slip and I let out a roar. He went absolutely ballistic and did a bugle or two before charging out and meeting a Barnes TSX.
One of his top tines has a wapiti type throwback.
Another member of our group shot a large bull with a bigger 11 point head but it turned out to be a 3 year old, the head may have got really good in a few years but it can be hard to tell in the heat of the moment, he shot it at about 10-15 yards.
I have only done one trip so far to the Wapiti area, its hard to get a ballot and its a long way to drive (around 13hrs from home, then a boat or heli trip into the block)
Check out this ugly sod, a red deer with a bone condition (name escapes me at the moment)
If I'm here in 2010 give me a call
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