Thread: Rainbow station..access for hunting, whats the go???

Hi, i thought you can apply for a hunting permit to go up the rainbow in the off season for hunting.. It states it on their website, after easter you can apply.
I emailed them for access and the only reply i got was the road is closed to the public and we dont allow hunting on the station.
Really? When i rang the station just before lockdown they told me i can access after easter , email them then.
Now i get a NO....whats the story , anyobe know?
Cheers

In past years with heavy snow fall from Hells Gate onwards they simply close it full stop.They cant be arsed hauling weekend warriors out of the drifts.I imagine with this months dumps you wouldnt get too far past the boundary gate & on towards Island Pass-4000ft

On the updated website it states we are currantly not allowing off season access due to farming operations. But it states thou for hunting access email them.
I believe its possible to get access and where i want to go there be no issue getting there for a hunt for a deer in the native.(its DOC but need access to get there). I ring them tomorrow,

Plus the email stated we dont allow hunting on the station, ....since when> Signed at end by Nga Mihi .

It's easier for them to close the road then deal with stuck vehicles. As far as I'm aware you have never been able to the station land itself, only use the road to gain access to public land. That particular valley has always been difficult to gain access through the off season. Each manager prefers to let their own staff hunt it. I can understand locking it up once the snow hits.

Personally I have had difficulty with them. Not replying to emails or phone calls. When you are able to make contact you are mostly abused and told to bugger off. Now I simply throw my mountain bike over the gate and go about my business.
Rainbow station is well know to be difficult to deal with.

Originally Posted by EFriz

Personally I have had difficulty with them. Not replying to emails or phone calls. When you are able to make contact you are mostly abused and told to bugger off. Now I simply throw my mountain bike over the gate and go about my business.
Rainbow station is well know to be difficult to deal with.

Sounds like you may be part of the problem.

Plenty of people bike through the Rainbow each year. Its a well known cycle tourist classic. I've fished the river in there ( with licence and backcountry permit) and would consider biking in from the gate to access the DOC/Public land for fishing /Hunting. On a side note - some rental vehicles with Tom Tom or similar GPS used to indicate this was the quickest way to drive from Hanmer to Nelson! Good luck with that our foreign friends! That may have pissed off the Rainbow on a few occasions!

Originally Posted by Scott29er

Plenty of people bike through the Rainbow each year. Its a well known cycle tourist classic. I've fished the river in there ( with licence and backcountry permit) and would consider biking in from the gate to access the DOC/Public land for fishing /Hunting. On a side note - some rental vehicles with Tom Tom or similar GPS used to indicate this was the quickest way to drive from Hanmer to Nelson! Good luck with that our foreign friends! That may have pissed off the Rainbow on a few occasions!

I get that mountain biking is not likely to be a huge issue, but anyone hopping round the gate on private property and assuming the right, is just going to make landowner tighten things up all round

and please stop blaming overseas visitors for all of our woes

Sounds abit like they have selected people they let in the off season for hunting and bad luck anyone else. Thought DOC had a agreement with them to allow access for hunting
onto DOC land. One way to manage the animal numbers. Maybe if they hardly let hunters in other than whose in the know maybe we should be be in the ear of DOC about the high number of animals in there and as you cant get access prob a good idea to bring in the green rain to control them......... might see then better response lol. Yes, no reply to second email asking whats the story, is the website wrong etc etc.
No answer to the phone call.....yes, looks like hunting the rainbow is only for the selective few and im not one of them.
Reminds me of the council up the roding and matai catchments. they say you can apply for a hunting permit as they want animal numbers controled etc.
Catch is the caretakers give them out. As they hunters they always say NO. Keep it for themselves and their mates. They dont control numbers thou, they manage them, so the council hire cullers to go in their once in awhile to
cut the animal numbers down.
If the council actually forced the caretakers to allow others in they wouldnt have that prob;lem but thts how it works i guess

Looking on the Wams site it appears public access on the road ends at the skifield and not the gate, so to go over the gate on a bike you would need permission. If your walking there is a marginal strip either side of the river that doesn't require access permission

Its always says closed to the puclic in the off season.Just means the general public cant rock up there and go like they do in the ""season"".
But it does state in the off season(only time you allow to hunt) you can email them for access to hunt plus you once could request access for other stuff as well as long as it was approved.
DOC encourage such stations to allow access to DOC land and in this case hunting as well and tried to come to a arrangement but of course if one party doesnt want to play ball theres not much you
can do about it .

Very true deer243 - the current owner has previously given me permission for access during the winter season when the weather was stable a week out. I emailed as per their website. But it is not one of my go to spots that often. I have lost count on the number of access submissions i have put forward for various property tenure reviews over the years plus the firearms select committee. We just lack good numbers of rec hunters using common sense and putting pen to paper on matters that are close to our heart. Too many hanga ons out there!