Thread: Rimutaka Forrest Park

Can any of the Welly hunters pls clear up some confusion about Rimutaka access ?

I spoke to the lady at GWRC today today when applying for the Regional Council Hunting permit. That covers Akatarawa, Kaitoke and Pakuratahi.

They also apparently run a ballot system for access to the Catchpool side of Rimutaka Forrest Park during the roar... She seemed to think that during the rest of the year there was no hunting access.

On the DOC site I found:
Because of a high level of public use, hunting or discharge of firearms is not permitted in the Catchpool Valley, Landcare Research block, the Orongorongo Valley within 200 m of the edge of the river-bed and within 200 m of the Orongorongo Track.

And on the Deerstalkers site I found:
WRC provides some opportunities, in terms of a hunter ballot, to shoot in the WRC Wainuiomata Water catchment.

So, other than the Catchpool and Landcare areas, is the rest of the southern portion of Rimutaka open for hunting year round?

Does the GWRC ballot only apply to the Wainui water collection area (not the rest of the forrest park) ? And I assume the ballot is only for the roar, so no hunting access for the rest of the year to Wainui water collection area ?

The terms Orongorongo Catchment, Wainuiomata Catchment all seem to be used for the same valley ! Can't find a map that clearly shows the areas defined...
Turere Catchment is the kiwi research area between McKerrow track and Whakanui track.

Ta, EBF