THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
Gommittee of the Otago Acclimatization Society very rightly punished 
these men by refusing to issue licences to them for stalking again. To reach 
the stalking -ground the sportsman leaves Dunedin in the early morning 
and reaches Clyde about 4.30 p.m. The distance to Cromwell, 13§ miles, 
is covered by coach, and the Clutha River ferried the following morning. 
A drive of 35 miles brings him to Lake Hawea, 25 miles in length. Messrs 
Taylor have recently started a service of motor launches, which add con- 
siderably to the comfort of the journey. From Hawea the road lies straight 
up the Hunter Valley. The licence costs £4 and entitles the holder to four 
stags, carrying not less than eight points. It is possible, I believe, to 
arrange for a second licence, though in all probability the hard-working 
stalker who means to kill first-class heads will scarcely have time to kill 
eight such stags. 
The season usually opens during the first week in April and, owing to 
the weather, lasts not more than a month or so, though legally deer may 
be shot until the end of May. These months, of course, correspond to our 
autumn. 
THE RAKAIA HERD. 
I should mention, in addition to the three herds I have already de- 
scribed, the deer found in the Rakaia Gorge, Canterbury. These are 
descended from stock imported from Stoke, in 1897, and grow the 
heaviest and largest heads of any stags in New Zealand. In fact they equal 
in length of horn the Hungarian and Galician heads. I have no record of 
their weights, but have little doubt they approach the heaviest European 
specimens in this respect also. 
Geographically they are situated in mountainous country about midway 
between the Nelson and Otago herds. The winters are shorter than in the 
latter district; the grass feed is not so good, but the bush feeding much 
better. The first stags in this herd were killed in 1907. Never having stalked 
in this district myself, I cannot speak with personal authority. I believe, 
however, that much of the stalking takes place on the river flats in long 
grass where spying is a matter of great difficulty. This long grass, which 
is a feature of the Canterbury country, reaches as high as a man’s chest. 
Any person may apply to the Canterbury Acclimatization Society for a 
licence to stalk in the Rakaia, and their names are drawn for, as the number 
of licences granted is very limited. 
It would, perhaps, be as well that I should say a few words as to expenses. 
408 
