Smoky Hunting Block - Stewart Island

Kia Ora

First Post

Heading to Smoky Beach in a couple of months for a 10day Hunting mission with the lads, can't wait!
This will be our first time to Smoky beach aswell as Stewart Island.

Tried doing abit of research on other hunters who have hunted there (Smoky) before but couldn't find too much.

Is their anyone on here that could help us out and give some inside knowledge (Smoky or Stewart Island) tips and tricks or what they would do better for their next trip?

Cheers

Good spot in there, seen some good bucks around east smokey beach.

Hi, Have had a few trips down a while back, mainly Christmas village, bungare hut and lucky beach area. Tricky little buggers, if you see one run off wait for a bit, they sometimes sneak back to see what you are. The fishing and diving's good and take some salt and pepper, they have a nice skin, and pepper keeps the flies off your meat, sometimes, I found smoking works better. Camo gear works and it`s just good to be down there, have fun Cheers.

Sit and wait seems to be the way to go. Find an open patch with the wind in your face and wait for dusk

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Originally Posted by 223nut

Sit and wait seems to be the way to go. Find an open patch with the wind in your face and wait for dusk

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That's the way of it.
The difference between still shooting and still hunting;)
KH

I hunted North Tikotatahi December last year. I took a bunch of photos of the hut and all the gear in it because if found little info on what would be there and what I needed to take. Always meant to post them on here so others could be more prepared. I took a small transistor radio and it picked up most stations. We could listen to TV3 news each night at 6 if we weren't away hunting. I shot a yearling but the highlight of the trip for me was seeing a tiny fawn bedded down on the edge of a clearing. It watched us for about a minute then legged it before the iPhone would turn on to take a photo. One thing that surprised me was the lack of birds. In southland bush you can hardly hear yourself think over all the bird noise but it was real silent down there.

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Originally Posted by allister

One thing that surprised me was the lack of birds. In southland bush you can hardly hear yourself think over all the bird noise but it was real silent down there.

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Bit surprised by that. I sit up tree stand and will see Kakadu, tui, bellbird, fantail, parakeet and the odd grey warbler. Rats are bad this year so imagine numbers are down a bit but no stoats here. Could have been a lot of cats in the area

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Originally Posted by 223nut

Bit surprised by that. I sit up tree stand and will see Kakadu, tui, bellbird, fantail, parakeet and the odd grey warbler. Rats are bad this year so imagine numbers are down a bit but no stoats here. Could have been a lot of cats in the area

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We set the cat traps all week and got nothing. I saw a few fantails but the lack of bird noise was eerie. I did see a handful of kiwis which was good.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by allister

I hunted North Tikotatahi December last year. I took a bunch of photos of the hut and all the gear in it because if found little info on what would be there and what I needed to take. Always meant to post them on here so others could be more prepared. I took a small transistor radio and it picked up most stations. We could listen to TV3 news each night at 6 if we weren't away hunting. I shot a yearling but the highlight of the trip for me was seeing a tiny fawn bedded down on the edge of a clearing. It watched us for about a minute then legged it before the iPhone would turn on to take a photo. One thing that surprised me was the lack of birds. In southland bush you can hardly hear yourself think over all the bird noise but it was real silent down there.

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Did you ever put up those pictures of the North Tikotatahi hut? Doing a trip down there Feb next year and would be interested in what is outside the hut eg. fireplace, table, seating

Re Smokey: If the lagoon is cut out right you can see the remains of a wooden shipwreck there:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/...e-an-obsession
Its pretty cool to see. We found the beach pretty damn windy when we were there. The hut is a typical Stewart Island hunters hut ie in really good condition and well set up.