Thread: Whanganui river hunting

Hey team,

I have been having no luck with responses from DOC so thought I would ask people that might actually have a clue. We are looking at doing the wanganui river canoe trip. The question I have is around hunting....It is a great walk yes, but you can hunt 500 m off the great walks. So as long as you are more then 500 m from the river you should be good to go hunting.

What are your guys thoughts? So far I have been told 2 instances of mishap. One someone almost got there gear taken and another group got there gear confiscated. Interested to hear everyones stories if there are any out there.

Cheers Bryan

The 500m from a Great Walk applies to all Great Walks all year round, but the Whanganui has the additional "No hunting from the Whanganui River between 1 October to 30 April." so I wouldn't count on the 500m saving your gear (or FAL).
The wording "No hunting from the Whanganui river" makes it sound like you aren't even allowed to use the river to access other areas for hunting.

Originally Posted by Cigar

The 500m from a Great Walk applies to all Great Walks all year round, but the Whanganui has the additional "No hunting from the Whanganui River between 1 October to 30 April." so I wouldn't count on the 500m saving your gear (or FAL).
The wording "No hunting from the Whanganui river" makes it sound like you aren't even allowed to use the river to access other areas for hunting.

Good point. Yea I think the firearms will be staying at home.

Originally Posted by George22

Good point. Yea I think the firearms will be staying at home.

call blue duck lodge located in whakahoro, they are a stop enroute and can give more info

Are you doing the three, four or five day trip?

On the true right bank the actual forest park doesn't really start until quite close to John Coull hut, between there and Pipiriki there are a lot of goats on the banks but it is bloody steep country and you have to find somewhere to get your boat out of the river just to go for a walk. Granted there are spots you can do this but they aren't many.

Last time I did the trip, we had one canoe in our group tip out about half way between Whakahoro and John Coull, we had to float the capsized canoe for a couple of kilometers to get to a spot just to be able to get it the right way up.

Every time I have done the trip people in my group have lost things to the river. If you are doing the canoe trip it is better to just leave your rifle at home and enjoy the canoe trip and maybe take note of some good spots for hunting.
If you really want to hunt the area, jetboat is a better option, just come up in the jetboat from Pipiriki. I have heard of people that know of people that have floated down the river in the jetboat collecting goats along the way, whether this was legal or not I can't confirm either.

There is also a private lodge across the river from Tieke, from memory they offer private hunting and the Matemateonga track starts/finishes here.

It is a really nice trip to do, I have done it four times and am currently forming a loose plan to do it again in the next year or so. It is great to have between six and 12 friends along, the most I have done it with is 16, that was about the maximum you want on a trip.

If it rains it can really rain, camping on the first night is ok but it can be miserable two nights in a row if your trip turns into a wet one, I recommend staying in hut or lodge on the second night if not both nights.

Happy to answer any other questions you might have about practicalities.

Hunting on the Whanganui River.
Between Cherry Grove in Taumaranui and Pipiriki is out between 1 Oct and 30 Apr. Forbidden. Its so safety of the kayakers and others using the river. We'll that's the theory.
DoC call it the river Trench.
This is the area from the waterline to the ridgeline on either side of the river.
It is just the river though.
You can still hunt the bridge to nowhere/Mangapurua track which is part of the Whanganui Journey. So long as you are hunting 50m from the track.


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Thanks Reindeer, looks like you have the info. Just for my own positive confirmation, is it legal to hunt in the river trench during the winter months/off season, it is something I am keen to do one day

@longshot yep. winter is all good. There isn't supposed to be any operators (with concessions) working the river in winter (1st June 30 Sept).
For the Mangapurua, Bridge to No where and Whakahoro tracks DoC advised us (Hunting & Outdoors Wang) that they will not undertake any track clearing or maintenance in this area during winter off period also.
This is due to cost and regularity of works during winter. Kinda why the farmers all walked out of the valley all those years ago.

Just be aware that there has been quite a lot of change to the smaller DOC hunting blocks in the area around Pipiriki.

I can’t be specific about the changes because it’s five years since I was last at the DOC office there, but at the time a very helpful young Maori fella went through all the different hunting blocks with me on my Memory Map app. Some of them had reverted to local iwi control and this was not reflected in the app. Consequently there were a couple of nasty incidents down there with hunters’ vehicles were damaged. Some of you on here will know that there is quite a history down there.

I know a good few folk from that area and the riverlands to the north, and it’s fair to say you don’t want to end up somewhere you shouldn’t be.

So just make sure you have all the latest info.

Yes you're not wrong.
Lots of that between Parakino and Pipiriki, the blocks around tangahoe, corneileus block list goes on of all the littles bits here and there.
A lot of the people up river have a different way to look at the world and all it holds. Its very different to the western view. Its about understanding that view is where most people fall down.
Ive been living here 10 years and only now am I Hunting "local" blocks of land.