Thread: New Years walkabout

When I was here in NZ a few years back Nimrods posts on his multiday walks through the bush always brought me enjoyment to read. I have always wanted to explore areas I havent been to in the past. Realising a few weeks back that I wasnt going to be fit enough to take on the Ruahines this year I decided to do a local walk though the Waioeka Conservation area, my daughter and dog came along for the journey and we packed up and headed into the park for a 4 day explore.

"Difficult Routes often lead to rewarding experiences" This quote summed up our trip to a tee, although only one animal taken we had a great trip away

Day One Moanui to Koranga Forks to Fly camp
We arrived at the carpark early and shoulder heavy packs loaded with food and fishing gear and headed into Koranga Forks Hut, hoping to do the walk in 3 hours we arrived at just over 3.5, the hot sun though the overgrown grass lands slowed us down along with heavy packs. The dog was keen and wanted to take us up the bank on numerous occasions but we had plans elsewhere.

Swing Bridge over the Koranga was no challenge for Ziggy



Reaching the Koranga Forks hut we stoped for lunch on a hot sunny afternoon, I pulled a mattress out on the porch and had a 40min power nap while my daughter and Ziggy played in the river.

Koranga Forks Hut



Around 1pm we head off up river, evidence of all the floods this year was around and the Kahunui was running a little high a dirty. I planed to go up river thinking that each side creek the flow would reduce and the crossings would get easier, this proved to be not quite correct.

Big Logs washed down at the forks



We made our way up river, slower than what I had hoped for but enjoying the experience and challenge. Along the way Ziggy was winding and indicating strongly with the wind coming down river, we slowed down and Ziggy started to ground track and smelling a vertical log, there was a lot of fresh prints in the river and it wasnt long befor my daughter spotted a pig 50 or so meters up river. Up came the rifle and the pig presented a 1/4 away shot as it went to go up the bank. I took the shoot as I was keen to put an animal on the ground for Ziggys first find.



Well I dropped the pig, but Ziggy had retreated 50m back at the sound of the shoot and took some coaxing to move in on the pig, I was hoping that putting an animal or two on the ground might help her. She had come on heat earlier that day (a month early) and that may be playing into it. However taking our time I slowly got her to approach the pig several times and she was quite keen towards the end, but continues to show gun shyness traits, which I will go over in the dog section for help.

We carried on up the river looking for a place to camp, all of us getting tired after a hot day in the river bed, we found a nice bench and set up our hammocks for the evening.



The idea was to go for an evening hunt up river but the wind was blowing hard in that direction which was the story for most of out trip, so we prepared a camp fire and got to cooking lamb chops on the coals. All that was missing was the red wine to go with them but my pack was heavy enough as it was.



Dinner sorted, fishing was an option as we had carried in fishing gear but we relaxed and chatted around the fire and went to bed early



Day two to follow, boulder hoping fun... or not

Cheers FBD

"A River cuts through rock, not because of its power but because of its persistence"

Day Two - Fly camp to Tawa Hut to Side creek bliss

Woke early to the sounds of birds, The Eastern Whio link have an established network of traps in the area, although we didnt see any Whio on our travels there were plenty of tuis, kereru and other birds seen and heard throughout the trip. Evidence that the trapping program is working?

I headed up stream a little way on first light to glass a slip, but with our fire last night and scent meant no deer seen. Back to camp and made sure the fire was out, as I had the night before, we packed up and checked the topo maps out. We had made it about 3km up from the hut about a 3rd of the way. I conservatively estimated about 3 hours to Tawa hut.

The up river journey soon turned into a mission with a deep gorgy section well over waist deep, we decided to cut up and over, 30mins latter deep in supply jack and no game paths we dropped back down into the river about 100m up stream, hard yakka for little gain.

We started boulder hoping and stream crossing up river for the next 2 hours making about 1km an hour. The 6km to the next hut soon looked like it was going to be a long day..



I ended up having a few full emersion swims, rifle included, luckily not that deep that I needed to drop the pack (had straps undone) but on one dip both pack and I fully under water and I manged to get to knees using the rifle as a prop. Ziggy had a trip or two down a rapid but in most cases she was able to make it across with plenty of run out down the stream. After 3 hours we came across a dead 8 pointer in the creek, hard antler under what looks like velvet but well on its way to be returned to the earth. we stopped a few 100m up away from the smell and made lunch and dried out the rifle and rested up.

Had to carry Ziggy the dog over a few of the swifter deeper pools that had no run outs. I would cross, drop the pack and head back over to help Jade and carry Ziggy across. Not supper technical but enough flow to make it interesting, we only had to link up on one crossing.



An hour the wind had dropped to nothing, it was hot and I was just plodding along up river lost in the moment the dog not showing any real interest. Jade ever the keen eyed, quietly " There's a Stag Dad he's huge"

Jade had spotted a stag 50m up stream, it was bedded down in the shade on a cool section of the river behind a log, it was as aware of us as soon as we were of him and quickly got to his feet. I chambered a round and brought the scope up, the stag moving off up river and as I found him in the scope he went behind a rocky bend that obscured the chest shot i was after. I made my way into the river to try and get another chance as he crossed further up hoping for a clean shot as he went up the bank, not to be.

Awesome to see the stag and Jade loved every minute of it, big body and probably a 6 pointer in velvet but hard to say. In hind sight we maybe should have stopped, let him settle for a while and tried tracking him with the dog. My lack of fitness starting to come into play and not knowing how much longer we had in the river.

Not long after spooking the stag we came to the track leading to Tawa hut, this was a welcome relief as we both thought we still had an hour of river travel to go.



10 or so minutes of lounging on the deck of the hut another bow hunter turned up having walked in the other way. Asking where we had come from he just looked at me with with a glint of amusement and said" Well you came the hard way, down river travel is way easier and takes half the time....." We chatted for about an hour as he made a brew, he was a wealth of local knowledge and I enjoyed the chat. Rested up we headed off up a side creek to camp and he headed down river to hunt/camp.

We found a place to pitch the hammocks and fly's not far up the side creek and soon had dinner on the go.



Everyone was dog tried and the thought of going for an evening hunt or fish was soon put to bed, I think I was asleep before 8pm that night... I know the dog was..



No animals shot today but we both agree that even though the day was hard and long, the river section was by far our favorite part of the trip. The numerous crossings small waterfalls, warm weather, animal seen and that feeling of adventure of not knowing what was ahead made this part of the trip a highlight for us.

Day 3-4 to follow

Cheers FBD

Cool adventure i beat you enjoyed the river in the hot weather. Look forward to rest of story.

Like Mooseman Look forward to days 3 and 4

Nice. Always great to spend time in the bush with your girls.

"An optimist is a man who plants two trees and buys a hammock"

Day 3 - Slow day up a side creek

Always the optimist I had high hopes for the the next morning the topo maps looked good with lots of small flats up the side creek.

We had had a hard day in the river the day before and sleep came easy, walking up again to the sounds of life stirring in the bush I manged to extract myself from the hammock and walk down to the creek, wind firmly on my face looking down from where we came from, a little disappointed as we had planned to hunt up the creek hoping to ambush a deer on the flats or slips. Not to be and with a body still a bit sore it was easy to retire back to hanging out in the hammock. Late breakfast and we were up and away by 9am with the wind on our backs, today was to explore up a blissful side creek



We headed up and not long the creek opened out into interesting flats and slips with plenty of prints in the damp sand, we scoped out a few likely looking spots for an evening glass and climbed high onto a bench to glass a flat for a while.

.

Ziggy the dog was very foot sore and timid up the river, not keen on crossings and hanging back. Every time I lifted the rifle to scope a flat out she held back I had to work her hard to get her working in front..

Not long after she had a strong indication from a small gut, we worked slowly up quietly stalking the open bush, Ziggy taking us higher and higher up working well ground scenting, she pushed range a bit far and locked up on something 20m in front up on a little spur overlooking a basin. I put her on a stop and moved slowly into position, Jade with the binos scouring everywhere to try and see what she could see. Once the rifle came up Ziggy again backed off a bit.. work to do there



We didnt hear anything move off and the dog soon lost interest and as we moved through and up the supplejack closed in, a few fresh scuff marks that could have been deer or pigs and that was it, opportunity gone. Several times that day we followed the dog up out of the river probably not high enough in hindsight, always lessons to be learnt.

On our way up we had scoped out a good glassing possie for the evening so headed down to camp for a late lunch and more hammock time.



On the way down river Ziggy again led us away into the bush and 10m in from the bush edge off a small river grassy bench she put us onto a dead hind, let out a little whine and pissed next to it to let everyone know who found it. No sign of gun shot, no meat taken and a few days old by the smell of it. Dead deer are great but I really would like a fresher one dog....

After an afternoon snooze and we headed up to glass the evening away. we parked up and I left Jade glassing the flats while Ziggy and I worked a few small guts, again in the bush Ziggy worked well and kept a good range she lead me onto a large are of fresh rooting but also ground scented along a log, I wouldn't have thought a pig would have climbed up onto the logs?



Back down to our possie and we glassed until light ran out at 9pm



Back to camp a little disappointed as there was plenty of sign around, in hind sight we may have been better to walk up the creek earlier then wait and work back down thru the flats with wind in our favor. We had had a late lunch so it was a cuppa tea and ginger nuts and into the hammocks for our last night of 2022.

No more animals seen, our trip soon to end.

Cheers FBD

Day 4 to follow

Frustrating alright especially when there is sign about and the wind doesn't play ball.

Awesome posts FBD, thanks so much for posting.

"We do not learn from experience... we learn from reflecting on experiences"

Thanks all for reading of our journey this far, no more animals seen or shot just a post to reflect on the experience. I definitely are not up to Nimrods caliber in the hunting game, but he has inspired me to get out there and explore this wonderful back country that we have access to.

Day Four - Pack up and Home,

What a great way to end the year 2022 and start of 2023 by been in the bush with family and the dog, I really enjoy showing my kids why I love the bush, fishing and surfing and then let them decide if they want to come along. When Jade mentioned she wanted to come on this trip I was wrapped that my 20 year old daughter wanted to spend time in the bush hanging out in hammocks doing long days in river beds and exploring new to us country. Much better than some other NYs activities that they could have chosen.

We woke up early with high hopes of a cheeky quick stalk up the flats but again the wind was up and it had started to drizzle, we packed up and headed out early taking 4 hours to get back out to the ute, it was a great trip away exploring some new country, shooting a pig, seeing a stag and getting close to at least 1 or 2 other animals.



On reflection the main takeaways for me is to get fitter, lighten the pack, hunt higher, work on the dogs gun shyness and range. The river section on day 2 was very hot and hard but both Jade and myself enjoyed this part the most, not knowing what was around the corner or if we could cross and how far to go was a great experience.

Again thanks for reading, I enjoy reading about every ones trips away and taking photos and been able to share with you what we got up to. May there always be a swing bridge to cross a river somewhere...



Cheers FBD

Excellent read, hope your next trip isn't in too windy a conditions. The bush you were in sure looks well eaten out which makes for seeing animals a bit better, well done all of you a great trip.

Excellent!

Those are the best trips

Originally Posted by Fat belly Dog

When I was here in NZ a few years back Nimrods posts on his multiday walks through the bush always brought me enjoyment to read. I have always wanted to explore areas I havent been to in the past. Realising a few weeks back that I wasnt going to be fit enough to take on the Ruahines this year I decided to do a local walk though the Waioeka Conservation area, my daughter and dog came along for the journey and we packed up and headed into the park for a 4 day explore.

"Difficult Routes often lead to rewarding experiences" This quote summed up our trip to a tee, although only one animal taken we had a great trip away

Day One Moanui to Koranga Forks to Fly camp
We arrived at the carpark early and shoulder heavy packs loaded with food and fishing gear and headed into Koranga Forks Hut, hoping to do the walk in 3 hours we arrived at just over 3.5, the hot sun though the overgrown grass lands slowed us down along with heavy packs. The dog was keen and wanted to take us up the bank on numerous occasions but we had plans elsewhere.

Swing Bridge over the Koranga was no challenge for Ziggy

Attachment 213459

Reaching the Koranga Forks hut we stoped for lunch on a hot sunny afternoon, I pulled a mattress out on the porch and had a 40min power nap while my daughter and Ziggy played in the river.

Koranga Forks Hut

Attachment 213460

Around 1pm we head off up river, evidence of all the floods this year was around and the Kahunui was running a little high a dirty. I planed to go up river thinking that each side creek the flow would reduce and the crossings would get easier, this proved to be not quite correct.

Big Logs washed down at the forks

Attachment 213461

We made our way up river, slower than what I had hoped for but enjoying the experience and challenge. Along the way Ziggy was winding and indicating strongly with the wind coming down river, we slowed down and Ziggy started to ground track and smelling a vertical log, there was a lot of fresh prints in the river and it wasnt long befor my daughter spotted a pig 50 or so meters up river. Up came the rifle and the pig presented a 1/4 away shot as it went to go up the bank. I took the shoot as I was keen to put an animal on the ground for Ziggys first find.

Attachment 213462

Well I dropped the pig, but Ziggy had retreated 50m back at the sound of the shoot and took some coaxing to move in on the pig, I was hoping that putting an animal or two on the ground might help her. She had come on heat earlier that day (a month early) and that may be playing into it. However taking our time I slowly got her to approach the pig several times and she was quite keen towards the end, but continues to show gun shyness traits, which I will go over in the dog section for help.

We carried on up the river looking for a place to camp, all of us getting tired after a hot day in the river bed, we found a nice bench and set up our hammocks for the evening.

Attachment 213463

The idea was to go for an evening hunt up river but the wind was blowing hard in that direction which was the story for most of out trip, so we prepared a camp fire and got to cooking lamb chops on the coals. All that was missing was the red wine to go with them but my pack was heavy enough as it was.

Attachment 213464

Dinner sorted, fishing was an option as we had carried in fishing gear but we relaxed and chatted around the fire and went to bed early

Attachment 213465

Day two to follow, boulder hoping fun... or not

Cheers FBD

thank you for that - many years ago I was the DOC Field Officer for that area -your photos bought back some memory's - I have done that trip but in the opposite way to you - I flew my two young staff in and they painted Tawa hut which was in a sad way -must have been mid eighties - a silly fact the swing bridge at bottom of burn - very steep on Koranga side to come of it - the FS blokes who built it mis - measurerd it and they were short on cable - so the only thing they could do was build it with a real steep climb up onto it - silly fact but there ya go - would be a great area now for young hunters to have a good roar hunt but sadly a trophy unlikely but they would have deer numbers

Hi Barry, yep it's a steep ladder up or down off that swing bridge. Nice area in there. Looks like plenty of hunters use it by looking at hut books.

The Bowhunter we meet at Tawa Hut use to work for Forrest Service and DOC as well. Lives in Opotiki now. Wealth of local knowledge.

Tawa hut is looking good, recent new deck and tidy inside.

Cheers

Outstanding write up and trip!