Thread: Pureora Bush Stags - 3 night Roar trip

Got away for 3 nights into the Pureoras chasing roaring stags a couple of weeks ago.
The plan was to head into an area I had hunted a little, back when I started hunting, but to push in further than I'd been before.
We pulled up to the carpark to find 8 other cars, which just about turned us around to come up with a 'Plan B'. Thankfully it turned out most of the vehicles belonged to a big party of guys at one campsite so we set off and headed into the bush towards some new territory.
We were heading in the general direction of our plan when we came across marked trees on a path to somewhere, so we decided to follow it and eventually ended up at an old shelter on a clearing.
It ended up being quite a cool area, with some nice bush in a lot of places and a lot of rubbish bush to push through too!
The stags made it pretty hard work, they weren't roaring much and they were quite shy, but I still managed to get a couple on the deck and we got in close to plenty more.
Rather than me ramble on about the nitty gritty details - here is a link to a a video I put together of the trip.
I've been lucky enough to get away into the bush for aprox 25 days this roar, so I'll post some more trip reports as I get time. Until then - I'm back off to the bush for the week!!
Thanks for watching!
http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUrDiPIPmqQ

UTube not working for me

me either .....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUrDiPIPmqQ

Hopefully this one works... Looks like I pasted the http:, but it was already in the link.

Honk Reynolds Hut
Great Deer country all round there

Originally Posted by Sarvo

Honk Reynolds Hut
Great Deer country all round there

Thanks mate!
Another forum member private messaged me with some details about it, built by an old possum trapper.
We were told by someone in there the name but I thought they'd said 'Hulks Hut', so it's good to know what it's actually called.

Originally Posted by Mad_Fisho

Thanks mate!
Another forum member private messaged me with some details about it, built by an old possum trapper.
We were told by someone in there the name but I thought they'd said 'Hulks Hut', so it's good to know what it's actually called.

Know it well
Thats nice country and I had forgotten about the steep part out of the Totara Stream
That clearing you went through - got a good 11 there - sitting down in the sun (looked like same clearing shape - but there are many a drone be g8 tool in there to recki with)

Honk Reynolds did Possums there back in 70's to about when I went into the upper Waione (so Maramataha - then Waione heading West from there)

Bloody surprised you had it to yourselves
Ben Dellow obviously not dropping hunters in now as he always put guys into Honks for Roar

Originally Posted by Sarvo

Know it well
Thats nice country and I had forgotten about the steep part out of the Totara Steam
That clearing you went through - got a good 11 there - sitting down in the sun (looked like same clearing shape - but there are many a drone be g8 tool in there to recki with)

Honk Reynolds did Possums there back in 70's to about when I went into the upper Waione (so Maramataha - then Waione heading West from there)

Bloody surprised you had it to yourselves
Ben Dellow obviously not dropping hunters in now as he always put guys into Honks for Roar

I had also forgotten about the steep part, until we hit it!
Cool mate, got a photo of him by chance? We were hot on the heels of a stag through that clearing, had been stalking after him for a km or more, then another one roared up to our right. We picked up the pace after the clearing to try catch up to the stag and ran into a couple of hunters who had also heard him. Yeah might be worth me taking the drone in next time!

Yeah we were quite surprised too, but happy about it for sure! We heard a few choppers over head and expected one of them to come in sooner or later.

see you did it the easiest way (quad to the end of purdons rd then follow the old track to honks) the first time i did it muggins me did it the hard way up past beerhaven drop down to the maramataiti at the "chopper clearings" then up a staircase into the area coming into honks from the east....... was down last week but didnt really have enough time to get over there wanted to check other potential spots for when it gets too busy in the totara stream/maramataiti area

You can’t beat shooting roaring stags close in tight bush

Originally Posted by Mohawk .308

Awesome effort getting all that meat out. Enjoyed the video and subscribed. You have a good mate there. Thanks for sharing

Cheers mate! Pretty gutted that it actually had all gone off - bloody waste but the dogs are eating well for awhile... Thanks for the sub, glad you ejoyed it! Yeah he earns his keep!

Originally Posted by scotty

see you did it the easiest way (quad to the end of purdons rd then follow the old track to honks) the first time i did it muggins me did it the hard way up past beerhaven drop down to the maramataiti at the "chopper clearings" then up a staircase into the area coming into honks from the east....... was down last week but didnt really have enough time to get over there wanted to check other potential spots for when it gets too busy in the totara stream/maramataiti area

Funnily I had no idea about that track - we were hopping off the bike about to bush bash down the hill, then one of the Beerhaven guys pulled up and told us about the track, so that saved us a bit of leg burn!!

Originally Posted by outdoorlad

You can’t beat shooting roaring stags close in tight bush

I agree mate - doesn't get any better!! Love it...

Well done, great result. I hope the people who got meat know what effort was required getting the meat out.

Originally Posted by Mooseman

Well done, great result. I hope the people who got meat know what effort was required getting the meat out.

Thanks Mooseman! Unfortunately all of that meat actually went off and is being fed to the dogs... Absolutely gutted, I think it was just so muggy at the time and I probably bunched that second stag up in the pillow case a bit too quickly! After a few days in the chiller it had a good odour and slime to it.

Great video! Looks like some good bush in there. Must be a good feeling throwing the plans out the window and trying somewhere new and having it pay of as an eventful trip. Gutted to hear about the meat not lasting.

Originally Posted by Projects

Great video! Looks like some good bush in there. Must be a good feeling throwing the plans out the window and trying somewhere new and having it pay of as an eventful trip. Gutted to hear about the meat not lasting.

Thanks mate, glad you enjoyed it! Yeah some really nice bush and some terrible stuff, like anywhere I suppose!

Yeah it's great to just sort of wing it and it works out. Sometimes those are the best kind of hunts aye!

Yeah real shame about the meat, bloody waste! Although it's still going to good use!