Too many antlers is never enough

This COVID-19 thing sure has thrown a spanner in the works for travel and hunting in the past year or so, but hopefully ScoMo here in Oz and Saint Jacinda across the ditch in NZ will get our shit in order and we will at least be able to travel again in our own little bubble. If you do happen to be heading across to NZ’s mainland (the South Island) and you enjoy looking at some good examples of the ‘bony protuberances that emanate from deer skulls’, (yep, that’s how they were described a few decades back by a prominent deer academic) then here’s a couple of hints at where you may want to stop for a break or have a coldie.

Just before COVID hit the Old Girl and I went over to the South Island. I had a quick week up the Whataroa hunting tahr, while the bride visited a few friends and family in Christchurch. After that we went on a wee tiki tour around the South Island visiting places where we had worked and lived while I was in the New Zealand Forest Service and the Department of Conservation 30-something years back. A few days into our drive around we were getting near Wanaka when I noticed a sign advertising The World of Deer Museum at the Wanaka aerodrome. Luckily, my beloved was looking at something on her mobile phone at the time and missed the sign.

The World of Deer Museum near Wanaka

As we got near the aerodrome there were a lot of signs/billboards about the fighter aircraft museum and other attractions. I casually asked if she felt like a break and a coffee and maybe a walk around at the air museum? We hadn’t been back here since I worked at Haast in the mid-80s and it would be interesting to see what was here now.

As we pulled into the car park my cover was blown as there was a big sign with ‘World of Deer’ and antlers on it. I gave the bride a "Well, bugger me, isn’t that a pleasant surprise?" look, but she wasn’t having any of it — but too late, we were already parked.

As we walked in, I was warmly greeted by Clive Jermy, the owner of the museum. Clive straight away spotted the glazed look in my eyes as I was looking at the antlers in the entranceway to the museum. Clive, being the gentleman that he is, also spotted the "Here we go again" look in my poor suffering wife’s eyes and kindly offered her a seat and a cup of tea while I was having a look around. This was great, as it meant I didn’t have to feel nearly as guilty as I normally would — kind of, as I knew this this would probably take some time.

Clive has a real passion for deer and red deer breeding and has nearly 40 years’ experience deer farming under his belt owning and running Stanfield Deer Stud. He has also been a councillor and president of the NZ Deer Farmers' Association, as well as chairman of Deer Industry New Zealand and director of the Game Industry Board/Deer Industry New Zealand. This dude is a heavy hitter in the deer world, and over the next hour or so I was to find out that he had a heap of knowledge of red deer and their genetics in New Zealand.

Clive explained to me while walking around that he and two partners had established the museum in 2018 to celebrate red deer and the species’ importance to the New Zealand economy (and the fact that he just loves red deer). Clive had devoted his life to improving the quality of farm-bred deer in New Zealand based around the Woburn and Warnham Court Park and Yugoslavian bloodlines. The results were to produce amazing first-cross deer with antlers which far surpassed the size, weight and number of points in the original bloodlines.

Yeah, I know what you are thinking, "They are only farm animals" — but a deer, is a deer, is a deer. If you love deer and you love antlers, you’re gonna be blown away by what is on the wall of this little museum. One set of antlers had a spread of over 64 inches, another weighed 24 kilograms, while another had over 60-something big points, mind-boggling stuff.

But it’s not all about the farmed deer, there also good examples of wild-shot deer, including a Scottish-type Otago red and a great example of a Poulter head, the herd which had origins in Warnham Court Park. There are also the odd tahr, fallow and chamois heads on the wall as well as a shop with carved antlers and various antler velvet products.

So, while my wife was having a pleasant relaxing cuppa, I was swimming in red deer antlers for an hour or so.

Both of us really enjoyed our wee pit stop (well, at least one of us did!).

We thanked Clive for his hospitality before heading to Wanaka and then on to Haast in South Westland.

The Hard Antler Bar in Haast

As we pulled into the Haast township we noticed that things had changed a bit since we'd lived there in the mid-to-late 80s. For one thing, there was now more motels and hotels than there were houses back then! In 1987 the township consisted of a copper and his family, the local Ag officer, half a dozen road maintenance guys and two Department of Conservation dudes — of which I was one. There are no empty blocks in the township anymore (wich we used to spotlight the odd deer off).

We pulled into the motel we had booked and, bugger me, it was the old office and workshop that I'd worked in which had been re-purposed as a motel! What a hoot!

After checking in we went for a walk around town, found our old house for interest’s sake and then wandered down to the hotel — aptly named the “Hard Antler Bar”.

Yeah, it was good to be back.

We went in and I remembered all over again why I love going back to NZ. Too many antlers are never enough and the Hard Antler Bar takes this to heart seriously. There are antlers hanging on the rafters, some cracking heads on the wall (those lovely clean, simple, Invermark/Scottish-type ones that Bruce Banwell loved so much), plus the odd ball-tearing chamois and tahr head to ogle over as well.

I had a couple of pints of Speights while wandering around looking at the heads. Some had been shot on foot, some out of choppers (Haast was an epicentre for venison recovery in the 70s), and all the heads had been taken by guys I had known. So, it was a good trip down memory lane, followed up by an even better feed of venison and whitebait in the lounge bar afterwards.

For a fella living in Darwin these days, although it was a tad chilly, I was back in deer hunting nirvana for a night and loved every moment of it.

So, if you are heading across the ditch in our post-COVID bubble and you are having a wee drive around the lower part of the South Island, keep an eye out for The World of Deer Museum and make sure you drop into the Hard Antler Bar for a coldie in Haast, you won’t be disappointed.