Rusa Deer hunting in New Zealand

Rusa are a medium-sized deer originally from the Indonesian archipelago, brought to New Zealand via New Caledonian stock and liberated near Murupara. They are the least widely distributed deer species in the country. The only wild population lives in the eastern Bay of Plenty, east and south-east of Rotorua, through the Galatea faces of north-western Te Urewera. Beyond that pocket, rusa hunting is almost entirely on private land and estates in the North Island.

The rut runs from mid-July into August, out of step with every other deer species in New Zealand because of their tropical ancestry. That timing matters for visiting hunters. It fills the gap after the red stag roar has finished and overlaps the tahr season, so a winter trip can add a rusa when nothing else is calling. The stag's call is a short husky growl rather than a drawn-out bellow, given only a few times a day, and rutting stags mark scrapes with a pungent, sickly-sweet scent.

Outside the rut they are famously elusive. Rusa live in thick cover, run with their antlers laid back along their bodies, and are often seen carrying vegetation tangled in them. Antlers typically carry six points, three a side, in a sweeping lyre shape.

How big is a rusa stag?

A mature rusa stag stands about 1.06 metres at the shoulder (42 inches) and weighs around 122 kg (270 pounds). Hinds stand about 81 cm and weigh up to 70 kg. That makes a stag heavier than an average mule deer buck, which North Dakota puts at 170 pounds and 39 inches at the shoulder. The wild herd lives in north-western Te Urewera.

Sources: DOC, rusa deer; NZ Deerstalkers Association, rusa deer; North Dakota Game and Fish, mule deer.