NEW ZEALAND STAGS’ HEADS 
stalker. When the Hunter River rises after heavy rains the bed of the 
valley is inundated. Scattered clumps of bush straggle up the hillsides in 
patches, and as the valley lengthens these develop into a big wood towards 
Mount Ferguson, the home of many fine stags. The Makarora again is 
heavily wooded. Fine as are many of the recent heads, I doubt if any have 
been killed superior to some which I saw in the Christ Church Exhibition 
of 1907, with one or two possible exceptions. Undoubtedly of these the 
best all round was a magnificent royal killed by H. E. Hodgkinson in 1901. 
It is one of the finest red deer heads I have ever seen, a perfect normal stag, 
combining long, well -developed tines with great length, heavy beam and 
unusual, indeed record, span. The left bay is a little weak, but the head 
otherwise is perfect. Other heads which run this beautiful trophy very 
close are C. D. Hodgkinson’s fourteen -pointer and a splendid royal killed 
by my friend, Mr Melville Gray. This head resembles Hodgkinson’s 
royal very closely, though the span was not so good and the lower tines 
were short. 
The head with the greatest number of points killed in Otago is a 
twenty-pointer killed by J. Faulks in the Makarora in 1912, with 
40 inches’ length of horn. In this season, owing probably to the mild 
winter and early spring, heads with eighteen and nineteen points were 
also shot. 
An eighteen -pointer killed by Baron von Kusserov in 1908 formerly 
held the record for points. H. E. Hodgkinson killed a seventeen-pointer 
with palmated tops, a peculiarity I noticed in only one other Otago head, 
a fifteen -pointer. 
In 1911 a thirteen-pointer was killed by J. Forbes in the Hunter Valley, 
which is given, according to New Zealand measurements, a length of horn 
of 49£ inches. I have not seen this head, and, without in the least wishing 
to question the good faith of those who are responsible for it, am 
doubtful of this being correct according to our standard of measuring. 
It is a narrow “ hoop ” head coming in very close at the tops. I have heard 
rumours of a 50 -inch head killed last year in the Hunter Valley, but have 
obtained no definite information with regard to it. 
The most remarkable head ever killed in the Rakaia Gorge was shot by 
Mr C. Williams in 1912. In addition to great beam (6| inches) the horns 
measured respectively, right 48 inches, and left 47f inches, which is quite 
exceptional even for a New Zealand stag. New Zealand measurements 
make Mr Williams’ head an inch or so longer. Those which I give are the 
417 
HHH 
