Wapiti heads for national stag party

An old deer is set to be roaming the countryside once again soon by taking a trip down memory lane with a southern branch of deerstalkers.
The trophy Wapiti Deer head, in residence at the Masterton Club on permanent loan, has been a regular feature for club members for a number of years now - and for many has simply become part of the furniture.
However the old stag has been attracting attention from another part of the country as the Fiordland Wapiti Foundation gears up to celebrate the centennial of Wapiti first being released in the Fiordland National Park.
Eighteen American elk or Cervus Canadensis species as they are also known, were introduced in New Zealand in 1905.
Half were a gift from the then American president Theodore Roosevelt, while the New Zealand government with the intention of providing future game stock for hunters, paid for the rest.
New Zealand adopted the American Indian name of 'Wapiti' for the deer and by 1923 the original herd had grown enough for the first shooting licenses to be issued.
While these days most Wapiti hunting is carried out on game farms, as part of the centennial celebrations the Fiordland Wapiti Association is attempting to bring a number of significant historical trophies that have been taken over the years back to the area they were first sighted in.
And as the first Wapiti to be legally shot in New Zealand by Viv Donald at Lake Katherine, the Masterton based trophy is regarded as the most important to secure.
A letter requesting permission for the loan was sent, permission granted and the travel arrangements finalised for the roughly two-week trip for the stag that will be guest of honour in Te Anau for the celebratory dinner on May 14.
Masterton Club secretary/manager Bill Shand said the stag, which is mounted in the entrance lobby of the club to greet members as they arrive, was insured for $10,000 but said some American collectors would pay up to $40,000 for a trophy like it.
"I think most of the members here take it for granted, but an American once came in off the street and wanted to know all about it," he said.
As for concerns about whether heading back to his old stomping ground will make the stag pine for the days of old, he will have plenty of other old heads to keep him company.