What to do over December

Ok, so i have a rare to me oppertunity this december. About mid december to mid-January (some work days still) where wife and kids will be overseas visiting familty and i will be left gaurding the home and the beer fridge (terribly sad i know :ORLY: )

Anyhow, i reckon i should be making the most of it hunting wise. Being north island based, the idea to pack the ute and do a south island tiki tour filled with shooting many tahr,chamois and wobblies sounds appealing, but then so does a trip to hawkes bay that is supposedly heaving with deer.

I was thinking a decent 1 week plus sika mission up on the kaweka tops but not sure how the season will be, last time i went december the deer were all lower down.

What would you do if you were me. Im a bit wary that a south island trip could become costly.

SI is the place to be saw 5 young red s today while fishing. Obviously they know difference between a rod and a rifle, bet they'll be gone tomorrow when I get back

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Originally Posted by Sharki

SI is the place to be saw 5 young red s today while fishing. Obviously they know difference between a rod and a rifle, bet they'll be gone tomorrow when I get back

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Thats the other thing, if i go SI trip. Ill propably want to ahoot a decent amount of deer to justify some of the costs, which i geuss will be achievable down there. I havent even looked at where i would go down there yet

You could invite a bunch of us around to help with supervising your beer fridge.

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Originally Posted by NewbieZAR

Ok, so i have a rare to me oppertunity this december. About mid december to mid-January (some work days still) where wife and kids will be overseas visiting familty and i will be left gaurding the home and the beer fridge (terribly sad i know :ORLY: )

Anyhow, i reckon i should be making the most of it hunting wise. Being north island based, the idea to pack the ute and do a south island tiki tour filled with shooting many tahr,chamois and wobblies sounds appealing, but then so does a trip to hawkes bay that is supposedly heaving with deer.

I was thinking a decent 1 week plus sika mission up on the kaweka tops but not sure how the season will be, last time i went december the deer were all lower down.

What would you do if you were me. Im a bit wary that a south island trip could become costly.

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you could do a lot worse than hunt some of the Waioeka country - either head up from the middle of the Waioeka gorge at Wairata to Kotepato hut and hunt west along ridges above Main River - if it rains get out of Kotepato fast as that river comes up quick - or go further to Koranga road and head down to forks hut

Got into the reds italked about this morning. My biggest issue is freezer space atm
Old age home my mate is in fellow inmates reckons they haven't eaten this much meat in ages
Consider how you will pack meat back
I doing a lot of salami and dried meat atm
Biltong , southafrican dried sausage and beersticks
Got 40kg of salami drying
Really shifty problem to have

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Originally Posted by Sharki

Got into the reds italked about this morning. My biggest issue is freezer space atm
Old age home my mate is in fellow inmates reckons they haven't eaten this much meat in ages
Consider how you will pack meat back
I doing a lot of salami and dried meat atm
Biltong , southafrican dried sausage and beersticks
Got 40kg of salami drying
Really shifty problem to have

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Problems, problems, always the way. I like smoked trout. Fwiw.

For me the Kaweka tops are pretty hard to beat - I'd do a big loop over a week

Goat shooting in forestry blocks in Hawkes Bay, or sniping wallabies on Doc land in South Canterbury.

I’d loop through the Kaweka tops, northern en. Or ruahine main range above pourangaki

What about setting a goal of hunting as many different species as you can over the period. Save the week long mission for one of the elusive species.
Add tahr, chamois and wobblies into the mix. Keep a diary and take lots of pics for sharing with us later.....

Be mindful that hinds will have fawns on the ground that will statve to death if you blast mumma.

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Originally Posted by Allgood

What about setting a goal of hunting as many different species as you can over the period. Save the week long mission for one of the elusive species.
Add tahr, chamois and wobblies into the mix. Keep a diary and take lots of pics for sharing with us later.....

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That is a pretty good idea actualy, im so stuck shooting reds and fallow i should really try the others more

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Originally Posted by Barry the hunter

you could do a lot worse than hunt some of the Waioeka country - either head up from the middle of the Waioeka gorge at Wairata to Kotepato hut and hunt west along ridges above Main River - if it rains get out of Kotepato fast as that river comes up quick - or go further to Koranga road and head down to forks hut

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Im gonna be having a look at his area on the topo maps this weekend.

Head into the Southern Alps.

You could spend a year up the Dobson and only see half of it.