Thread: Newbie!

Sniper one of the conditions of a DoC permit is that you do not discharge a firearm with the specified distance (200 metres from memory) of a road or track.

Firstly if your seeing sign..there's deers about.
There will never be much around tracks due to constant human scent lingering and technically you're not supposed to hunt on tracks as Doc thinks you will shoot someone but you might find the bush opens up off the track of the pressure of feeding from deer will increase.
Secondly, getting a little bit lost at the beginning of ones hunting adventures is healthy, give you respect for the bush.
I definitely recommend buying a GPS, I've only been hunting for about 3 years and had spent no time in the bush when starting out so i spent $100 and bought a Garmin Etrex H off trademe, most important purchase i've ever made in regards to hunting. When ever i go somewhere new i always GPS my start point (Car,Hut) and then through it in the bottom of my bag, if the shit hits the fan i can always pull it out and it will point and it will point me home.
Having said that its always a back up to a map and compass and last resort if i can't get myself out using them, never rely on one instead of a M&C as memories fade and batteries run out... but they are damn handy for saving scraps and wallows and markers. the map i use of my local has lots of random points like waterfalls clearing on it that i've gps, good for triangulating my position.
R

Cheers Rushy And Rich. Will read through the reg's better.
Am looking into learning a bit of navigation skills. Orienteering that is. Looking at doing a couple local events. Might even drag the misses along.
Have you had much problems with getting signal from your GPS in the bush? My mates a few years back couldn't pick up any signal, and we spent the next 6 hours heading out with just a compass. Mind you, when we got reception, we found the truck 200m through the bush. It was a Garmin, but not sure which type.

Cheers.

Mate had a etrex I had the new 62s and his lost tracks alot mine never lost us once. Maybe it is just older tech as his was given to him from his uncle is was 2005 or something.

Yeah my mates is getting on a bit. Have used another friends nice one with topo's on it (don't know which one off the top of my head), and that was sweet all day. Plotted every turn etc

I got a etrex H a couple of years back,I dont use tracks I just mark stuff . It has never not gotten a signal when iv used it. I think the H model had a better receiver or something than just the etrex.
I doubt any of the modern ones would have any issues.
Definitely take a compass everywhere everytime even when you are familiar with the area.Fog can fuck you big time even in your own back yard.

The H in etrex H stand for High frequency ariel, if you get a standard etrex you won't pick up anything in the bush
I only got the etrex H due to bugdet restrictions and its the lowest option you'd wana go with
We use the the garmin 60cs/62?.. the grey and black one with colour and topo maps.... at work and they're great, we spend heaps of time in the bush and never have an issue with them. I haven't really used any other brand so can't comment in them.
Im not too sure on the new touch screen gps' seem like they'd get scratched up quickly in the bush

R

I've got the etrex10, which if I'm not mistaken is the model that superseded the etrex H. Its been really good so far. One thing I should add is this never use your gps as a pointer for a bearing those things don't know what is up when you spin them around in your hand. Best thing to do if you are a bit lost and you've told you gps to take you to your car, is just to use it to get the coordinates (set it to NZTM) of your position and the coordinates of your car or the camp or whatever (you should probably mark it on the map before you leave, actually), and mark them on your topomap and just use your compass for the bearing (remember to convert between true north and magnetic). Keep your gps on and that way you can get confirmation you are heading in the right direction. If you lose your bearing for whatever reason, start again.