Thread: trophy goat in kaimais

Originally Posted by Bagheera

Lots of cold river crossings . You will earn any goats-you get.
Cutting gorse on the flat below the hut was my first job after I left school-
If any one shoots some there could you let the forum know here. ?

Bridges the whole way up now from waitawheta end, and follow flood detour by last old hut site and you'll have dry feet.

I contemplated starting a new thread in 'The Magazine' part of the forum, but have decided to add it here instead, to keep all the relevant info in one place for others to find easily. Here goes:

After reading about the goat sightings in and around the Waitawheta/Waitengaue areas in this thread and here, @Tommy and I hatched a plan for a mid-week excursion. I grew up in the area, so did the bulk of the planning. Tommy and I departed Auckland shortly after 5am and were entering the bush off the end of Taieri Rd at 8am.



We followed the 4WD track to spot height 501, then headed south to pick up the Bluff Stream - Waitengaue Track. The track is wide and open from Taieri Rd to .501, and looked to continue east at the same standard, but the track quickly deteriorated south from .501 to the junction about 1km NW of Ananui Falls. From there we followed the track to the Twin Kauri, and out onto the Waitawheta River. This was the only river crossing that didn't have a swingbridge.

We headed up the track (dead flat, old logging tramway) towards the hut, and while we were admiring the view from one of the swingbridges, I spotted a Kid making its way across the riverbed, downstream about 100m. Tommy took a shot, but missed, and the Kid ran into the scrub between the river and the track we had just walked, on the true right bank. We ran back that way, waited, listened, and heard it calling out. It poked its head out from behind a large punga stump at about 5m, so I headshot it with the SKS. All this took place at location 1 in the pics below. There wasn't much meat on a goat that little, but the back legs, and backstraps became my dinner for that night (more on that later).





About 200m further up the track was another swingbridge, and as we exited the bush onto the bridge, we spooked 3 adults immediately below, at location 2 on the picture above. They initially hid behind the concrete tramway foundations below the swingbridge, giving us enough time to get our shit together before they TRIED to make a break for it, heading downstream. We waited until they were out of the rocks, and onto the edge of the scrub. Tommy dropped one on the spot, while the other two managed to dodge a couple of shots from each of us before disappeared out of sight. Again, I ditched my pack and ran back down the track. The track is a good 10m above the river level, and I could see the remaining two goats heading downstream. I got to the previous swingbridge before them, and had a good view 150m+ upstream, but they didn't show. I headed back to Tommy, and were were pretty sure we'd hit them, but a search of 20m wide bush between the river and the track (true left bank this time) revealed no blood. I popped out onto the rocks halfway between the two swingbridges, and spotted one of them parked downstream on top of a boulder on the edge of the river, about 50m away. (Location 3). I couldn't tell if it was dead, wounded, or just chilling, so I closed it along the river bank. He stood up, so I put a round through his shoulder and he flopped into the river. His mate (goat 3/3 from the previous encounter) appeared from behind the same boulder, stared straight at me, so I took what I reckon is my best shot with the trusty SKS. Here are the results:



More to follow...

@stretch did you see many other people out there?
I had the feeling that the area was pretty popular with trampers and mountain bikers.

4 mountain bikers whizzed past us, heading downstream as we were heading up. Heard from the women we met at the hut that the bikers had ridden from Paeroa to Te Aroha, up and over Mt Te Aroha, to Waitawheta Hut and down to Karangahake and back to Paeroa. We met no trampers. I was very conscious about shooting from and near tracks, but there were no other hut bookings when we booked online the day before, and given that it was mid-week...

But yeah, it is very busy in the weekends. The hut book was pretty full. If you're going hunting in the area on a weekend, I'd save the shooting until further up than the hut, or pick a less popular route, such as the Mangakino Pack Track, for firearms safety and PR sake.

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Wonder if Kimjon would send me a copy of the map with those marks on ? Not sure about how to get in there.
Lived here a long time & never been in that I can remember.Some goat as variety to menu might be a nice change.

Originally Posted by Chris

Wonder if Kimjon would send me a copy of the map with those marks on ? Not sure about how to get in there.
Lived here a long time & never been in that I can remember.Some goat as variety to menu might be a nice change.

The map with the areas marked is on the first page of the thread..

@Chris: the easiest way in there is from the end of Franklin Road. Follow the orange markers across the farm, following the river, then you will enter the bush. The track is dead flat the whole way to the hut (follows old logging tramway).

We went mid-week, and MOSTLY had the valley to ourselves. Any weekend will be a different story, especially heading into the peak season. It is a very popular area for people of all ages and experience levels.

Be very hesitant about shooting near the track or near the main river. People like to venture off track to go to various swimming holes, plus there's fly fishing as well. The goats we saw were IN the river bed, but we waited for them to move out of the rocks before we shot them. Think about ricochets. Thoroughly check your firing zone. Think safety.

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Thanks Stretch, flat suits me with my stuffed knee. Probably take a wonder next week some time.
My Grand dad was probably responsible for creating a lot of those logging tracks.

Originally Posted by Chris

My Grand dad was probably responsible for creating a lot of those logging tracks.

There's a lot of history laid out fort you along the way, and up at the hut. A former resident was heli'd up for the opening of the hut. She's in a bunch of the photos (aged 12, in a white apron) and was well into her 90's for the hut opening. Your Grandad would have known her most probably. Have fun!

Well done @stretch its great when a plan comes together eh

Good to see an update cheers guys

Bit of a reci; trip & nosy round .Back in soon nothing shot this time



Shadow even got him to cross the swing bridges, he seemed to like the area.

After reading the reports on here I thought I'd go for a wander, just got my license and no rifle yet. But I've ran down a goat before so I figured I might get lucky and needed a bit of exercise and adventure. I headed out from Franklin Road just after 5pm and explored some of the ridges before getting to the first swing bridge. I found plenty of goat trails on the steep faces, and some old shit laying around, but I didn't come across any fresh sign. There was some quite strong swirly wind though and I did get a few whiffs of them somewhere whilst walking along the river bed at a couple of different points.

When I got to the first swing bridge I was just checking out the whole scene still, and smelled something very dead and rotting. So I think stretch and his mate hit one that got away. It was a bit too funky to check for bullet holes by the time I found it. I continued up the river past the spots stretch pointed out until sunset before heading back to the car.


But anyways I had a nice little wander and a trail run on the way out. And was pleased to know there are some goats to chase in there another time. I'd always been told there were no goats in the Kaimais.

Originally Posted by Ghetty

When I got to the first swing bridge I was just checking out the whole scene still, and smelled something very dead and rotting. So I think stretch and his mate hit one that got away.

All the animals we saw, we recovered. We saw some other animals in various states of decay in the river. Makes you think twice about drinking the water.

Originally Posted by stretch

Tommy dropped one on the spot, while the other two managed to dodge a couple of shots from each of us before disappeared out of sight. Again, I ditched my pack and ran back down the track. The track is a good 10m above the river level, and I could see the remaining two goats heading downstream. I got to the previous swingbridge before them, and had a good view 150m+ upstream, but they didn't show. I headed back to Tommy, and were were pretty sure we'd hit them, but a search of 20m wide bush between the river and the track (true left bank this time) revealed no blood.

No worries mate, I thought that's what I read. Great hunt story either way.