Queenstown Hunting.

Hi guys, I'm heading down to Queenstown this week for a wedding and was hoping to squeeze a day trip in on one of my free days. I've been looking online and thinking of going down to Glenorchy, driving through Paradise and parking up at Chinamans Bluff. Has anybody been through there semi recently and seen anything? I've found one decent looking side stream online that looks like an hour 1/2 walk from the car and am planning to investigate that, this is my first half decent walk from having knee surgery so wont be venturing up too high. I guess what I'm trying to ask is am I going far enough in? I suppose I'm going to find out whats in there anyway but any extra info would be awesome. Cheers.Attachment 105230

Himm if that's your car I don't think you will get it to the road end......it's tooo big for the road....:thumbsup:
Good luck with the trip looks like a good spot!

Haha you wont believe how long I spent on the shitter trying to draw a ute, then gave up and used that instead.

So what's with the cow? Cattle beast let lose in this creek in Queens Town area....it's ok we are sending in a guy with a bung knee to sort him out :XD:

Is that not what deer look like? Shit I've been looking for the wrong things all this time.

Looks like you won't have to walk that far then:ORLY:

Depending on the wind I'd cut in where that red dot is and bush stalk up river. Come up under those bluffs on the right hand side looks like some slips our clearings there.

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The above "Plan B" option from @Sideshow might be potentially more productive than just walking up the river. At this time of the year the main track following the Dart is like Auckland's Queen Street. Actually upon reflection, it's probably more like K' Road with some of the sights you see these days.

If you're lucky you might see a Red. If you're really lucky you might see a Whitetail but don't shoot those ones as they're very expensive animals. However, regardless of whether or not you see/shoot anything the best part is you'll be walking in some very pretty countryside.

Enjoy it.

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Originally Posted by planenutz

If you're lucky you might see a Red. If you're really lucky you might see a Whitetail but don't shoot those ones as they're very expensive animals.

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Sorry but why are the whitetails expensive? Are they protected there? Is there fines or taking one out? Not keen to be a dirty poaching c@#t.

Looks like you have selected a promising spot, I would be inclined to take Sideshows route and maybe even get lucky on the walk in.

And yeah, nice sketch haha

Oh and I know nothing about that area

With the main land white tail they were hit pretty hard with hunting and 1080 I think.
So most are trying to build the herd back up. It’s also our best trophy potential. So if you are lucky enough to see one it would be nice for them to be left for the future :)

have you got your hunting permint from doc ?
iam in queenstown an the the area very well if you like pm me

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Originally Posted by Howa270

Sorry but why are the whitetails expensive? Are they protected there? Is there fines or taking one out? Not keen to be a dirty poaching c@#t.

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If you see one in that region you're looking at going then it is very likely to have been relocated there by helicopter within the last 18 months. A few were netted and moved as the herds are not well populated in their original valleys. Hence the reason they're expensive.

There remains a voluntary hunting moratorium on the Whitetail. No fines, just some very sad faces from those who would prefer you to let the numbers accumulate.

@nzradar7m Yip I've got a permit for the Mount Aspiring National Park and the Cadrona Glenorchy Shotover blocks. PM incoming as any extra info would be awesome.

And to @planenutz That's the exact information I'm after, no where online or on the doc website that I've seen does it say anything about the whitetail heard in the area and I'd feel like a massive prick to take one out after all the effort to re-establish the numbers in the area. If it wasnt for this forum I'd go out guns blazing (that's a lie, I probably couldn't sneak up on a tame deer in a paddock). So Reds it is and hopefully I can feed some of the Yanks and Canucks that are travelling over for this wedding some wild venison.

Cheers guys I really do appreciate it.

The real reason that the Whitetails haven't ever established around Glenorchy is because they are very susceptible to MCF or Malignant Catarrhral Fever. This is a windborne disease carried and spread by sheep. Any susceptible animal within 3 km of sheep is at risk.

Well there you go... you learn something new every day!

Never knew that but did wonder why they weren't more prevalent.

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Originally Posted by planenutz

Well there you go... you learn something new every day!

Never knew that but did wonder why they weren't more prevalent.

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I have seen fantastic Whitetails on a Trophy Hunting park near Queenstown decedents from stock that came from Glenorchy. One Buck if shot in the wild would have been the new NZ record. I have seen does on the same park with triplets all as big as mum, so the environment is fine for them in the Queenstown area in places sufficiently isolated from sheep. In the US MCF affects (kills) Rocky Mountain Bighorn sheep ( +Muleys, Bison, Whitetails ) in country where their grazing overlaps domestic sheep. On Stewart Island, hunters complained that DOC was poisoning deer in one area because dead deer were being found continuously. DOC were not poisoning the deer, the deaths were all occurring in a radius from a small sheep farm on the Island.

Lots of better spots to go around here. You can pm me for ideas.

Wow thanks for that @Moa Hunter interesting. Question why only white tail in NZ and not other deer species?

And it's all fallen through, caught something bad from vietnam, quack seems to think Giardia. Puts my day trip fishing my way down to queenstown and the day trip to find some deer off for a while. Such is life eh.

Giardiasis is nasty. Take the antibiotics and take care. You’ll be off colour for a few weeks.

Just be aware there was a virulent form of gastroenteritis also doing the rounds and that one beats you up too (I was off work a week, and will not share further details other than to say those adult diapers do have a use after all).

It’s a beautiful area so even if you miss out this time, it’s well worth planning a trip there.

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Originally Posted by Sideshow

Wow thanks for that @Moa Hunter interesting. Question why only white tail in NZ and not other deer species?

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Other deer species are susceptible to varying degrees. The Pere David's deer herd that was established at Invermay 'Mosgiel' then moved to Mount Hutt Station were very susceptible. Red deer and Fallow in NZ mostly have come from a UK genetic base. In the UK, Deer have been exposed to MCF through a close association with sheep over hundreds of years. This means that over time animals that carry resistant genes have become dominant in the herds and the susceptible genes have died out. Some Reds still die here from MCF as do some exotic or continental cattle but on the whole the reds are resistant. Whitetail on the other hand have no resistant genes in their DNA that can bring about a resistant strain of deer, so they keep dieing

I like nature to take its course......but on this one himmmm me thinks maybe not!

The Dart did get 1080 last year and the white tail did take

The Dart did get 1080 last year and the white tail did take a rather large hit being that they are a small animal. It is funny how the Rees Valley next door didn't get 1080 even though the main land owner is on the Forest and Bird "band wagon". Maybe she has a double standard when it comes to dropping poison on her own property?