Thread: Arrowtown hunting

Speargrass is correct in what he has said above, but has left out one important detail - there is really nothing left to hunt in this area.

In preparation for the land to be reverted back to it's natural state the owner of the land (Mutt Lange) spent 2 years and about $2m exterminating everything that roamed these hills with four legs. More than 16,000 goats were removed ("removed" is spelt S.H.O.T.) along with the few deer, pigs or chamois that were reported to be there. Five years ago it was nice to be able to take the kids out for a walk and harvest a couple of goats close to home, but these days I sit here and have to watch with despair as the helicopters work their way around the hills each spring mopping up any stragglers. The population of animals is effectively zero. A number of locals occasionally trip over the odd mob of goats but they're few and far between.

And this leads to the next problem - the shift of attention to Skippers. Whereas there used to be a large number of animals in the Skippers catchment, the demise of all the animals on Coronet, Soho, Motutapu and Glencoe Stations (now collectively owned by Mr Lange) shifted hunting attention to Skippers. I've hunted there extensively for the last 22 years and what was once hard work, but rewarding, is now just hard work. DOC's Special Reserve area has been hammered and now they only allow "5 guns per day" into the reserve. It's not a big area so you can read between the lines and work out for yourself how many animals are left there.

So... come to Arrowtown, enjoy your walks and your trip to Macetown. Check out the great museum, have fun looking for gold in the river and photo-bomb the asian selfies... but leave the rifle at home because there is very little left here to hunt for.

Sad but true.

Thanks for the info
Still got the Eyre Mountains, hunted there before. And the Taki’s, frankly any excuse to get away from Akld works for me.
And the Southern Lakes, Otago / Southland districts are just bloody magic.

I know the gentle man who was the main pest controller on the property. Lovely guy and dialed in at his job!