Thread: Heading to Molesworth in May, looking for advice

Greetings all,

New member from Alberta, Canada here.

After reading forums and watching videos for months, my hunting partner and I decided an adventure outside of Canada was in order. We decided on the beauty of New Zealand, mostly because of the vast DIY/Unguided options you guys graciously allow.

We initially tried to draw a ballot block, but were unsuccessful. But we figured applying for a block outside of the roar would be just as awesome for some remote back county hunting. We were successful in drawing the Beggs block from May 13-19, and I am curious about what we can except for typical weather in the area at that time. I looked at historical averages, using hammer springs as a location and the temps and rain fall don't look much different than the typical Canadian late fall hunting season.

I am assuming that your fall seasons are just as unpredictable as ours, in that there could be a deep freeze or it could be unseasonably warm.

I am also a little unsure about access in Molesworth. It looks like a decent road runs along the East side of the Beggs block but is separated by a river. Would crossing that river in May be advisable? I have done a bunch of water crossings in the rocky mountains, and while the water is cold and swift enough to make you sing soprano, they are seldom over knee deep and not very difficult to wade across. The DOC mentions road closures and other hurdles, but I am finding it hard to put all the info together in an easy to understand way. Google Earth has road names and river names on some things, but not others. Makes it hard for a guy to get his bearings.

We plan on coming out for about 2 weeks, the first week we plan on doing a couple over nighters to a couple different blocks to check things out and maybe even get lucky.

Any advice would huge in planning our adventure.

Cheers