Thread: Hunting Urchin tops and Waipakihi river?

Im looking at hunting the Urchin tops area and maybe the Waipakihi river flats/area. I take it there are reds and sika in there although the area probably gets a flogging from other hunters. Has anyone had much success around this area or any tips.
Do you have to pack in?
Cheers

When I was younger I often used to day hunt the Urchin tops. A fit young man should get up there pretty quickly - I think I recall not much over an hour. Going up and back in the dark is no trouble. A lot of hunters rush past the Urchin in their hurry to get over into the Waipakahi. And there is a track now that takes you around the Urchin tops and onto the Umukarikari so there is a lot more scope.

Thanks, very helpful.

only been up there a couple of times.... i was never a fit young bugger and with 2 dodgy knees was up there in 3 hours (always found the downhill harder on the knees).... only done it in summer ...

there is a campsite on the left of the track before you break out onto the tops no water till you get into the valley

There is water at the first camp in the saddle on the way up. Push through the bush a bit and there is (was?) a bit of pipe in a seep. Just before you break onto the tops there is another little camp site on the left, but as scotty says, no water there. The next water is in the creek on the right as you go up the centre ridge. Best to drop into it towards its headwaters from nearly at the back ridge. Once you are at the trig its pretty self evident where you should hunt. During the roar ducking off the track 2/3 of the way up to your right works ok.
Just keep going back until you have sussed it. Rushing from area to area in the hope of stumbling onto one seldom works. Get to know one place well.

The Waipakahi is ok too but you are walking past a lot of deer to get there.

great info!

Worth a trip for sure mate. Plenty of animals in the bush there if the tops aren't playing game. Good hunting of both urchin and umikari tracks.
The urchin is a sweet walk, you drive a chunk of the elevation so is only an hour of pretty reasonable gradient. Umakari is a bit more of a grunt.

Epic views from up there as well

Ive only seen reds in the front country there but I'm sure there are sika about also

Originally Posted by Tahr

When I was younger I often used to day hunt the Urchin tops. A fit young man should get up there pretty quickly - I think I recall not much over an hour. Going up and back in the dark is no trouble. A lot of hunters rush past the Urchin in their hurry to get over into the Waipakahi. And there is a track now that takes you around the Urchin tops and onto the Umukarikari so there is a lot more scope.

If you can get to the bushline in an hour you're a buck rat.
As said below its a dry campsite at the bushline and if you hunt around the ridges it can be a long time till you see liquid again.

I've hunted the Urchin tops a couple of years ago with no luck but my suggestion would be to look for fine gravel with small plants growing in it which seems to be a magnet for deer.
The big creek in the bush of the south basin was quite hard to travel in.
The bush was quite thich; I spent several hours on hands and knees.

Once you get into the Waipakihi river there are nice campsites and you will meet other hunters for sure. Enjoy the place, lay out in the sun, swim in the river and don't take it too seriously. When hunting look for moist gullies and light gaps in the canopy.
Travel upstream from the mid Waipakihi is a bit slower than you would expect. Going down river is nice; no marked track and you cross many times.

As tahr said, a fit young fella could camp by his car in one of the many sites by the road and do a day trip to the Urchin tops, going up and down in the dark. Wear blaze, don't spotlight, its a dark place.

Let us know how you get on and post a photo or two.

Thanks for the advice fellas.

I've lost count how many times I have hunted from the Waipakihi Hut / Thunderbolt / Waipakihi River. My advice would be to hunt the bush at the start of the Urchin and to the west of it.

Check the DOC website too, Umkari has been 1080'd recently.