Thread: Doubtful River Hunting

Hi, me and my uni mate are looking to head up the Doubtful River for a trip in the near future. We were looking at a couple night trip and were thinking of staying at the Devils den bivvy at the saddle. Does anyone have experience around that area and have any tips for a few young bucks?
Any help is much appreciated

there are two types of track markers up the river...you want to follow the ORANGE ones...the green ones are the horse trail...and you will get wet and cold and more tired than need be if you follow green...things are further than they look on map..... take good binos.... the canada geese taste great.

Head up the Doubtful then up the Kedron creek to the Lake Mann Bivvy. Sleeps 2 from memory. Its tracked all the way from the Doubtful over into the Hope. Quite a good base for a few days and better than a tent at this time of year
If you can strike a sunny morning then you'll find animals around the bush edge. Not really any shortage of them

Cheers for the info Bos and Micky, will let you know how we get on

would just be careful of the snow levels up there atm. i recently saw a photo of the bivvy from the last few weeks and the whole area around those tops was covered in snow. would definately take crampons if heading in there within the next few weeks. scanning the bush edge on sunny mornings and evenings is definately the way to go there unless the snow is down to the bushline, in which case you'll mostly be limited to bush hunting.

I was up that way recently and all the open tops was covered in snow. Very slow going.

Fantastic tops if you can find a way onto them. We had to push through terrible monkey scrub, in hindsight not a great route!

Cheers for the info, @wkain and I made a trip up there recently and found plenty of deer and also saw two chamois. Got two on the deck. Amazing country and cool spot

Thinking of a trip up there soon, maybe hunting or just a look around. I understand that you can either walk from Windy Point or cross the river by the Works Camp. Is the river crossing generally Ok or do you have to wait for a decent spell of fine weather?

good trip, river crossings were fine (even in the dark) 1/2 of the stags had already cast their antlers (a bit earlier then normal??) but lots of deer on the tops. there was a bit of snow but not enough to be inconvenient. Cheers for all the advice.

The main problem with this spot is that leaving your car by the main road is risky. Unless you drive a shitbox you don't care about, which can be very handy at times like this. We spoke to a nice guy at the camp who let us park out of sight. Gave him a few beers in return.

Originally Posted by Backcountry Bob

Thinking of a trip up there soon, maybe hunting or just a look around. I understand that you can either walk from Windy Point or cross the river by the Works Camp. Is the river crossing generally Ok or do you have to wait for a decent spell of fine weather?

At “ normal “ flow crossing is not difficult, but can change quickly with rain in the hills.
As above it’s best to not leave a vehicle in the public parks, there are endless tales of break ins. I think Boyle lodge can also drop and retrieve you for a fee. Or NZDA members have their own option just up the main valley.
I know the RHA deer numbers are an ongoing concern for DOC so don’t be shy about knocking hinds over.

The Boyle, St James and Lake Sumner carparks all have cameras, the live feed goes through a farm I happen to know the son of. Boyle do drop offs too.