NZ Mountains

ARAPAWA SHEEP HUNTING IN NEW ZEALAND

You need to know that when the first European explorers visited New Zealand there were no wild ungulates. Following this discovery of a serious lack of meat it is believed those early explorers released sheep and goats at select sites in New Zealand, for the purpose of their breeding and being a source of meat for future explorers.

Captain James Cook, a famous English explorer and navigator, is reputed to have released a rare species of sheep on Arapawa Island in the Marlborough Sounds, northern South Island, sometime between 1769 and 1779. No known source or country of origin of these sheep has been discovered in old documents or diaries of the early explorers. It seems that the Arapawa sheep, living and breeding, for over two hundred years. On an isolated island in New Zealand, are now the only known sheep of this extremely rare breed, for no such species is known anywhere else in the world today.

While the Arapawa ram is not a large bodied sheep his horns often are longer than 36ins. Hunting sheep in New Zealand is a time honoured tradition of spot and stalk. Hunting Arapawa sheep is thrilling requiring a measured amount of patience, skill and luck.

So, if you are a serious and dedicated sheep hunter you need to talk to the ‘Team Patterson’ . Add a trophy Arapawa ram to your ‘Wild Sheep of the World’ collection when you hunt at Manuka Point Lodge.

Do you have any questions about hunting in New Zealand or at Manuka Point?

Contact Don Patterson – owner of Manuka Point Lodge; Professional Hunter, Outfitter and Host.

US Freephone:

1 855 750 0845

NZ Telephone

+64 3 318 5878

Questions?