Afternoon Hunt in New Zealand Back Country

[199p]

Hey guys, Not much of a story teller but practice makes perfect

Got out in the hills for a nice afternoon hunt on Saturday.
Park up at one of the local roads ends about an hour's drive from home and headed into the Ruahine ranger's.

Heading to a side creek and some slips i had spotted on a previous mission into the area.

Had to do quite a bit of trimming and cutting on the way in, Old handsaw had a workout with lots of windfall and damage from high waters this winter as I made my way up Stream.



After almost 4 hours of crisscrossing and working my way up the river i was at the side creek, The going was tough so i pushed up onto a leading ridge and working my way up i spooked a yearling or small spiker didn't get a good look.



Found an old campsite, and marked it on the GPS for a return overnight trip.



Not too far from the Campsite I spied a gap in the trees and went over for a look, Was about 6:30pm and could see a deer feeding out on the slips. Sat down and pulled out the binos and see there is a group of young red spikers, One quite big in velvet and looking promising.
Quick range and they are feeding at 290y - 350y away. I have a bit more of a look around and see a much bigger stag up high, he was in the clouds and couldn't get a great look bit body side was impressive. He was almost 700yards away and could see he was in velvet.





Only had my phone and couldn't get a good shot of the larger stag but he was well above this group of 4.

Double cheeked the range on the lower spiker 290y and dialed up my 16" 6.5cm Tikka 4.7moa, Took a couple of dry fires, and sent a 143eldx, The Shot went in just behind the shoulder and smoked the offside shoulder. He crumpled and tumbled down the slip, as he came to a rest I sent a second shot hitting him in the chest traveling 3/4 down his body and exiting through the last couple of ribs. Eld x even at very slow speeds factory ammo at 2530fps sure does some damage, dragging a large chunk of lung out as it exited.

Took a bunch of meat off him for some summer BBQs



Pack up and head back to the ute, Side creek was very narrow and overgrown and made for a tough pack out, Finally getting back to the road end at 11 pm.





I most likely won't get out again until the new year with work but let me know if you want to see a few more stories from over this side of the world.

Cheers
Shane

 

[Mtncowboy]

Way to go! Cool story, cool animals, cool place!

 

[eddielasvegas]

Good story and pix Shane. Thanks for posting.

And always good to hear from members in far off places.


Eddie

 

[wesGiddingshunt]

Thanks for sharing. Cool to see a story from NZ!

 

[bmac1]

Very Cool, what part of NZ is this, looks different then i have seen in other videos, much more plush.

 

[elkguide]

Thanks for taking us along.
Love NZ and hope to get back there again someday soon.

 

[199p]

Cheers Guys

Yes this is North Island hunting. There is some open tops but most of the productive hunting around the ower Ruhainies is shooting slips in the tight creeks. Quite a few guys bush stalk with a pointer-style dog not too dissimilar to upland bird hunting but without the flush.

 

[199p]

Very Cool, what part of NZ is this, looks different then i have seen in other videos, much more plush.

Hey man, North island hunting. Quite a lot different to the big southern alps you normally see for New Zealand.

This hut is in the area where I do most of my day hunts

Kiritaki Hut

This is a standard six-bunk hut in the Hawke's Bay region.

www.doc.govt.nz

 

[Rob2d]

Great story and amazing place....yeah not jealous in the least bit haha

 

[JRay]

Good write up. Share the adventures when you can

 

[bmac1]

Hey man, North island hunting. Quite a lot different to the big southern alps you normally see for New Zealand.

This hut is in the area where I do most of my day hunts

Kiritaki Hut

This is a standard six-bunk hut in the Hawke's Bay region.

www.doc.govt.nz

Do you reserve this hut or are they first come? I knew a college professor that used to take students on 4–5-week hikes across NZ and I believe they stayed in similar huts.

 

[199p]

Do you reserve this hut or are they first come? I knew a college professor that used to take students on 4–5-week hikes across NZ and I believe they stayed in similar huts.

In general yes, the backcountry huts are 1st come 1st served.
These range in size from little 2-person bivis and no fire to big huts that sleep 20+ people.
Sometimes the more popular huts need to book a bed at busy times like Labor weekend.

You pay with Hut tickets that are pre-purchased but it's very much an honesty policy and some tramping clubs and trusts have taken over looking after some huts that the govt and you pay the clubs a small fee to stay there.
They do have a series of huts that are on the great walk trails that you must book in advance to use, these are on the most popular tracks and are pretty full of tourists the majority of the time.

Also just like with the NZ hunting you guys generally see, there is also plenty of private land "adventures" for those who would rather pay than walk with some very fancy accommodation.


Any Questions just fire away guys, Happy to help and show off the real nz backcountry.

 

[ilikefunkymusic]

Hey 199, thanks for sharing this. I'd be interested to read any additional accounts you have of getting out in the bush over there.

I'm curious if you could talk a little more about the differences between north island and south island hunts done diy.

Species availability, weather patterns, topography/geology... I can reach out pm as I'm really just starting my research into traveling over there for an adventure that utilizes the hut system.
Cheers

 

[199p]

Hey 199, thanks for sharing this. I'd be interested to read any additional accounts you have of getting out in the bush over there.

I'm curious if you could talk a little more about the differences between north island and south island hunts done diy.

Species availability, weather patterns, topography/geology... I can reach out pm as I'm really just starting my research into traveling over there for an adventure that utilizes the hut system.
Cheers

Hey man No stress at all

South Island is the better choice for hunting. Larger hills and public hunting land.

No Tahr or Chammy on the north island. We do have Red Deer Sika, Fellow, Rusa, Samba, Pigs and Goats.

Most of the North Island hunting is at lower altitudes and even with our open tops ( Above the Bush ) the animals don't live in there much apart from a few months of the year meaning our productive hunting is bush and river flats as well as finding slips to hunt.

South island has much larger open areas, but this can also mean you have to travel further distances to hunt, Diy is easy as there are very few regulations to follow and the same rules for the whole country.

Doc website and maps make it super easy to find spots to go and just about everywhere on public land will have some animals to chase.

https://www.doc.govt.nz/map/index.html Click on Hunting areas to get an idea of public land hunting.

Have red deer, wapiti ( red deer and elk mixed breed ) Tahr, Chammy, Pigs, and goats to hunt.

1st thing you need to work out is what game you want to chase then the areas these live, then find the best way to get there.

Keep in mind that even tho we don't have predators the NZ mountains are very dangerous
Weather can change very quickly. Even in summer I always carry a Rain Jacket and a small silltarp fly.
Often needed to block the wind out or to get some shade from the sun.
Rivers flow swiftly and can rise very fast without needing a whole lot of rain.
We also have lots of very rough terrain that can catch even the most experienced out.

There is a story Adam Greentree told on a podcast that outlines how quickly things can change and put you up shit creek.

Most huts you will be interested in hunting from will be 1st in 1st served I wouldn't expect the hunting around the bookable huts to be very productive at all.

Let me know if i missed something man

 

[ilikefunkymusic]

Dude, thank you so much for this. Great info.
So plan on tent living and hope for getting a spot in one of the 1st come first served huts aye?

Any words of advice for selecting a ridge system to commit to?
Heli not really an option for me as I'll be solo, and don't have that kind of money.

Concerns about marching up a river>sub creek drainage, fighting through the mid elevation super dense flora only to learn it's the wrong habitat/elevation/aspects

Also - best months to chase Tahr, how about Stag?
Don't know much about their patterns.

Cheers bud!

 

[199p]

Dude, thank you so much for this. Great info.
So plan on tent living and hope for getting a spot in one of the 1st come first served huts aye?

Any words of advice for selecting a ridge system to commit to?
Heli not really an option for me as I'll be solo, and don't have that kind of money.

Concerns about marching up a river>sub creek drainage, fighting through the mid elevation super dense flora only to learn it's the wrong habitat/elevation/aspects

Also - best months to chase Tahr, how about Stag?
Don't know much about their patterns.

Cheers bud!

Not a problem at all mate

The best time to chase stags is from End of March to May
Roar (rut) is on from about 25th March - april then end of april and in May the stags are generally out trying to feed up before winter hits.

The best time for Tahr is May - June - July ish as that's when rut is happening and the colder the weather the better the Tahr skins are.

I have only chased Tahr twice and secured one 13" Bull, this was in the Tahr Bellot where you fly into a wilderness area for 7 days at a time.





The NZ Govt who just got removed went through and shot from helicopters about 15,000 Tahr but they say they shot 70% nannies and left the bulls. Many big river systems in the area's the tahr roam will have animals in them but the big boys are far more cunning these days.

Doc is good for having reasonable up to date data on where best to target them then you just have to beat the feet. many times you can see them from the river valley then just have to find a way up to them and back down. They tend to live in bluffs and cliffed-out areas as well as in the scrub line and feed between the two.



The good and bad news is Tahr can roam, we have seen them over a week hunting from the river flats in the bottom to sitting on the very top of the highest rocks.

 

[ilikefunkymusic]

What a landscape. Nice Tahr.
Can't really think of a comparable hunt opportunity in the US.
Reckon that big of a culling messed up the game for a while, or is it common?

 

[199p]

What a landscape. Nice Tahr.
Can't really think of a comparable hunt opportunity in the US.
Reckon that big of a culling messed up the game for a while, or is it common?

Would be most similar to your mountain goat hunting from what i have seen.

Not sure tbh mate i dont think they had done a big cull like that in 20odd years or something

 

[ArkansasMike]

So freaking cool! I’ve always wanted to hunt New Zealand.

 

[Corvus Corax]

Great story! Thanks for sharing. The terrain looks very challenging. It has got to feel good to get back to the truck after an adventure like that.