Thread: Desert Road South of Turangi

Hi All,

Planing a trip down this way. Was looking at the DOC land between Army Training area and the private land waipahihi stream not a massive area but looks like it could be good for a quick day trip walk back out in the dark, is it worth a look at all? I know there used to be deer running around on the Army side when I was in. Or am I better off heading down Kaimanawa road or Rangipo intake and going in from there not after anyones miracle spot, want to avoid Clements Mill gets a hammering by the sound of it which is the reason I want to go further south. Cheers

Don't let people put you off Clements road area I was there Sunday and 4 vehicle were on the road that we seen .

Now as for Desert rd ,just as you hit the top of desert rd heading south ,there is a car park on the left ,from there look for a fwd track up the hill .Take a look at the bush to the right of the track on top of hill ,the tracks cuts to the right, you can park the vehicle up the or you can get dropped off with a four wheeler and go for a hunt as most people do. check the boundries first .

Sweet Cheers for the advice Kawekakid

If you go up the pole track next to the army land, don't drive up the 4 wheel track because it is on military land and the military "Will prosecute you if you get caught" not worth it!.... there are signs....read them. follow pole track! and hunt doc land only!.
There's deer no matter where you go Rangipo or waipahihi, Seek and you shall find. good luck

Was up the pole track a few weeks ago next to the army land and worked in the army land a few weeks before that.
There was good fresh sign all over the place so sit up high and glass first and last light and you should find animals.
Good luck.

Sweet cheers Cowboy looking foward to exploring the area. Yeah used to be in the Army so know the 4wd track well used to see alot on the Army side so in theory should be a few to the left ,was planning to the left of the pole track is all Doc land to the stream give or take then private land according to DOC correct?

Originally Posted by Matt2308

Was up the pole track a few weeks ago next to the army land and worked in the army land a few weeks before that.
There was good fresh sign all over the place so sit up high and glass first and last light and you should find animals.
Good luck.

Sweet cheers Matt that was the plan will let you know how it goes.

Originally Posted by gunner161

Sweet cheers Cowboy looking foward to exploring the area. Yeah used to be in the Army so know the 4wd track well used to see alot on the Army side so in theory should be a few to the left ,was planning to the left of the pole track is all Doc land to the stream give or take then private land according to DOC correct?

Yeah correct some Maori land too, but if you have a permit they don't mind so I have found out when I asked to hunt there.
There is a camp site close to the river if you find it. some nice hunting there.

Headed in on Saturday. Took two guys with me one that is keen to get into Hunting and got his first rifle and his brother that just wanted to see what it was like never been camping at all and likes his couch, dont think he will be coming again haha. stopped on the way down to sight in our rifles both sighted in mint for 100m, mate turned out to be a good shot with his new rifle.

Walked in from desert road along poled track bit of a steep climb, almost at the top of the second hill a quad comes up Army guy off for a hunt ( grunt ). Stopped for a chat good guy he laughed and said we were doing it the hard way walking. we talked about where we were all goping to hunt so we didnt cross each others paths end up chasing each other around. He had seen quite a bit of deer around in the Army ground in the last few weeks. Reckons I should pop into Range control and ask them about access. Even he wasnt allowed on the Army land to the right of track that weekend it was closed to everyone. He offered us a ride up I turned it down mate was gutted haha. He carried on we walked the tank track after that easier walking.

Set up camp near a good vantage point, still early on in the arvo so ventured into the bush, followed a creek down heaps of sign with tracks crossing the stream, had a few whistling at us but were always one step ahead crafty buggers. Stags are just starting to squak now as well. Filled up the water and headed back out up to the top again. Glassed around saw a few but were way out of range 500m and a long walk round to get closer let them carry on feeding cool to watch.

Had another glass in the morning but saw nothing, went for a walk down to the creek where we were day before heaps of fresh sign, My GSP picked one up that must have been close she was winding hard then had her death stare one, by the time I realised what she was looking at it was too late. Got some good spots to concentrate on for next time looking foward to it

Was good to be back on the tussock hills, Truck was still there and in one piece when we got back which was awesome.

awesome gunner161

Mean mate. Def want to start looking at hunting down those ways. Pureora and Kaimais is good, but it's pretty thick overall and can be a bit depressing not seeing many animals ( even though their there ).

Thats interesting. I used to hunt it because of the easy access during the meat hunting days, but in the end it got cleaned right out and it was hard to get a deer in there. Went back about 15 years ago to walk through to the Rangatikei and it was still dead. Camped in the headwaters of the creek for a night.

So its great to hear that they have built up again, ‘cos its a nice spot.

Ok so i may or may not be able to confirm if there is deer in there but it is a good walk. Always seemed to be a few people that hunted the first gulley (behind where this photo was taken). We always did better once we got into the second gulley. Been quite a few years since i have been over there.

Before I found this forum I tried Tree Trunk Gorge. After a gut busting climb up to clearings I found on Google Earth, I shot my first deer...a very old stag with no antlers. Still reckon he was deaf, blind and stupid and was probably the only deer in that catchment