Thread: Arthur’s Pass hard hunting

Originally Posted by Bagheera

Lovely country.
Been there, done that, but didn't get the Chamois !
That was a good shot: neck facing front on at 140m.
On this trip in 2016 I dropped back into the West Hawdon and heard a Kaka up in the trees closer to the river.
There are a few deer around, but not many. It's as if its too dry and not enough food for them or something. But very nice bush to move through and nice tussock ridges.

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Very low numbers more likely because of regular 1080 operations.

Great write up and photos. Well done getting out there and doing it.

Theyve done some ground based trapping which I think is why there are kaka.

It would be interesting to pull out records of how much aerial 1080 has been used in Eastern Arthurs Pass over the relevant period (about 10 to 15 yr) . The Tararuas and Pureora have had regular 3 or 4 yearly aerial 1080 for a decade at least and deer numbers are 10x what they are at Arthurs Pass.

On the brighter side - are there still many wasps there ?
We were plagued by them in the 80’s and 90’s around Binser Saddle and such.

Originally Posted by Puddleduk

Very low numbers more likely because of regular 1080 operations.

looking at photos....only the ones with chammy in them have any significant feed showing at all.....could be the deerzies were down lower in better feed areas and the 457 other folks ripping through area in last 5 weeks trying to shoot a barely stripable trophy have made them few deer more than a bit cautious...and of those 457 possibly 25 were not adverse to using night vision gear making the open country double jeopardy for warm blooded deer...... once upon a time it was frowned upon to shoot stags before they were roaring.....and Im not THAT old either but still remember it being part of NZDA code of ethics

Originally Posted by Bagheera

On the brighter side - are there still many wasps there ?
We were plagued by them in the 80’s and 90’s around Binser Saddle and such.

Seem to recall reading that the Binser area had the highest concentrationss of wasp numbers in NZ....

Originally Posted by Bagheera

Theyve done some ground based trapping which I think is why there are kaka.

It would be interesting to pull out records of how much aerial 1080 has been used in Eastern Arthurs Pass over the relevant period (about 10 to 15 yr) . The Tararuas and Pureora have had regular 3 or 4 yearly aerial 1080 for a decade at least and deer numbers are 10x what they are at Arthurs Pass.

On the brighter side - are there still many wasps there ?
We were plagued by them in the 80’s and 90’s around Binser Saddle and such.

The difference may be hungry beech forest and warmer podocarp forest. I knew a pilot that applied some of the first 1080 in that country and he saw over a hundred deer on the tops in the area pre drop, none post drop. There have been regular operations there since then.

Man that takes me back to my university days, as usual your stories never fail to capture what its all about!

Four of us camped in that bivy one night and two mates unloaded a hail of shots at a mob of reds, one mate had an SKS and emptied the mag! They ran into the next catchment...

My two .284s are dying to get out and I'm thinking this week could be the chance for them to see some action.

Like you I also have a James and it's amazing to see them grow and develop as a human. Is your boy at Lincoln or Canterbury? You could not keep me out of the hills when I was down there. :-)

Originally Posted by craigc

Man that takes me back to my university days, as usual your stories never fail to capture what its all about!

Four of us camped in that bivy one night and two mates unloaded a hail of shots at a mob of reds, one mate had an SKS and emptied the mag! They ran into the next catchment...

My two .284s are dying to get out and I'm thinking this week could be the chance for them to see some action.

Like you I also have a James and it's amazing to see them grow and develop as a human. Is your boy at Lincoln or Canterbury? You could not keep me out of the hills when I was down there. :-)

Thanks Craig - you would be cramped in that Biv with 4 !. Son is at Canterbury and seeing lots more deer than I ever did when I was there years ago. The old SKS is not really the alpine rifle like your latest 284…..

We had 3 in the Andrews Biv (photo) and Ranger Biv 25 years ago. The Andrews Biv is now gone and was a good place to climb up Brown Hill. More deer in Lewis Pass but nothing like a good walk now and then

The Andrews Bivvy photos bring back memories Last time I was in there would have been 25 odd years ago and it was that cold the stream next door froze solid as were my boots in the morning ...

Originally Posted by Shamus_

The Andrews Bivvy photos bring back memories Last time I was in there would have been 25 odd years ago and it was that cold the stream next door froze solid as were my boots in the morning ...

We dug it out during university mid term break in 1992 after the big snow storm. Got off the train at the Mt White Bridge and walked in from there. Hitch hiked back to Lincoln from there when we finished the trip.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

…once upon a time it was frowned upon to shoot stags before they were roaring.....and Im not THAT old either but still remember it being part of NZDA code of ethics

I hear you. I learned trout stream etiquette in the Canterbury high country and was blown away by the selfish pricks in CNI. Who cares though, I’m a filthy colonist and our trout and salmon rivers are about to be decolonised.

We used to catch the train to mt White or Greyneys shelter and just chucked the 303s up in the luggage rack. No dramas back in those days. Have shot Chams in Red Beech and Binser and Reds at the Edwards and East Hawdon but more often than not came back with just lungfuls of fresh air and feet swollen and red from wet boots in the snow.

Originally Posted by Bagheera

We used to catch the train to mt White or Greyneys shelter and just chucked the 303s up in the luggage rack. No dramas back in those days. Have shot Chams in Red Beech and Binser and Reds at the Edwards and East Hawdon but more often than not came back with just lungfuls of fresh air and feet swollen and red from wet boots in the snow.

Done exactly what you have done except we were way more sofistimicated than 303s, we had 308s LOL. Never did the chammy at Binser but have done reds at Binser.

Enjoyable thread

Originally Posted by Bagheera

Theyve done some ground based trapping which I think is why there are kaka.

It would be interesting to pull out records of how much aerial 1080 has been used in Eastern Arthurs Pass over the relevant period (about 10 to 15 yr) . The Tararuas and Pureora have had regular 3 or 4 yearly aerial 1080 for a decade at least and deer numbers are 10x what they are at Arthurs Pass.

On the brighter side - are there still many wasps there ?
We were plagued by them in the 80’s and 90’s around Binser Saddle and such.

Can confirm there’s plenty of wasps around there still, been stung a few times there recently. Never seen so many. Worth carrying some antihistamines.

Poulter River access has been closed by Mt White according to a Newroom article I read today. Overseas owner closing down historical access, going to be popular...