Wild Buck Hunt brings the country to town

Some of the 56 juniors who received prizes on the day.

With 137 hunters registered from as far away as Pukekohe, Turangi, Hawke's Bay and Wellington, the owners of Merrylees Hotel in Dannevirke, Nicola McLean and Dan Phillips, were delighted with the response to their inaugural "Wild Buck Hunt".

Hunters were invited to shoot from Thursday to Saturday and take their trophies to the weigh-in by the Merrylees Hotel on Saturday from 1pm-3pm.

There were up to $9000 of prizes at stake, cash and goods for the trophy winners and sponsored spot prizes, including a rifle which was won by Kenny Smyth.

The 52 children who entered were all rewarded for their rabbits, possums and hares, as well as winning spot prizes.

Many, like the Walker and Fleming children, had gone out with their dads.

Owahanga Station's Crew brought in an impressive four stags, five boars, numerous goats' heads and too many possums to count.

A large and curious crowd collected to watch the entries being delivered by the ute-load and after the prize-giving those who did not want their deer and boars back had them processed into sausages by John Shannon of Dannevirke Meats and donated to the St Vincent de Paul Foodbank for distribution.

"Those animals gave up their lives," said Mr Shannon.

"The least I can do is donate them to a worthy cause".

So successful was the first hunt that Nicola McLean and Dan Phillips have already started planning the next one for 2018.

Results:
Junior section

Heaviest Possum
1st Paora Peeti 3.95kg
2nd Olivia Smith 3.9kg
3rd Alex Wrenn 3.88kg

Heaviest Rabbit
1st Kyla Smith 2.34kg
2nd Samuel Fleming 2.18kg (weighed in first)
3rd Cameron Walker 2.18kg

Heaviest Hare
1st Kyla Smith 4.24kg
2nd Cameron Walker 4.15kg
3rd Sam Stratford 4.14kg

Best Goat Head - Campbell Carrington-Morse

Open section
Heaviest Boar
1st Mike McKay 58.4kg
2nd Maea Lackner 56.7kg

Heaviest Fallow
1st Will Martin 53.5kg
2nd Shane Phillips 42.1kg

Heaviest Red
1st Jacarn Peeti-Webber 105.7kg
2nd Joe Fiveash 102kg

Ugliest Head (Red)- Brett Mead
Best Jaw (Boar) - Mike McKay

Average Red - Ian Taylor 75.8kg (average was 75.96kg)