Thread: Advice for first big Hunting trip

& most important item .... fitness

You guys have been awesome! There is some awesome advice here! it gives me time ahead of my trip to go and buy the gear I need. Thanks again team

When buying gear you don't have to go for expensive flash Harry hunting camo designer stuff. Ordinary tramping shop stuff is fine. I even get my singlets, summer cotton shirts and shorts from the Warehouse. Socks from Bunnings.

The thing that you should be prepared to spend money on are boots.

Been upto you want to be a hunting machine not a gear freak.

You don't even need flash camo deer dont wear it and they are hard to see

Excellent advice here.
Two items you dont need to buy yet if you don't have them already: rangefinder & GPS. You can hire a PLB ,more worthwhile for a longer trip.
Aim to walk in for 2-3 hours only and hunt from there for a start. That will reduce the pain of taking too heavy gear and not being fit enough ( no one is).
Take a phone for photos at least. Many can get apps for topo maps that work fine offline.
If your boots are uncomfortable. Start off with them wet. Walk through the first stream you see. Cold and heavy but greatly reduces blisters and they will dry out to fit your feet better.

Take up tahr's offer of local advice. He's a good man.

One thing i like to do when im hunting new places is even with a GPS and/or phone with GPS. i pick one valley or ridge line and hunt up and down that valley/ ridge. Much more difficult for getting lost and if the weather closes in fast.
This includes basing myself in a main valley system and hunting up the side valleys/ streams. If i travel right to the bottom / stream and no obvious track meets the river at the bottom i will tie a marker around a tree where i met the bottom, Your memory is not as good as you think it is.
I also try to avoid traveling at night in unfamiliar places, a few reasons.
1) Everything looks so much different to the day time.
2) traveling at night is slower. Your depth perception etc is off because of the low light.

So if you are doing an evening hunt, try to be close to camp or have a simple path back to camp thats hard to get lost on. Much better to call it quits before dark than having to spend a night out in the bush.

Do you plan on hunting together or alone?

I quite like reading these types of posts. Good to see what others are doing. A lot depends on where, when and how you are getting there

If driving or flying in I take a set of gear for the Bush, a set for sitting around the fire at night and a set of thermals for sleeping in.
A sleeping bag liner will help to keep your bag clean from grime and smell

Take a couple of cans of your favourite premix or beer to celebrate your first animal. If you don’t get one then drink it on the last night

POOH PAPER......
baby wipes in car.....great for cleaning hands when you get back...and other regions if needed.

vasoline or 3b cream so you dont get crutch rash from wet skin rubbing together (dont leave home without it anymore)


something to sleep in...sleep on and sleep under

something to cook..cook with..cook in


many heaps teabags/coffee or better still flash sachet jobbies


one set of cloths to wear one for camp/bed


pair of socks for each day

Originally Posted by Nugget connaisseur

One thing i like to do when im hunting new places is even with a GPS and/or phone with GPS. i pick one valley or ridge line and hunt up and down that valley/ ridge. Much more difficult for getting lost and if the weather closes in fast.
This includes basing myself in a main valley system and hunting up the side valleys/ streams. If i travel right to the bottom / stream and no obvious track meets the river at the bottom i will tie a marker around a tree where i met the bottom, Your memory is not as good as you think it is.
I also try to avoid traveling at night in unfamiliar places, a few reasons.
1) Everything looks so much different to the day time.
2) traveling at night is slower. Your depth perception etc is off because of the low light.

So if you are doing an evening hunt, try to be close to camp or have a simple path back to camp thats hard to get lost on. Much better to call it quits before dark than having to spend a night out in the bush.

Do you plan on hunting together or alone?

We are both new to the hunting scene so was planning to hunt together. Also your advice is awesome bro will take it onboard. Thanks mate

Originally Posted by Tahr

When buying gear you don't have to go for expensive flash Harry hunting camo designer stuff. Ordinary tramping shop stuff is fine. I even get my singlets, summer cotton shirts and shorts from the Warehouse. Socks from Bunnings.

The thing that you should be prepared to spend money on are boots.

Makes sense bro, cheers for your advice once again

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

POOH PAPER......
baby wipes in car.....great for cleaning hands when you get back...and other regions if needed.

vasoline or 3b cream so you dont get crutch rash from wet skin rubbing together (dont leave home without it anymore)


something to sleep in...sleep on and sleep under

something to cook..cook with..cook in


many heaps teabags/coffee or better still flash sachet jobbies


one set of cloths to wear one for camp/bed


pair of socks for each day

Awesome bro! great advice

Originally Posted by Been Upto

We are both new to the hunting scene so was planning to hunt together. Also your advice is awesome bro will take it onboard. Thanks mate

Its on a conservative side, but when you have little experience and in an unfamiliar area and still trying to sort gear out it will be good to be cautious.

Take note a lot of hunters getting shot are a result of hunting together and then splitting up. Sometimes to look for a shot deer or what ever. Then one hunter sees what they think is a deer and shoot their buddy. People say they would never miss identify a target but it happens, including those that fired thinking it was a deer but it was a person.
Avoid splitting up if possible, or if you do split up and are within the same area for what ever reason No meat is better than No mate.

Im looking for an article but i cant find it but it states a bunch of things to do when lost in the bush etc.
If you dont have walkie talkies or they fail. Make a plan for if you get separated. Meet up at last clearing or back at camp.

We didnt make any official plans but on my trip to nelson lakes we were making our way down a ridge from the tops and i stopped to take a leak. Friends carried on down the ridge. As i set off after them i could see them up a head no problems. Eventually i lost site of them because of the dips etc. Where the ridge meet the bush line i still hadn't seen them. I decided they probably dropped down off the ridge a little bit earlier to where we came out of the bushline. 15mins later i hear a shot, i assume its them wondering where i am. I put my plugs in and let off a shot. a few seconds latter they pop their heads up from the next spur over. They had dropped down off the ridge a little bit earlier than i expected and i would of walked within 20m of them and not seen them.
It wasnt a big deal the hut was not too far away. But it avoided the waiting and wondering etc.

If your hunting the tops remember the air rises in the morning and drops in the evening . Take good bino's and sit and look hard around the bush edge's . Look more than you walk .

Originally Posted by berg243

hey @chainsaw where can I buy some of that fitness stuff .never seem to have any when I go hunting.

Aye, you can fork out $ to a gym ..... but best type is found for free on the hills with a pack on your back.