Thread: Freezing meat, advice for first visit

The ahuriri gets smashed in April.

Is the hunting crowd getting back away from the flats/ huts/roads/trails or are they concentrated in the easier terrain? How are deer numbers? Thanks for the info.

Originally Posted by Docsbinocs

Is the hunting crowd getting back away from the flats/ huts/roads/trails or are they concentrated in the easier terrain? How are deer numbers? Thanks for the info.

The harder the access, the less people usually. Stay away from huts and be prepared to walk 4 hours and you shouldn't see many people, but chopper access sometimes breaks that rule. Animal numbers can be variable. Will depend on how much the choppers have been shooting stags in the summer. They will still be around, but might not be many big stags. Of the areas you listed the AHuriri will prob have the least deer.

Thank you stug for the information.
What do think about hiring a helicopter out of double hill/ Rakaia to go up toward the main divide for deer?

I was thinking of mountain biking up the Hurunui like you did from the gate at Lake Katrine. Do I need landowner permission? I hear that there is good hunting above Mackenzie Creek and Canyon Creek. Can you ride a bike up to Mackenzie hut?
Has anyone been able to get access up the Waihopai River in Marlborough? Thinking of hiring a helicopter to get access to the land locked public lands.I read that there are good numbers of reds and fallow deer. From the maps it looks like there is access from Leatham side. His anyone done this?

I would plan to eat the meat you harvest before returning to Hawaii, we could have a forum barby in your honour.

I'm planning to eat some every day but I don't think I can eat a whole tahr and red deer and maybe chamois in 3 weeks. I will have a friend along and he can do his share of eating also.

I would be happy to share with all the members with a big feed before returning to Hawaii.

i suggest the kowhai river track in the kaikoura ranges and shoot some pigs or goats. great place to hunt

Thanks for the advice however we have lots and lots of wild pig and goat hunting in Hawaii. I am targeting red deer, tahr and chamois

You don't need landowner permission for the Hurunui. I don't think you'll get a bike up to the McKenzie Hut.
I don't think double hill are doing helicopter trips anymore, you'd need to get Mt Hutt heli, or come over from the west coast. A few people do fly into the Marlborough back country, only way to access a lot of it.

Thanks again for the information.
I'm wondering about weather West of the main divided versus East. Is there much difference when you get up above the Bush line on either side of the divide?
I do not like hunting in fog, would rather get stuck in the eye with a sharp stick.

I haven't done anything on the West Coast tops, but the weather is worse there, a lot more fogged out days and rain than the East Coast. Our weather mainly comes from the West.

Thanks again for the information.That is what I suspected.

I always used to grab a few bigmacs and take them on the plane with me if we were going to south America so I could munch away on them during the flight, the one time we went through Australia (sydney) the bastards took them off me, bloody thieving aussies