Thread: Best realistic walk ins for Auckland hunters?

Originally Posted by MB

Well, if I'm stuck up a mountain somewhere, there's not much I can do about it. Work will have to suck it up

"Work" can be very non understanding when one does not show up, and don't always think you can just phone in...the best hunting is outside of cell phone coverage.

Hi Land2sea, welcome to the forum and thanks for your good introduction.

Of course people won't be tumbling over each other to post their best spots on the internet !
Some standard, well known, places like Clements Road and Waihaha in the Pureoras will come out but they won't be the best places.

I'd suggest getting in touch with Rushy and taking up his offer of a cup of tea. Then he can suss you out and point you to a suitable area (ie not advise a qick overnight weekend trip to Tarn Ridge in the Tararuas or some place up the top of the Whakatane river).

Flying in typically cost $1000 to $2000 depending how far it is and the size of the helicopter. A good place to start would be to look into joining the sika foundation which is a voluntary group dedicated to maintaining a healthy sika population and forests with some pest control. They run fly in sessions from time to time and those are probably the best value for fly ins at present. My rule of thumb is to only fly in to somewhere I have walked to before.

A meat hunt is not a bad option. Using a tank of gas anyway driving half way down the island, this way at least you know you are going to come home with meat for couple hundred extra dollars.
The joys of living in the big smoke

Fly ins are only worth the money in my opinion if you're already shooting deer regularly on walk ins.

Going to a good area via chopper isn't necessarily going to be a guaranteed animal if you are not shooting them normally

Remember a lot of area around Rotorua lakes is no hunting this time of year. Check on DOC website.

To be perfectly frank.... If you are after a "legit hunter gatherer" lifestyle unless you have a handy spot for deer then it's pretty much a waste of money chasing deer; especially flying in... For a holiday/break? Yup a great idea.

I'm trying to do something similar so I concentrate on goats for the everyday meat supply. Easy and cheap to get to, abundant, good meat and overall way more cost efficient to gather than deer. Unless you have a reliable close spot or a mates farm where you can easily pick up a deer or two.

It costs me about $30 worth of gas and a day to harvest 3 goats, get them out, skinned and in the fridge, That will give me about 40-ish kilos of bone-in carcass.