Hunting in the Kaimai ranges

Once again the forestry are going to close Thompsons Track on the Waikato side. This time it could be for three months starting early February. This will seriously stuff up anyone's plan for the roar. I have been talking to the roading guy and he says the track will be impassable at the 6 km mark. You will not get a vehicle through, but I imagine one will still be able to walk, although I think you would have to go in before they start work each day and not return till they knock off...I will update if I hear anything more.

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Originally Posted by Spook

Once again the forestry are going to close Thompsons Track on the Waikato side. This time it could be for three months starting early February. This will seriously stuff up anyone's plan for the roar. I have been talking to the roading guy and he says the track will be impassable at the 6 km mark. You will not get a vehicle through, but I imagine one will still be able to walk, although I think you would have to go in before they start work each day and not return till they knock off...I will update if I hear anything more.

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Cheers for keeping everyone posted

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Update on Thompsons Track...the track will now be closed between the hours of 5 am - 4 pm [excluding public holidays and weekends]...Monday 17th February 2014 - Friday 30th May 2014...the actual closure is 6 km from Thompsons Track/Wairakau Road intersection to 300 metres west of the summit.
Any dedicated hunters will fit this into their schedule...might have to get up a bit earlier in the morning.

Any one know what the north south track is like to walk/use for access? Aongatete area.
Chur

Easy as last time I looked.

Cool. I read somewhere its a 'skilled only' walk. Im sure Ill be aight.

N S track from Wairere falls is like a two lane highway. Pretty sure the rest is good and clear too. lots of traffic though.

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Originally Posted by Sniper

Any one know what the north south track is like to walk/use for access? Aongatete area.
Chur

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Just some wind fall around at the moment fine in the light of day can be a challenge at night

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Originally Posted by Sniper

Cool. I read somewhere its a 'skilled only' walk. Im sure Ill be aight.

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Crack up:D ive been walking since I was one, hope im classed as a skilled walker :D

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Originally Posted by Gibo

Crack up:D ive been walking since I was one, hope im classed as a skilled walker :D

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Haha, yeah. It said you need navigational skills.

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Originally Posted by Sniper

Haha, yeah. It said you need navigational skills.

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Im out then! Notorious circle walker :D

Fark me with a pineapple ! The track in question runs North to south and South to North. Even you couldnt manage a circle on that one :)

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Originally Posted by Pengy

Fark me with a pineapple ! The track in question runs North to south and South to North. Even you couldnt manage a circle on that one :)

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Want a bet ;)

There have been several rescues on the North/South track...one of the latest was a guy sitting in the middle of the track and didn't know which way to go...a helicopter went in after dark to help him out.

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Originally Posted by Spook

There have been several rescues on the North/South track...one of the latest was a guy sitting in the middle of the track and didn't know which way to go...a helicopter went in after dark to help him out.

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Ha ha ha fuck thats a hard case

I retract my last post after reading that

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Originally Posted by Gibo

Ha ha ha fuck thats a hard case

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A couple of years ago a dairy farmer shot up the track after morning milking for a quick hunt, was on the cellphone within two hours saying he was lost...didn't get out till late the next day as the police rescue unit got lost trying to get to him.

Mate you can hear the traffic thundering down SH2 at least use that to get your bearings :o

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Originally Posted by Mauser308

That's a hard case, I really don't know how you get 'lost' in there. After all, it's less than a day from matamata to the katikati side (I've done it). The range runs mostly nth-sth, the creeks tend east-wst with the bigger ones running to the south, and if that's not enough the area is littered with old logging roads and cuttings for skids that run due east-wst. I'll admit it and say most of the time I never even bothered to take a compass or map in with me (however they are essential kit now).

I have once spent an entire day covering 200m to get back to the Waipapa Rd track. Went in on a possum trap line south from the car at the top of the track from the blade carpark, then followed a animal track into the thick crap. Lost the track, decided to follow the compass due nth, 5 hours later arrived at Waipapa Rd. In the middle of that pile of crap, a huge wallow with rub marks higher than my head and no way or track through the supplejack - I mean impassable without a saw or secateurs. Unbelievable - how do they do it? Been back in to that spot a couple of times since, utter mission to much work but regularly used.

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You spent an entire day covering 200 metres and you weren't "lost"?...if you ever hunt further to the north you will find those highways of tracks and tram ways peter out and once the cloud comes down there is every opportunity to become "lost".

You can go a long way on those old tracks & tramways in a short time.Very easy to get disoriented when the cloud comes down ,very good reason to own a GPS .

I keep a compass taped too my stock . Nothing better and quicker for keeping you heading the way you want .

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Originally Posted by Chris

You can go a long way on those old tracks & tramways in a short time.Very easy to get disoriented when the cloud comes down ,very good reason to own a GPS .

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Are you kidding? Im yet to see this mythical things :pacman:

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Originally Posted by mohawk

I keep a compass taped too my stock . Nothing better and quicker for keeping you heading the way you want .

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I would have thought the metal in your rifle would stuff the compass up :(

Nup , mauser is good and stainless rossi lever shouldn't be too magnetic anyway.
Try it and see , you will know soon enough.

I made a.cute little leather thingy for the 357.Attachment 23172Attachment 23173

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Originally Posted by Twoshotkill

Take some garden sikateas..(spelling) with you !!! You will know why when you get there!!!

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Nuthin wurst than badd speeln huntrs - tha choppy things r ....... "Secateurs"

Get a good pair as you will be needing them :)
also having some form of holster for them makes life simpler

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Originally Posted by Twoshotkill

Take some garden sikateas..(spelling) with you !!! You will know why when you get there!!!

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Nuthin wurst than badd speeln huntrs - tha choppy things r ....... "Secateurs"

Get a good pair as you will be needing them :)
also having some form of holster for them makes life simpler

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Originally Posted by Eyesplice

Nuthin wurst than badd speeln huntrs - tha choppy things r ....... "Secateurs"

Get a good pair as you will be needing them :)
also having some form of holster for them makes life simpler

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I have killed a few secatears in the kaimais:(

Im yet to understand how people get lost, with all respect. Me and a mate were hunting Pureora a few years back. Neither of us are what you would call experienced hunters. We walked around for about 6ish hours and god knows how many Km. We never used the map, and the GPS wouldn't get a signal. We just used our 'mangation'. Turned up about 200m from the truck when we got back to the road. Never once were we worried about getting stuck in there overnight. I get you can get lost, but it really does come down to preparation and common sense.
The Kaimais is pretty basic really. If your lost lost, follow a creek out or keep going down hill. It will lead to a road at some stage. Same goes for MT Taranaki. Walk down hill.
Fiords, Uru etc a bit different. But if your hunting the really big ones, you need to sort it out before hand and be on to it.

Having been called out to search for the same pair of pig hunters on two occasions, in the same catchment, I can assure you that "Mangation" doesnt always work. And yes, they are locals. :(

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Originally Posted by Sniper

Im yet to understand how people get lost, with all respect. Me and a mate were hunting Pureora a few years back. Neither of us are what you would call experienced hunters. We walked around for about 6ish hours and god knows how many Km. We never used the map, and the GPS wouldn't get a signal. We just used our 'mangation'. Turned up about 200m from the truck when we got back to the road. Never once were we worried about getting stuck in there overnight. I get you can get lost, but it really does come down to preparation and common sense.
The Kaimais is pretty basic really. If your lost lost, follow a creek out or keep going down hill. It will lead to a road at some stage. Same goes for MT Taranaki. Walk down hill.
Fiords, Uru etc a bit different. But if your hunting the really big ones, you need to sort it out before hand and be on to it.

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In actual fact, both you and your mate were lost...everyone will tell you that when lost you will walk in circles...you just had a six hour circle.

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Originally Posted by Pengy

Having been called out to search for the same pair of pig hunters on two occasions, in the same catchment, I can assure you that "Mangation" doesnt always work. And yes, they are locals. :(

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Some years ago my son and I were hunting in a catchment where a police officer from Tauranga had become lost some months previous. He was found almost naked with his survival blanket around his head and both feet soaking in the stream. He had lost the plot along with his clothes and rifle. He had been in the NZ army previous to being a policeman. From the head of the catchment we could see a haybarn in the distance...of course he would not of seen this if the cloud was down or he was in the creek bed. I would have thought that with all the training and experience of life that he had had, that this would not happen to him. It goes to show that when the shit goes down in the bush all sorts of strange things happen in one's mind if we allow it to.

I get lost in the bush with a GPS! Seriously though, you can take a bearing and keep heading that direction and eventually you will come out somewhere. I did a circle in there yesterday not far from the track in the fog. GPS sorted me on the right heading.

I think there's a difference between being lost and disorientated. Every so often I pull my compass up and say "I swear north isnt that direction" but you gotta learn to turn that off and trust your compass. If you panic when you get disorientated, thats when it goes down hill.

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Nah I wouldn't say we were lost at all. We just knew we went over this ridge, down this creek, up another ridge, sidled around a bit. We always new roughly witch way to go. Kept an eye on the sun, used it as a rough compass and walah, Mr Truck. Don't see the point in walking out the way you walked in. But I get what your saying, and we don't hunt like that anymore.

Trouble is, no one wants to admit defeat and say they are lost. It's a big call to just hit the creek and head down. Everybody would prefer to just have a bit of a wander round hoping to find a known point. Those that do get lost just wander around for too long then it's dark and they are stuffed


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Been 'disorientated' a few times off Clements rd in the Kaimanawas......would swear blind i knew what direction i was going only to look at my compass and be way off!!!!!!.......good thing there is you just 'have' to hit the road, then its a toss up which way you go!!!!!!........use a GPS all the time no drama.......

In the Kaimai's the one thing I would never suggest to anyone is to follow a stream out...they all follow the line of least resistance and many drop off the face of the earth...the same could be said for many of the ridges that end up bluffed out.

Could not agree more Spook. I have nearly come to grief in there when the ground simply disapeared beneath my feet. Sure gives one the shits when it happens.

If you think the Kaimais is bad, go up Otawa in welcome bay/te puke.

Couldn't be bothered walking back up the hill(30-45min to track) so I thought I could just walk back to the carpark following a stream, worst decision I've ever made in the bush. It took 4 hours to get back through the most horrendous country I've ever been that bluffed out heaps, each step was a nightmare through the supplejack and trying to go down and up hill with slippery mud not to mention trying to hold a torch and a rifle.
The worst time in the bush I've ever had. Easily could've died in there.