Day 1: We were flown from Milford Sound by Geoff Shanks Milford Sound Helicopters] to our Mt Longsight block at 9 am. Our party of six guys were split into two groups of three. Three were dropped at Escape Cove [Bligh Sound] and the other three were dropped 2km north of Amazon Cove [Bligh Sound]. My party included myself [Jamie Carle], George Spence, and Steven Vanderpole.

We each had in excess of 40kgs of weight of gear and food, so it took 5hours to bush bash 2km from the landing point to where we setup main base camp. It was raining hard by this stage so we quickly established two tarpaulins and erected the three man tent under the tarps.

Day 2: We left base camp at first light, and headed toward the tops with enough food for one night. It took the entire day only to find a terrible route to the tops. It took 8hours of clambering and crawling to cover 1.2km on the map, and we eventually struck an area to camp with an hour light to spare. We spotted 3deer in a clearing back down the valley we climbed from.

After pitching the tent beside a tarn, George and I nipped out for a quick 30min hunt before dark. We spotted two scrappy red deer moving through the tops; George shot the first [a 9 pointer] at 104 yards with his 30-06, and I shot the other [a 10pointer] at 269 yards with my 25-06. At least we had some meat in case we decided to stay for more than one night.

Day 3: We left camp before light and began heading towards where we had shot the deer the previous day. Staggeringly we vaguely identified three red stags [a 9pointer, and two spikers] among the bluffy terraces several minutes from camp. Steve quickly climbed to a shooting position and shot the 9pointer and a spiker for meat with his 7mm x 57. The remaining spiker escaped.

We essentially adopted a semi-purist approach to herd management and would cull out scrubby red heads from the block. But any young animals with trophy potential were left [including reds] despite what DoC said about culling red deer.

After lunch we packed up camp and sidled through the tops into a saddle where we pitched the tent and had 7 stags roaring from the valley below. We were now running low on food, and resorted to venison on its own.

Day 4: We packed up camp at first light and headed down into the valley where 7stags were roaring the evening before. The climb down was a much easier route with prominent animal tracks meandering toward the valley floor.

We were entertaining several stags as we descended from the tops. By 10 am I had an aggravated stag roaring his guts out on a slip down stream of us. Seeing as the wind was drifting towards him, we had to cut underneath him. When I saw him he was semi-front on with his head tilted, roaring like a chainsaw. On one side I counted seven well pronounced points and thought he was a 14 p. I shot him under the chin and soon discovered his other antler beam lacked two tines. He was a 12 point red stag with thick timber, measuring 38 inches length and 34 inches width.

Two hours later George roared in a hybrid stag and shot him at 5 m with the 30-06. The stag measured 40 inches length and 36 inches width. We then setup camp nearby.

That evening we had stags roaring left, right and centre, and an attempt was made at a stag roaring behind camp, but it winded Steve.By this stage we had well and truly run out of food. Venison steaks on their own were starting to wear thin on the guys. Day 5: On first light we covered some ground but there was a warm wind and no stags were roaring. Seeing as we were losing condition we left the camp erected and headed down the valley to base camp for food stocks. We stayed at base camp that night and caught up on food and sleep. Day 6: We were up again before light and loaded our packs with ample quantities of food before heading back up the valley to the other camp. On our way up the valley we got roaring to a stag on a clearing at 9 am . It was Steve's turn to shoot, and by 9.15 am Steve had his first-ever trophy on the deck. A large 13point red stag with 43 inch length, and 34 inch width.

Interestingly enough, one year later during the first ballot period in 2007, Bevan shot this 12pointer in the exact same location as steve's 13. The bones were right next to Steve's one. I had told Bevan about where we had been successful the year before, and they had similar successes.

We arrived at camp before lunch and had a refreshing wash under the waterfall behind camp. This night was to be our last night in the valley.

Day 7: George and I left camp before light and climbed into the headwater, roaring every 15 minutes, only to hear one distant stag moan. His pathetic roar was lacking enthusiasm and sounded like he would quickly lose interest, so we fast tracked in on him. Once we were in his territory I roared while thrashing branches and breaking sticks. The stag piped up and roared twice before sneaking in our direction. He was a mutant stag with no potential whatsoever and subsequently received 100 g under the chin.

We arrived back at camp before lunch and began packing up. We needed to get back to base camp and begin preparing for the bush bash back out to drop off point. We eventually arrived at base camp at 3.30 pm and slept and ate and slept again. Day 8: We slept in and were not up until well after light. Today was our second to last day in Fiordland. We were happy with our hunting successes, so we did not do any more hunting. We packed up camp and left by lunchtime and proceeded to spend the next 3hours bush bashing back to our drop off point

Once we were at Bligh Sound, Steve set up a fishing rig from a broken chain link [that he sharpened with my diamond stone] and tied it to some bailing twine. He caught three fish [two blue cod, and a parrot fish] before something chewed through the bailing twine and broke it. George retrieved several baskets full of mussels and we had a royal feed of seafood.

The trip was nearing an end. Day 9: The helicopter arrived at 9.30 am and picked our crew, and the other crew [who we hadn't seen or heard from for the entire trip] and flew us back to Milford.

In summary our crew of: George Spence, Steven Vanderpole, and I [Jamie Carle] saw 48 deer, and shot 8 stags. While the other crew saw 6 deer, and shot 3stags. Total number of deer seen was 54, with 11 stags shot. The stags were: 14point red stag 12point hybrid 2 x 12point red stag 2 x 10point red stag 3 x 9point red stag 1 x 8point stag 1 x spiker We flew in with Jeff Shanks from Milford Sound Helicopters, but be wary, if you catch Jeff on a bad day he may drop your bundle of antlers from 8meters above the skid. That's what he did with us and it chipped a few of the boys antlers, and broke a tine off. Other than that, he is an excellent chopper pilot. Jeffr Shanks contact details are: Phone: +64 3 249 7845 or +64 3 249 8384 Here are some photos of my other hunting mates who hunted the North part of the Mt Longsight block, Fiordland, South Island, NZ. 14point stag. Very large 10point stag, shot in the bush a hour from camp.

The boys 14pointer. Massively heavy animal, with some typical heavy fiordland timber [antler]

For those of you who draw this block, you are welcome to contact me for more specific details of the terrain, animal numbers, stag areas... but here are a couple of maps where we went. MY CONTACT details are here For those of you that have hunted this block in the past, I would be quite keen to touch base and see how you'd gone in the past, where you'd been, and what you saw. Particularly if you have any photos, I'm always keen to have a look at your photos.