Thread: Te Waiti hut

Hey guys has anyone been up the The Waiti Stream before?am thinking of going for a walk up there Easter weekend,will be my first solo roar trip,maybe just a day trip,I've been trout fishing up the stream years ago and we spooked some deer on the stream edge while fishing,any info would be much appreciated

Downloaded Topo map for area and looks good:-)

Dredging up an one here,
I'm looking at a walk in to Te Waiti in a few weeks with a mate and a couple of kids.
Was kind of hoping that those grass areas up the river valley past the hut may make for better odds than bush hunting at this time of year.

Rookie, are you still here?
How did you hunt go?

Anyone else hunted in here?
Any hints, deer numbers etc.
Z

@ZQLewis

Was there last summer. All the former paddocks, including the fan are going back to fern and manuka.
No pigs or goats around anymore. Deer are still there, but the locals bringing in their horses to graze untethered has resulted in the paddocks crawling in ticks.
Worst place I've hunted for infestation of the horrible things.
You'll get them on you from being in the long grass and the deer are crawling in them.

Deer walking up and down river. Spotlight boys out at night though

Thanks for the info, Don't like the idea of the ticks, particularly as I was thinking of taking my dog.
I found some more recent images which suggested most of the higher grassland is now all covered in scrub but the fan at the south end still looked to have some open areas?

Are the spot-lighters walking up past the hut or just the lower areas downstream of Bushaven that are vehicle accessible for meat recovery?

ie if they are just shooting downstream of bushhaven I'm not to worried, but if they are walking up the valley towards or past the hut that would be a pain.
I have had a local DOC person suggest that heading up SH 2 (Waioeka) and going into Koranga Forks hut would be better but this does not look to have as much open river terraces.
Z

They go up to the fan. Don't let it put you off though, it's a cool spot. We usually camp on the clearing below the fan and can cover there and river/slips.

That bush reclaimed area from the fan back has some good sign, both deer and pig. Some parts are better to get a sneak than others. Both main ridges running back to river from the fan go well and could be ideal for a winding pooch.

Only downside is that you need the run of it up there.if others are camped it gets sucky.

Lot more room to move down the koranga forks circuit. Only been there once though so easily could be FOS

Nice trout river

Oh, roar....roar occasionally walking along the track from bushaven bro and hopefully he gets pissed off enough to come to you or try to close in on him.

Had a stag roaring beneath ridge on the fan last year. He wasn't moving and then we saw a couple of hinds watching us in the open so took one of those.

Well we did it, and most of what is above is correct.
Mare and Colt around the hut. Spotlighters turned up at the hut at 2:30 am for a tea and kip before riding horses back out for work saturday morning. (Said they got 2 deer and its a regular Friday thing)
Still good grass on the river flats and steeper slops with some grassy benches up a bit off the river, However most of the large grassy areas in the old pictures are gone. Pigs are back as we found rooting in the grassy areas 5-10 mtr above the river
Need to check 2019/20 satphotos.
Missed the track into the fan so started just heading up the creek bed. Spooked 1 half way up. Did not make it all the way to the fan as I had nailed a nice hind in the river just up from the hut first thing so we decided we had as much as our knees and hips could cop with to carry out anyway.
Found the old DOC track heading out that went through one of those high grassy clearings then down a dry creek back to the river.
Walking up and down across the creek was tough on the joints.
Z

Nice one. Thanks for the report. Few pigs resident in there alright.

The track to the fan starts up through the last clearing up river. Elevated clearing with bracken and a couple of warratahs and a lone Manuka pointing the way.

I always flag the hut but enjoy talking with the locals when they're out for a spotty