Thread: Stewart Island, Hunting the Interior

Has anyone ever actually made a go at a real good going over of the interior of Stewart Island as opposed to just hunting the coastal blocks? Seems that you cannot find any literature anywhere about trips where the focus has been on hunting the interior. It gets me fantasizing that for all we know maybe theres these big Mule Deer sized whitetails all roaming around the interior while everyone hunts the coast.

My understanding is that the animals are there but prefer being on the coast with a bit more feed available on the coastal edges of the bush.

There are a few clearings in the open hunting zone near within an hours walk of oban that definitely have animals on them

End of the day there is only one way to know for sure..... get your boots in the bush and find out

I’m surprised nobody has put up trail cameras in the middle to see what’s in there

Big issue is access, supplejack and bush lawyer do not make travel easy in places, only tracks are around the coast (ignoring the tin range and coming across the island from doughboy and masons)

No huts or tracks doesn't appeal to me personally but have heard of animals at the top of freshwater river catchment behind mt anglem and of someone who went off the rakiahua-doughboy track and found plenty of sign and animals of both reds and whitetail.

As others have indicated, the vegetation variety close to the coast is a big draw card for deer. Plus, seaweed features on many deer's diet. Quite a bit of Stewart Island is in a so called 'open hunting' zone. Called that cause the coast is all bluffs!!! Clearings few and far between., so that makes it extremely difficult to access the "open hunting' zones. Doesn't mean they (deer) are not there, but it is a bit more tiger country than the coast. Plus a big drawcard of going hunting on Stewart Island is the fishing. Can't do that if you are camped deep in the hobbit forest.

Originally Posted by Ryan_Songhurst

Has anyone ever actually made a go at a real good going over of the interior of Stewart Island as opposed to just hunting the coastal blocks? Seems that you cannot find any literature anywhere about trips where the focus has been on hunting the interior. It gets me fantasizing that for all we know maybe theres these big Mule Deer sized whitetails all roaming around the interior while everyone hunts the coast.

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No literature as those that know want to keep it quiet. This “theory” that whitetail are only found on the coast is just rubbish spouted by those who don’t know better. Whitetail live where there is feed and there is plenty of that in the Open Zone in different areas.

The big problem hunting inland on the island used to be the risk of getting lost and walking around in circles, fortunately less of a problem these days when you carry a GPS device. The interior is a mass of little hills and gullies completely covered in tight bush and no obvious reference points, slow going and limited visibility. The coastal strip does seem to hold more animals and they definitely like eating seaweed in the evenings. It has been a good few years since I was last there but the conditions haven't changed.

Got dropped off away up Lords, then walked thru Toitoi flat, over Table hill to Doughboy Bay several years back. Was a mission. Saw plenty of deer, and one massive buck. Never got a shot at him. Some really nice bush in there, and some absolute bullshit bush that could break you.

Have done a few interior hunts. Walked from Hananui [Mt Anglem through to Waituna Bay, the closer to the coast the more deer. Also I know of a private hut way in but not saying where. The builders used to get a few deer in there. Flown over quite a few areas by chopper looking for deer, eg the Tin range and the back of the Toi Toi areas with very few sightings.
My take on it all is there is more feed around the coastal areas which favour the whitetails. Also red deer no,s are quite low now and the old farm and burnt areas are thick scrub with not much available food.

Originally Posted by wtd

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No literature as those that know want to keep it quiet. This “theory” that whitetail are only found on the coast is just rubbish spouted by those who don’t know better. Whitetail live where there is feed and there is plenty of that in the Open Zone in different areas.

Well bud there should be a bit of imfo in regards to the so called interior etc,well there was.. atleast.
Back in those so called good ol days myself and two other hunter types did a wee walk and observe from one end of the Island through to the other.Almost two weeks was spent tramping around and trying to keep on course. There were deer like yi say in from the coast and out to the edge.
The deer we bumped into every day were not only shocked to see us but were that bloody nosey would come in close while getting our scent.
Deer were reasonably thick in the interior, calm,,ok condition but actually quiet stupid.
When our so called trip finally ended we were slightly poked as to speak,bush sores etc.
Yes..the grey ghosts were of a totally different nature in the middle.

Good report there @doinit ,interesting walk no doubt, what year did you guys do that?.
You must have seen a few Reds about also.
Where the animals seen in good nick?

Originally Posted by ghosts

Good report there @doinit ,interesting walk no doubt, what year did you guys do that?.
You must have seen a few Reds about also.
Where the animals seen in good nick?

That particular mission was 1972. Reds were scattered from Mt Anglem as far down as the Rakeahua head waters but not heaps.
There was no shortage of the wee grey buggers for sure and their condition was pretty good we thought,,quite a few however had those ear mites.
Someone mentioned a private hut? during our stint down through the Island we did come across several Biv's,some stocked with tinned tucker and those camps were well in and away from the coast itself,,,coon hunters I guess although I didn't know just who they were at that time.
The Island is a magic place,lets hope it stays that way eh.
cheers ghosts

There is an old track from freshwater to hellfire pass that I have always wanted to walk. That place needs a few moose roaming around in the swamps.

Originally Posted by Mr300WSM

I’m surprised nobody has put up trail cameras in the middle to see what’s in there

I think DoC did and got video footage of Whitetail eating birds eggs

Originally Posted by Shearer

I think DoC did and got video footage of Whitetail eating birds eggs

I saw a US documentary on whitetail deer a couple of weeks ago, and they said they occasionally eat fledgling songbirds, reminded me of the DOC footage and means it wasn’t a one off.
The doco also said the does all cycle in a five day period or something like that iirc.