Impressive haul at Polaris Big Four

Ari Wilson's Samba deer is one of the many highlights to come out of the Polaris 2015 Big Four Hunting and Fishing Competition.

The Whakatane hunter was spotlighting in Taneatua when he came upon the five-year-old, 157.7kg animal – which is the talk of the competition.


Joe Stewart, 20, and Ari Wilson, 19, from Whakatane, with their 157.7kg Samba deer.

'I have shot a few (Samba deer) before, but nothing that big though.

'It was our second hunt for a deer and we came across that. I was pretty stoked.”

He saw it and immediately thought he had to have it, and then 'I smoked it”.

Ari dragged his kill about 400m out of the bush.

'I haven't seen any others. I probably make it into sausages. The meat is not that great for steaks.”

Ari also shot a 120 pound boar which he entered in to the competition.

Ari is just one of many hunters to have entered the popular hunting competition, which attracts hunters and angler from all over New Zealand.

Teams of four had a week to hunt a wild stag, wild boar, cock ring-neck pheasant and a trout from June 23-26 for Te Puna Hunting and Fishing Club's largest annual competition.

Individuals received prizes for first, second, and third for the heaviest stag, heaviest boar, best pheasant, and heaviest trout.

Teams who bag all four species are eligible for the major team prizes, and a share of the $95,000 prize pool.
Paul Donovan with his 126kg stag he shot in the East Cape.

Organiser Shane Paterson is pleased with how the day has gone.

"We have had a huge turn out. Bigger than we could have expected. There are about 108 teams of four people, so we're looking at about 500 hunters, plus friends and family, we are bouncing off about 1000.

Teams from Christchurch, Taupo and from up North have come to take part in the popular hunting competition.

"We have a couple of hunters who come Australia every year just to hunt this competition.

"Every year there's records, every year there's huge animals. We won't know until later what the biggest animals are."

Shane says the competition is a great way for friends and family to spend time together in the great outdoors, with teams from New Zealand and Australia prepping for the big event.

'A lot of the guys will take the whole week off as part of their annual holidays and get together with their mates, hanging out and trying to bag the four species.

'Although there are great prizes on offer, most teams are stoked to just get all four species.”

He says it's really good to see the young guys getting off the streets and getting into hunting.

"This year was the first year we opened it up to different species of stag, it used to be just the red but now we are open to all species," adds Shane.

"It's really good to see all the sponsors here getting bang for their buck too. They support us every year."


Drisana Sheely, 21, with the 120kg, twelve pointer royal stag she shot in the Kaimai Ranges.

Colin Stevenson, Bill Curnow, Dan Pratt and Wayne Doran with their wild boar.

Wade Matthews with his pheasant.

Calib Tombs, 5, with the 2.685kg trout his father caught in Lake Rotoiti.

Ben Shaw with his catch.

Paul Valois with his catch.



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