Stags stolen in hunting park heist
Two stags bred to be trophies for tourists have had their heads cut off and stolen by a worker at a neighbouring farm.
The bodies of the stags, including the hunting park’s prized white breeding stag, were dumped at a nearby creek after the midnight raid north of Kaikoura.
Christchurch builder Alex Jordan Ranstead broke into the Clarence Valley Trophy Hunting Park on July 19.
He used the headlights on his van to find the stags, shot them twice and used a hunting knife to cut off their heads, a police summary said.
Ranstead put the heads and the carcasses in the back of his van and drove a kilometre away, where he threw the carcasses over a bank.
He then drove to Spring Creek, north of Blenheim, and stashed the heads, gun and knife at a friend’s house.
Farm park owner Steve Millard said Ranstead had shot his white fallow stag of seven years, worth $7000 to the right shooter, and a brown stag worth up to $4000.
Tourists, usually American, stayed at the lodge for hunting trips, and would often stuff and mount the head and shoulders as a trophy.
‘‘The white stags are a bit rarer,’’ Millard said.
‘‘I brought that white one up from Southland with me. He used to hang around by the road so you’d see him quite a lot. I guess I am a bit emotional about losing him.’’
While the tourists kept the heads as trophies, Millard said they would always keep the body for the venison. ‘‘It’s a waste of the meat more than anything.’’
A neighbouring farmer found the carcasses in a creek on his property the next morning.
Millard said he guessed what happened by the blood and the shell casings in the paddock, the vehicle tracks and the boot prints in the mud.
He suspected it was a neighbouring worker, and when police spoke to Ranstead he admitted shooting the stags and stealing the heads.
Ranstead admitted charges of unlawful hunting and unlawfully possessing a firearm at the Blenheim District Court on Monday.
His lawyer John Holdaway said Ranstead could pay $3000 immediately, and would repay the rest at $100 a week.
Judge Denys Barry said Ranstead had a ‘‘chequered’’ criminal history but nothing in the last five years, and nothing of this type.
He gave credit for an early guilty plea and the offer of $3000.
Police sought the destruction of the .22 Anschutz rifle, the hunting knife and ammunition.
Holdaway asked Judge Barry not to destroy the rifle since it belonged to Ranstead’s friend.
But Judge Barry said the owner had provided the rifle to a person without checking they had a firearm’s licence, and that warranted its destruction.
‘‘It may be an additional cost that falls to you, to replace it,’’ Judge Barry told Ranstead.
Ranstead was convicted of both charges and sentenced to pay $4500 reparation in total, and 40 hours’ community work. The rifle, knife and ammunition were to be destroyed.