# Hunting > Hunting >  Kawekas

## BrentG

First post!...

Planning a 3 day trip to hopefully bring home some venison. Thinking it would be cool to give open tops a go so thinking Kawekas, having only hunted day trips to Kaimais in the past. We don't have a clue if open tops are the rite place to look at this time of the year tho. Could go anywhere in the central NI. Any thoughts, advice for a newby?

cheers

cheers

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## Gibo

Welcome Brent

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## Spook

Kaewka open tops are a great place to take the electric dog...where do you have in mind to go?

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## Tahr

> Kaewka open tops are a great place to take the electric dog...where do you have in mind to go?


That's the second time tonight you have mentioned or suggested spotlighting on public land. 
Have we forgotten what happened on Kaimanawa Rd already?

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## Nathan F

> That's the second time tonight you have mentioned or suggested spotlighting on public land. 
> Have we forgotten what happened on Kaimanawa Rd already?


Yeah it's not sharp advice. Stay off the tops at this time of year. Cold and shitty. Harkness or Tussock huts , Perhaps mangatainoka.

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## Spook

> That's the second time tonight you have mentioned or suggested spotlighting on public land. 
> Have we forgotten what happened on Kaimanawa Rd already?


Not too many roads on the open tops...good to see you keep a tally

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## Tahr

> Not too many roads on the open tops...good to see you keep a tally


Be as flippant as you like. Most people think that spotlighting on public land under any circumstances is a serious matter.

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## Spook

> Be as flippant as you like. Most people think that spotlighting on public land under any circumstances is a serious matter.


Where I live spotlighting is a way of life to many, whether on private or public land...when I arrived home tonight there were two guys heading up the road laden down with batteries and gear.

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## sakokid

Pretty cold n the tops Brent, but if the weather is kind u never know wot u may see. Plenty of open tops in the ruahines.  check out dundees pics and trip story... It may inspire you.

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## BrentG

thanks for the replies guys. Spotlighting not the intention, if we wanted to do that we would just take the 4wd to the end of the beach nearby and take a few fallow, could be there and back in and hour and a half. So if we were to head to the open tops, say weather forecast was good, would we be likely to see anything out in the open or are deer likely to be holed up in the bush this time of year?

thanks

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## Nathan F

> Where I live spotlighting is a way of life to many, whether on private or public land...when I arrived home tonight there were two guys heading up the road laden down with batteries and gear.


Spotlighting on public land is illegal and piss poor form. No excuse with animal numbers the way they are.

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## Spook

> thanks for the replies guys. Spotlighting not the intention, if we wanted to do that we would just take the 4wd to the end of the beach nearby and take a few fallow, could be there and back in and hour and a half. So if we were to head to the open tops, say weather forecast was good, would we be likely to see anything out in the open or are deer likely to be holed up in the bush this time of year?
> 
> thanks


I don't think there is much to eat on the tops at anytime of the year, certainly they are seen there but only as they pass from one gully to the next. You can expect anything from a dusting to a dumping of snow to cover the tops at this time of the year. My experience with hunting Kawekas is that the deer frequent a height band around the hillsides...find this height band from sign of their movements as in hoofprints, scat and browsing and stay within it. Shooting on the tops can be of long range with little hope of closing the gap on foot in a hurry so one needs to be confident on shooting at longer ranges with a rifle capable of achieving it.

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## kiwijames

What Spook said is pretty much spot on but to throw a spanner in it there has been GPS tracking of Sika and one animal stayed almost exclusively on the tops for the length of the tracking period including winter.
I would not plan on going to the Kaweka tops for your first trip this time of year either. Come down in summer and try not to tell too many JAFFAS when you get back  :Wink: .

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## TJM

In my opinion spot lighting for Deer is not hunting at all. Apart from being illegal its not sporting and as some one mentioned previously the animal population is low enough with out this easy method of shooting deer.
What people do on their own property is up to them though. The tops in winter is a mean place except on a still sunny day. Stick to spring and summer unless your really experienced.

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## Tahr

It has been stated here that Sika only use the tops to travel, and that there is very little feed.
My view is that the tops are actually a larder, but the door doesn't open until circa November through to early-ish April.  So, if you want to hunt the tops, be there then. Hunt around the bush/tops margin and higher so long as there is feed. Seek out the feed areas. Slips with tutu on them are great during spring and mid summer, and then it hardens off and they don't like it so much.

For the rest of the year, they will be where you find them. I mainly hunt the mid zones, gully heads, and warm bedding areas. But they are very unpredictable, so if I say hunt the North faces during the winter you can bet you will look over and see them on a cold southerly face. Little bastards.

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## BrentG

thanks for the feedback guys. Really good. We will take all of the warm clothes and keep an eye on the weather forecast leading up to next weekend and make a decision as to exactly where we go then. It will be a change of hunting grounds for us and there will no doubt be a lot of lessons learnt. Interesting what was said about them possibly sticking to a height band through winter, and then GPS tracking completeley contridicting that. So I guess my tactic at this stage would be either of the 2 options: 1. If the weather isnt flash we will look toward sticking to the bush, looking into gully heads etc. or 2. If its mint weather we might have a look out in the open on the fringes and see what we find to point the 270 at. 

anyway, it's off to the farm today to shoot some targets out to 400m.

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## Spook

Once you have been to the tops, I wont be surprised on your return to hear that you are looking for a belted magnum rifle. I carried a 270 over a lot of open tops and as much as it is a great calibre it doesn't quite have what is needed up there. When practising your long range target shooting try and kid your mate into letting you shoot off his shoulder or carry a stick to support your rifle as you will seldom find the ideal spot to take a prone shot...once you start using belted magnums you will find the shooting off your mates shoulder a once only event.

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## Neckshot

> It has been stated here that Sika only use the tops to travel, and that there is very little feed.
> My view is that the tops are actually a larder, but the door doesn't open until circa November through to early-ish April.  So, if you want to hunt the tops, be there then. Hunt around the bush/tops margin and higher so long as there is feed. Seek out the feed areas. Slips with tutu on them are great during spring and mid summer, and then it hardens off and they don't like it so much.
> 
> For the rest of the year, they will be where you find them. I mainly hunt the mid zones, gully heads, and warm bedding areas. But they are very unpredictable, so if I say hunt the North faces during the winter you can bet you will look over and see them on a cold southerly face. Little bastards.


Excellent Advice.

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## Boar Freak

Warm clothes are essential  :Grin:  We had heaps of snow up here in the last few days.

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