Thread: Anyone hunted with Alpine Hunting?

My lovely wife treated me to a weekend hunting package at Alpine Hunting down by Taihape for my birthday this year.

https://www.alpinehunting.com/packag...new-zealanders

Booked in for this weekend and luckily we dropped levels so all is on!

I was just wondering if anyone had been for a hunt there and could let me know what to expect?

Is it mostly 4x4 based hunting or walk and stalk as I am used to?
I note that other than clothes, rifle and Binoculars they say not to bring much else.

Wondering which rifle to take too? My go to 16” .308 or something with longer legs if the distances are generally longer?

Thanks guys!


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@Spudattack I have not hunted there but l have been there probably a dozen times since they kicked off in the early 90's ,as someone who has guided the best thing anyone in your situation can do is ask THEM ,they are the ones who know what current conditions ,game & weather are on the ground & how YOU can make the most of the experience.

Having said that being a "Game Ranch" as long as they are notified of what you are intending to use ,hunts will be incorporated around it. Our farm is not that far away from them & we have been copping good old arctic blasts, of lazy wind that goes through you rather than around , with some hail thrown in for good measure yesterday while we were in the hills , so hunting in the gullies/sheltered parts with your 08 will most likely be a productive option,hopefully it will blow out before you get down here, so check weather & take appropriate clothing.
Is your missus going to?? that IMO is the best value from these types of "Ranches" & the lodge is a great set up that pampers non hunters ,the food served up is fantastic & it makes the usual hunt cost more reasonable .I take it you are doing a meat hunt & if so make sure you take a good Chilly Bin with you,personally l would be taking one of the great conditioned Fallow out of their herd for the HQ meat it will provide after they properly butcher & pack it for you.

So IMO as with any guided hunt best bet is talk to them well in advance ,let them know what you would like to experience & bring on your hunt & see what they can do & recommend with current conditions on the ground .Take a good camera as you will see some 'monster' heads of all sorts & personally l would get the meat hunt wrapped up quickly & use the rest of the time getting some great pics of the weird & wonderful heads of all sorts they carry on the 'ranch'.

Have a great trip & adding more great memories carrying the 08 & make sure you leave plenty of room for the great feed at the lodge .

Originally Posted by 7mmwsm

I haven't but my kids have had a bit to do with them.
It's pretty flash so I hope for your sake your wife went for the lower end of the price range. Unless she has a whole pile of cash she doesn't usually let you near, then go for gold.
I'll talk to my kids and get back to you.

Cheers mate, yeah, but of a present for us both as she coming along and no kids, so the hunting is really a bonus for a weekend getaway


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Originally Posted by bunji

@Spudattack I have not hunted there but l have been there probably a dozen times since they kicked off in the early 90's ,as someone who has guided the best thing anyone in your situation can do is ask THEM ,they are the ones who know what current conditions ,game & weather are on the ground & how YOU can make the most of the experience.

Having said that being a "Game Ranch" as long as they are notified of what you are intending to use ,hunts will be incorporated around it. Our farm is not that far away from them & we have been copping good old arctic blasts, of lazy wind that goes through you rather than around , with some hail thrown in for good measure yesterday while we were in the hills , so hunting in the gullies/sheltered parts with your 08 will most likely be a productive option,hopefully it will blow out before you get down here, so check weather & take appropriate clothing.
Is your missus going to?? that IMO is the best value from these types of "Ranches" & the lodge is a great set up that pampers non hunters ,the food served up is fantastic & it makes the usual hunt cost more reasonable .I take it you are doing a meat hunt & if so make sure you take a good Chilly Bin with you,personally l would be taking one of the great conditioned Fallow out of their herd for the HQ meat it will provide after they properly butcher & pack it for you.

So IMO as with any guided hunt best bet is talk to them well in advance ,let them know what you would like to experience & bring on your hunt & see what they can do & recommend with current conditions on the ground .Take a good camera as you will see some 'monster' heads of all sorts & personally l would get the meat hunt wrapped up quickly & use the rest of the time getting some great pics of the weird & wonderful heads of all sorts they carry on the 'ranch'.

Have a great trip & adding more great memories carrying the 08 & make sure you leave plenty of room for the great feed at the lodge .

Cheers bunji

Yeah, fair call, I will give Nikki a yell and ask what to expect.

Been watching the weather, still going to be pretty fresh so will go suitably prepared. Spend a lot of time on the mountain so have a lot of extreme weather gear that we can pack in case.

Wife coming along and going to be tagging along on the hunt on one of the days, think she wants to pamper herself the other
Definitely the way to go, more of a luxury getaway without the kids than a hard core hunting trip, that is just the bonus! Looking forward to it, the pictures and videos look amazing.

Will get the mrs to take her good camera for some photography.

Cheers for the feedback, great to know, hopefully I can resist the urge to knock over one of their 450+ sci stags and have to take out another mortgage


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Its the old Bare Acre station, that used to be run by a 'dad and dave' setup, along classic Barry Crump run-down-station lines (the father and son lived in a couple of railway carriages with 2 bar electric heaters all over the place running 24 hr/day as the lines charge was higher than all the electricity they could consume!

Then it got purchased and turned into a high end Ranch style shooting establishment, originally by the owner of one of the early shed/garage building outfits (Quinns??)

Accom is pretty flash. Very flash actually. They've got some pretty top Sika trophys there, as their live capture paddocks down by the river just accept the Ngamatea animals that cross the river whenever the population/feed pressure in Ngamatea gets too high.
The place is heavily tracked, and the scrub has recovered significantly since the 1984 fire went through them like a dose of salts.

It basically has a southerly aspect, so can get horrendously cold in Winter. The top plateau is at 11-1200m from memory, so easy to catch the snow in Winter.
Having said that, there's plenty of sheltered gullys.

A gat that shoots 300m is all you need.

Originally Posted by XR500

Its the old Bare Acre station, that used to be run by a 'dad and dave' setup, along classic Barry Crump run-down-station lines (the father and son lived in a couple of railway carriages with 2 bar electric heaters all over the place running 24 hr/day as the lines charge was higher than all the electricity they could consume!

Then it got purchased and turned into a high end Ranch style shooting establishment, originally by the owner of one of the early shed/garage building outfits (Quinns??)

Accom is pretty flash. Very flash actually. They've got some pretty top Sika trophys there, as their live capture paddocks down by the river just accept the Ngamatea animals that cross the river whenever the population/feed pressure in Ngamatea gets too high.
The place is heavily tracked, and the scrub has recovered significantly since the 1984 fire went through them like a dose of salts.

It basically has a southerly aspect, so can get horrendously cold in Winter. The top plateau is at 11-1200m from memory, so easy to catch the snow in Winter.
Having said that, there's plenty of sheltered gullys.

A gat that shoots 300m is all you need.

Cheers mate

Yep, the .308 will get there easy enough.

Sounds great, looking forward to it! Great to know some of the history too!


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Sounds like your wife is a keeper! Go with limited expectations, have fun and enjoy the time with your wife. In 35 years of guiding I have found that having partners along just adds another cool dimension to the whole experience.

Just back from the trip.

Was an absolutely epic weekend, certainly not our usual pack in type hunting!
Was more taking the lines of a luxury African safari type outfit but great for a change and awesome to have the mrs along for it to experience it.

Stunning landscapes and awesome cuisine and hosting.
It was expensive but I thoroughly enjoyed it as a treat.

Our guide Luke was fantastic and extremely knowledgeable and personable. Took us through the whole time.
I knocked over my 7 point sika on the first afternoon with a 320y shot behind the shoulder after a 20minute stalk and after sorting to that we spent the rest of the weekend hunting with the camera and getting some great shots of some truely magnificent trophy deer.

Would highly recommend as a special trip/getaway!

Few photos from my phone, we haven’t pulled the rest off the camera yet.




















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Nice wee treat for the family & a great weekend adventure. Looks like you should have packed the fly rod as well.
What's the pill used - Barnes ?

Originally Posted by chainsaw

Nice wee treat for the family & a great weekend adventure. Looks like you should have packed the fly rod as well.
What's the pill used - Barnes ?

1st Oct opening I think

Great report, so good to hear some good honest hunting stories. And a big ups to your wife.

Originally Posted by chainsaw

Nice wee treat for the family & a great weekend adventure. Looks like you should have packed the fly rod as well.
What's the pill used - Barnes ?

Yeah, the river looked wicked and saw a few trout, was a bit more than I would have wanted to pay to fish though!!! Haha!

150gr Hornady GMX.

To be fair the first one zipped through the vitals and appeared not to have expanded, he didn’t go far and was lying about 20 yards from where he was hit but with his head still up, he stood up and started slowly walking away from us when we got down to him so finished the job with a raking shot which entered just in front of the left thigh and stopped under the skin on the far shoulder from about 30yards which is the bullet.

I might rethink the gmx for longer ranges as out of the .308 it doesn’t appear to have the velocity to reliably expand and could have been a long track.
He would have expired shortly after but was good to finish him off quickly although it did make a bit of a mess inside.

Better than a lost deer!


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@Spudattack Great you had a good hunt & time ,did the missus like it ?They really do a top job with the Lodge & food they serve IMO .

I did not realize you were going to take a Stag ,l hope they offered "locals"rates with the on going Chyna Flu lock down effects on overseas tourist business .You should put up some pics of the weird & wonderful heads they have wandering around they are always interesting to see.

Originally Posted by bunji

@Spudattack Great you had a good hunt & time ,did the missus like it ?They really do a top job with the Lodge & food they serve IMO .

I did not realize you were going to take a Stag ,l hope they offered "locals"rates with the on going Chyna Flu lock down effects on overseas tourist business .You should put up some pics of the weird & wonderful heads they have wandering around they are always interesting to see.

Hey Bunji

She was absolutely in her element, having grown up on a game farm on SA it was very nostalgic for her.
She has already started talking about looking for a small bush block to get away to kn the weekends

Yeah, I just took a cull stag, wasn’t symmetrical so wanted to get it out of the gene pool,so although expensive, didn’t break the bank!

I will get some up once we have them off the camera, unfortunately all the big reds had already cast so no weird heads on there, plenty of massive sika, Rusa, sambar and ram photos though.

Definitely a top place for a weekend getaway, if you consider that the cost includes everything, lodge, service, gourmet meals, snacks, drinks, guide, drives etc it’s actually not bad value for money considering what you would spend going away somewhere else. As long as you can contain yourself from knocking over a 600+ sci stag


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This was the world record stag taken there a few years ago, been beaten now but still a crazy head!

Not my idea of a beautiful head but what some are after.

https://www.alpinehunting.com/librar...tag-600/13.jpg


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