Spent yesterday going back over an old haunt...ye gods the deer sign there has gone ballistic since I was last there. Appeared to have had a mob of sheep moved along the first 8 k or so of the track. The carpark at the end of Kapoors road was all churned up with recent sign. Anywhere the animals have a bank to negotiate to get down onto the track there are deeply incised fresh churned up slots. All along the track the water tables and open areas were mown off clean. Further into the 42 Traverse the sign lessened. I suspect the animals are being drawn out to where the farm paddocks now have abundant grass.
For the first 8 ks or so all the watertables looked like this
Attachment 264510
The slip that has closed the 42 Traverse main track is only about 150m wide. Interesting to see that the quad hunters have not made any effort to push a track through. I suspect the quad hunters on the western side are happy with that outcome!
If I was 10 years younger I would have ridden the bike all the way across, but I don't bounce at all these days, when I fall off.
Attachment 264511
Would only be a few days with a 12 tonne digger to clear the slip. Obviously 1080 has a higher funding priority.
The bypass has been deeply rutted by quads, as always happens. And the spotlighters are easy to follow by the trail of discarded Codys cans along the trail.
A local said the carpark sees about a dozen hunting/ 4x4 parties each weekend camped up. So the weekdays would be the time to visit.
Having said all that, the topography in that part of the Tongariro forest is horrible to hunt. Its either 5m point and shoot action, or from ridgeline to slip shooting, and you have to know where the shooting possies are, or you will waste an awful lot of sweat.
There are easier bits of Public land to hunt, and perhaps thats why the numbers have crept up so much.
And lastly, the Public land in there is all higgilty piggilty around the edges, so look at the WAMS maps to ensure you know what is actually public.
