Planning a New Zealand hunt from the other side of the world.

Decide what you want to hunt, and when

New Zealand's signature trophies are Himalayan tahr and chamois in the Southern Alps, and red stag and fallow at lower country. What you want to hunt shapes where you go and when.

Timing matters more than most first-timers expect. The red stag roar, when the stags are vocal and active, runs through the autumn, roughly late March into April, and it is the prime window for a stag hunt. Tahr and chamois are hunted year round but are at their best in the winter months, when the bulls carry full capes. If a particular animal is the reason for your trip, build your dates around its season first, then fit everything else around that.

Not sure which animal or which season suits you? Browse by species and see which outfitters specialise in what.

Read the full seasons guide.

Read more: Building a combo hunt

Choose your outfitter

This is the decision everything else rests on, and it is the reason this directory exists.

An outfitter does far more than put you on an animal. Most sort your access and permits, your accommodation, your trophy handling, often your firearm, and they're your contact for questions long before you arrive. The way an operator handles your early emails is one of the most honest previews you get of how the whole hunt will run.

Compare a few. Look at what they specialise in, where they hunt, whether the ground is free-range or estate, and how they come across when you ask a direct question. Every operation in this directory is listed on the same terms, so you are comparing like with like.

Read more: How to choose an outfitter, Free-range vs estate and DIY vs guided

Sort your rifle or bow

You have three choices, and they carry very different amounts of paperwork.

Bring your own rifle, and you will need a visitor firearms licence and an import permit, applied for online well before you travel. Bring a bow instead, and there is no licence and no permit at all, which makes it the simplest weapon to travel with. Or leave the lot at home and use a rifle your outfitter provides, which removes the paperwork entirely.

Each path is straightforward once you know the steps. We have written both up in full.

Read more: What rifle and gear to bring

Work out the real budget

A guided New Zealand hunt is a high-value trip, and the headline hunt price is not the whole number. Build your budget from the parts: the hunt or trophy fees, international and domestic flights, the firearm paperwork if you are bringing your own, trophy preparation and shipping at the end, and the extras like extra animals or non-hunting days.

The single most useful habit is to get every cost in writing from your outfitter before you commit, so there are no surprises at the end of the trip. An operator who gives you clear numbers up front is showing you something about how they run.

Read more: Tipping your guide and Helicopter hunting

Plan to get your trophy home

This is the step hunters forget, and the one with the longest timeline. Getting antlers, capes and skulls from New Zealand to your door takes paperwork, a custom crate, freight on one of the few airlines that still carry trophies, and customs clearance at your end. Budget for it, and allow around six months start to finish.

It is all manageable once you understand the chain and what it costs. We have broken it down with real figures.

Sort the travel details

The last layer is the ordinary travel admin, made slightly less ordinary by biosecurity. New Zealand has strict rules about bringing in anything that has been in the field, so your boots, packs and outdoor gear must be spotlessly clean on arrival. Beyond that it is the usual: flights, domestic connections to your hunting region, and a day or two of margin around your hunt dates so weather or freight delays do not derail your plans.

Your outfitter does this every season and will tell you exactly how to get to them and what to bring. Ask early.

Read more: How fit you need to be and Biosecurity for hunters