The competition has been running for more than 30 years and is open to all hunters with a valid hunting permit for Pureora Forest Park and surrounds.
This year the competition starts on Saturday 14 March 2026 and runs through until the prizegiving on Sunday 26 April 2026.
Deer entries need to be pre-registered at one of the recording centres listed below within 72 hours of being taken or registered fresh at the prizegiving day. Junior entries are registered at prizegiving only.
Prizegiving
Date: Sunday 26 April 2026
Location: DOC Field Base workshop, Barryville Road, Pureora Village. Location map (JPG, 252K)
Registration will run from 9 am to midday – no late entries will be accepted.
Measuring will start from 10 am.
Presentation of prizes will begin when measuring is completed and the prize list has been compiled and checked – usually by about 1:30 pm.
Hot drinks and a sausage sizzle will be available.
The team from Benneydale School manned the sausage sizzle in 2024.
Image: DOC
Categories
Top Douglas score head 2024 – Rebecca Rix
Image: DOC
Deer
- Top Douglas-score head – with prizes for the top 5 heads
- Jaw draw – the more jaws you enter, the greater your chance of winning
- Ugliest head
- Top Douglas-score head – Junior (hunter 15 years old or younger on 14 March 2026)
- Average head
Junior competition (15 years or younger on 14 March 2026)
- Mustelid draw (ferret, stoat, weasel)
- Goat tail draw
- Rat draw
Junior hunters with at least one entry in each of these categories will also go into the Three Pest Prize draw.
Roar
- Senior (16 years +)
- Junior (15 years and younger)
For health and safety reasons, please bring your own horn if you wish to use one.
The focus is on participation, not just on the biggest/heaviest animal, so every entrant has a chance to win spot prizes. Read the competition rules to ensure you are eligible for prizes and draws.
Prizes
A range of prizes are being donated by generous businesses.
Recording centres
Fresh deer heads caught earlier in the competition must be sighted fresh and preregistered at one of the recording centres below within 72 hours of being taken. Please call during business hours to arrange a suitable time.
| Location | Recording centre | Address | Phone |
| Hamilton/Te Rapa | DOC Waikato | 5 Northway Street | 0800 275 362 |
| Otorohanga | Otorohonda | 6 Te Kanawa Street | +64 7 873 7273 |
| Piopio | King Country Honda | 33 Moa Street | +64 7 877 8054 |
| Pureora Forest Park | DOC Pureora | Pureora Village | 0800 275 362 |
| Rotorua | DOC Rotorua | 99 Sala Street | 0800 275 362 |
| Taumarunui | Seriously Outdoors | 89 Hakiaha Street | +64 7 896 6497 |
| Taupō | Hamills Taupō | 109 Tongariro Street | +64 7 378 5665 |
| Taupō | Taupo Fly & Gun/ Hunting & Fishing New Zealand | 27 Gascoigne Street | +64 7 378 4449 |
| Te Awamutu | Wright Fishing & Outdoors | 168 George Street | +64 7 871 8205 |
| Te Kuiti | DOC Te Kuiti | 78 Taupiri Street | 0800 275 362 |
| Turangi | DOC Turangi | 3 Town Centre | +64 272 360 861 |
Competition rules
All categories
- All deer entries must be wild animals taken from within Pureora Forest Park, and contiguous forest, during the competition period. Organisers appreciate the honesty of hunters in complying with this requirement, but reserve the right to refuse any head or jaw should they doubt its eligibility. Judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
- Participants must be present at the prizegiving day and register their entries on site to be eligible for category or spot prizes.
- All deer jaws and junior pest category entries are to be left on site for research purposes and/or disposal by DOC.
- DOC employees are not eligible to enter.
Members of the NZ Deerstalkers Association measure the heads using the Douglas Score system (2024)
Image: DOC
Deer
- Deer heads must be presented fresh (within 72 hours of being taken – with scalp and ears attached) at a recording centre before 5 pm on Wednesday 23 April 2026 or between 9 am and midday at the prizegiving on Sunday 27 April 2026.
- Only fresh or clean heads will be accepted for measuring on prizegiving day.
- Official measuring will be based on the Douglas Scoring System and will be carried out by approved measurers from the NZ Deerstalkers Association.
- Only one head per person will be eligible for top five consideration.
- All clean jaws taken from Pureora Forest will be accepted for the jaw draw.
- The average deer head prize will be determined by finding the most common number of points among pre-registrations. The winner will be drawn randomly from all pre-registered entries with that number of points.
Junior categories
- The hunter must be aged 15 years or younger on 14 March 2026.
- Each animal/tail registered constitutes one entry.
- All mustelids, goat tails and rats must be registered and presented at the prizegiving event in a clean and countable condition. They may be presented fresh, individually frozen, or effectively dried.
- Animals/tails in poor or rotting condition will not be accepted.
- If animals/tails are frozen together in a manner that makes counting difficult, they will only be counted as a single entry.
- Hunters must enter at least one animal/tail in each of the three junior categories to be eligible for the Three Pest Prize draw.
Contact
For further information email Community Ranger Jo Turner on jburnard@doc.govt.nz.