Thread: Hunting the tops - What went wrong?

Choice stories and maybe a bit of bad luck you didn't get onto a decent animal. Great country so all was not lost and there were a few animals about so ,maybe on another day or time a good stag could be seen. Great just being there. Top notch first post alright.

Great post and stories. Welcome. You put in some hard yards (miles) that’s for sure. Well done.
The Hunter and surrounding areas gets waro hammered by Harvey , based at Maka. I’ve hunted several blocks up the Hunter over the years, spectacular country. There are deer and good heads around but they are mostly bush dwellers and only poke their heads out in last 10-15 min of light. You need to get out of main valley well up the side creeks. And focus time on a smaller area to scope it out. It’s BiG country so it’s easy to miss animals who are wary and know how to keep a low profile.

you had the wrong strategy, mid to late march is roar time the stags are into their bush territory and will already have hinds.as well as the animals would have been in the bush if choppers had been working recently.you should have been pretty much bush stalking the whole time.imo

Hi Ash I will PM u some info over this weekend hopefully I can work out how to attach a snip of a map of the area I hunted.
Cheers AMac

Agree Lake Sumner RHA has good numbers.
Marlborough sounds getting over run according to our neighbours who are complaining about their lawns getting churned up gardens eaten- Bush stalking though.
If we are allowed out of Auckland by Labour weekend sounds like I won’t need to mow the lawns

Agree Lake Sumner RHA has good numbers.
Marlborough sounds getting over run according to our neighbours who are complaining about their lawns getting churned up gardens eaten- Bush stalking though.
If we are allowed out of Auckland by Labour weekend sounds like I won’t need to mow the lawns

Thanks again guys for the info, really appreciate it. I wasn't aware of the subtleties between Feb and March this is good to know! And sounds like the lake sumner area might be a strong option for the next trip. While im at it i might as well ask - do the classic east coast catchments like the Rakaia get the same sort of pressure as the Hunter, west coast etc? Seems like there are plenty of guys on youtube doing pretty well out of Canterbury or is it a case of for every 100 hunter 1 gets luck?

Local knowledge always helps.

Excellent write up.
Keep them coming.
Both trips would have been pretty neat fun.

Enjoyed the report, thanks for posting.

I was in your situation 10+ years ago and have sent that time exploring south island hunting spots from Marlborough Sounds to Fordland. A lot of 'failures' but always learning. Now I have a few good spots that I return to, but about half my trips are still exploring new spots.

Keep at it and I have no doubt you'll get a few trophies and see some more amazing country.