My bro-in-law was a farmer on the south island of New Zealand his whole life till he married my sister and moved here about 8 years ago. We've discussed the size of the staggs you see come out of there. He said without a doubt all of the huge stags you see shot are retired farm stags. They use these stags for thier horns. They wait until blood content is at its highest in the antler growth cycle then bring the stags in and cut thier antlers off. They then cut them into medalions, freeze them and sell them to China. The Chinese use it like Viagra. Now, when they get a hunter that wants to come hunt a huge Stag, they'll pull one of thier big staggs and set it free. There are no "high fences" in New Zealand really. Lots of private land but deer move in and out freely. Tahr, Chamois, Fallow ect... all move freely around NZ. As do Reds. You can easily hunt wild, Non-farm raised animals in NZ but they will be of normal size. There 7 different species of deer in NZ. They even have wild Elk and eastern Whitetails.
"The deadliest weapon in the world is a Marine and his rifle." General John J. "Black Jack" Pershing, US Army
"Most men go through life wondering if they made a difference, Marines don't have that problem." President Ronald Regan
