Thread: Hokonui's

Hey team. has anyone here had much experience hunting the Hokonuis? Im getting a bit tired of fallow so been trying to get out and about a bit reasonably local to hunt. Im not one to ask for a gps spot or anything like that, but my time is pretty precious so any advice on where to start would be great. Got out an hunted the Mt Benger doc block yesterday as its close to home, spotted a couple of red stags and made my way to where they were but the fog rolled in and by the time it cleared it was about 30 degrees and they were nowhere to be seen, bedded up in the shade somewhere I would say, its a small block though and I would say you need to get lucky in there as the deer can very easily be in the same catchment, but on private land. I was about to give up and trudge back to my truck when I noticed some movement in a patch of scrub a couple hundred yards away... excellent! I thought... then a group of 6 fallow bucks in velvet meandered out into the open. I almost had to laugh, the bloody things are everywhere down here and im sure they now know im trying my best to ignore them haha. any advice or experiences shared greatly appreciated. cheers

You dont know how lucky you are boy

Have hunted the Hokonui a lot, I'll write you up a PM.

Leithen Bush is closer (to you) and well worth a walk . . . its smallish too though.

Originally Posted by Tentman

Leithen Bush is closer (to you) and well worth a walk . . . its smallish too though.

I just mentioned that to him in my PM. Its WAAAAAY bugger than Mt Benger. I love Leithen Bush, but don't get there are often as I'd like. I bloody missed out for the roar....again.

Originally Posted by Tentman

Leithen Bush is closer (to you) and well worth a walk . . . its smallish too though.

Cheers for that mate, that's real close! I'm at Moa Flat son he other end of Swtizers road is literally just up the hill from me. Wonder why it doesnt show up as an open permit area on the Wams system? Maybe because its balloted during the roar? Same as blue Mountains wont show up on Wams as open permit area

Originally Posted by Ryan_Songhurst

Cheers for that mate, that's real close! I'm at Moa Flat son he other end of Swtizers road is literally just up the hill from me. Wonder why it doesnt show up as an open permit area on the Wams system? Maybe because its balloted during the roar? Same as blue Mountains wont show up on Wams as open permit area

Its not open permit. Its a special permit, but ring DOC Invercargill and they'll give you one for three months, or up to the start of the roar (20th March) or start of lambing (mid September).

Oh yeah, Blue Mtns are not Open Permit either, but balloted for everyday of the year. You can sometime get a mid week permit by phone but its all fallow deer so.....

Originally Posted by Ryan_Songhurst

Cheers for that mate, that's real close! I'm at Moa Flat son he other end of Swtizers road is literally just up the hill from me. Wonder why it doesnt show up as an open permit area on the Wams system? Maybe because its balloted during the roar? Same as blue Mountains wont show up on Wams as open permit area

The NZ Topo 50 app now has restricted blocks on it as well as the open areas, so includes the Bluies, Leithen and Piano flat which is also worth a look and easy to access most of the block.

Originally Posted by Ryan_Songhurst

Cheers for that mate, that's real close! I'm at Moa Flat son he other end of Swtizers road is literally just up the hill from me. Wonder why it doesnt show up as an open permit area on the Wams system? Maybe because its balloted during the roar? Same as blue Mountains wont show up on Wams as open permit area

Its balloted in the roar and open only a couple of months outside of the roar. Call Sue in Invers Doc office to get your permit. You have to cross private land to access the block, Doc provide phone numbers of the surrounding landowners.

Originally Posted by berg243

oh first world problems aye. Hokonuis is probably 60/40 red to fallow at the Otapiri side so maybe the other side for more reds but also a good chance of running into a grunter on the Otapiri side. there is a small doc block access from lora gorge but not that big and you need to be good on navigation to stay out of certain landowners blocks in there as they have rules for themselves and their mates and rules for everyone else.

I haven't been over that side since the 1990s, doesn't sound like much has changed in terms landowners attitude.....

I'm keen to hear if you see any wild sheep.

I'm new down here and all I can find is reds! I've been trying to find fallow. I've been in the hokonuis once up the forks flat track and the was quite a bit of sign around and spooked a deer. Does anyone know any other access into the hokonuis? Seems to be lots of landlocked blocks in there. Heaps of deer up leithen but most of the numbers are way up the back, first time in there shot 2 in the bush. Spoilt for hunting down here.