Thread: Hunting in the Kaimai ranges

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.

Originally Posted by kiwigreen

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.

Yip it can be shit in places.

Originally Posted by Spook

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.

very very true, its is a area you need to get to know bit by bit, hunt by hunt

and some of the streams you swear would lead to the matamata side infact head to tauranga side

One example of the rock formations

Originally Posted by Mauser308

Otawa and Otanewainuku are a bit like that but the Kaimais by comparison is not quite so shits-inducing. Some sections do need a fair amount of care or some cunning rope work, and the ability to tell a deer or pig trail from a goat trail is very handy!

Ever shot anything or hunted up there much?. You know where that 'clearing' is at the welcome bay end, never ever try to walk back to the carpark via the river, it was just mud and rock and very very nasty gorgy jungle. I fell head first down a a rock face because supplejack was wrapped around my legs.