NEW ZEALAND STAGS’ HEADS 
NYONE well acquainted with stags’ heads would have but 
little difficulty in assigning to their respective localities 
typical heads from the three, perhaps I should say four, 
principal red deer herds of New Zealand. 
The Wairarapa heads, heavy and massive, with com- 
i paratively short horns and many points, differ as much 
from the Otago heads, with their wide span, long horns and, as a rule, 
comparatively few points, as do the latter from the narrow, ugly, unsym- 
metrical horns of the Nelson deer. Last comes the Rakaia Gorge herd, and 
whether these can now lay claim to be considered pure wild deer, after 
being established for about seventeen years, I leave the reader to decide. 
Long curving brows and tremendously developed back points in addition 
to massive beam are characteristic of these heads. 
According to Mr Hardcastle, who quotes from an article which appeared 
in the “Field ’’(September 15, 1906), the Windsor herd has been replenished 
at different times from English, Scottish, German and probably Danish 
stock. “The result has produced, in the Wairarapa herd, stags that are 
remarkable for their massive antlers, some of which are of the German 
type, and others again more resembling the Scottish form. The antlers 
do not grow to great length, but some are very wide in spread over all 
(i.e. the greatest outside width, a characteristic of German heads), and 
there is a good proportion of Imperials, the most number of points 
recorded being twenty -two.” This head now hangs in the Wellington 
Club, and is, as may be imagined, excessively ugly. It was killed by 
Mr A. Grace. I have only come across one Wairarapa head which reached 
40 inches in length. The majority of the best heads range from about 
34 inches to just under this figure. One or two horns may measure 
7 inches in circumference. 
The stags are clean earlier than in the South Island, and their heads are 
not so much affected by climatic conditions. In Otago the majority of the big 
stags winter far up in the gorges under the Alpine ranges and are conse- 
quently more under the influence of a late and stormy season. A mild winter 
and early spring means for them, as it does for our Scottish deer, good 
heads; a severe winter and long late spring a setback to the development of 
their antlers. The South Island stalkers are proud of maintaining that 
their herd is the only one which exhibits the true Scottish type of antler, 
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