indeed I do mate...
As You've mentioned there is a few ways to skin the ol cat in New Zealand...
one of the Highlights for a Adventurous Hunter is the DoC Land Hunting (Public Land) is some of the Best in the World for Red Stag, Chamois and Tahr. The National Parks are also accessible through the Same sort of Permit- Low Cost DIY hunting and I could proberly get You some areas to Concentrate on..
Or The Semi Guided Public land hunting is certainly out there, basically you have all yer stuff an you just want to get straight into deer without stumbling around a few days full DIY...
or "full guided" hunts, You would be hunting on someones private land where the Genetics of the Deer are generally Better on average compared to majority of the public land stags However many a top public land stag gets shot but mostly by seasoned hikers in back country.. previously a lot of deer farm escapees over time an so isolated pockets of bush can hold good heads, an if an outfitter is guarding it closely it may have a few goodens.. I can also point you in the right direction for Hard out proper Free Range Hunting with Good blokes for either Red, chams and Fallow or Sika keep in mind I'm not aware of their pricings or anything like that.
You can get Helicoptered into almost Anywhere in NZ but its a little costly, a few people split the costs though, this makes easy walking of the1400-2000m Elevation you would need for getting to the "tops" instead of walking over a day or two
lots of low lying Doc land too no doubt about it in the Valleys all hold Red deers!
Roars the best but very busy in public I hear, targeting hard velvets up in high back country sounds amazing to me, or wapiti in fiordland one day... wapiti can be hunted all year but they are balloted in BUGLE however FWF fiordland wapiti foundation are VERY tight about what does an doesn't get shot, scumbags do Do wrong at times but mostly everyone wants 50+ inch bulls again, Reds get shot up to prolong hybridisation .. wild wild country in the winter time but those who brave , might find big waps. or a big ol red
You sound like you are doing some research yaself anyway which is good, the youtube holds a few guides promoting there hunts too.....
look at biggame hunting nz, sika hunting brian elwarth,
then you have the hut an private block option too which is out there for hire for sure, fishuntnz forum an hunting fishing nz forum will be very helpful for you to obtain info on 1080 drops in areas you may want to go - proving####in useless waste of time an energy--
an askin a few brief questions after introducing yaself will yield enough good fella responses to do your own math.
depending what you want out of it an what sort of hunting you want to do..........
its bloody awesome though, stay aslong as you can
