Thread: Hi from Whangarei.

Hi all,

I have been been a member for a year now and thought I better introduce myself. I have been hunting for the last 15 years chasing Reds, Fallow, Sika, Goats, Pigs and Wapiti. The main areas I hunt are taumaranui / National Park, Te Ureweras and Fiordland. Living in Northland has its advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is the fishing is awesome but it is a bit of a hike to get to the deer. Luckily we have a few goats and pigs running round and I have also managed to hunt the odd wild bull. I have recently had family members move down to Canterbury so I hope to spend more time down there and hopefully tick a Chamois and Tahr off my bucket list. I joined this forum to learn more about reloading and advance my skills in long range shooting. I enjoy reading the gear reviews, hunting stories and rifle restorations / builds. This place has been a great learning platform with so much knowledge from experienced members. Thanks everyone for the help and I hope I can help others too.

Cheers Liam

Welcome! I'm also in Whangarei. You're dead right about advantages/disadvantages. Fishing bloody awesome, hunting not so much! If you're ever looking for a hunting buddy, send me a PM, but having read your post, it sounds like you have way more experience under your belt than I do.

Hey MB, I’m always keen to head out for a hunt although finding time has been a bit challenging lately. I’ll pm you when it looks like I will have some free time and we’ll go from there. Cheers

Hey Guys,
I just moved to Whangarei recently and not yet bothered with any hunting up here as i usually head down the line, but this year i'll be staying abit closer to home with a young family around.
Has anyone heard if there are still sika floating about in the Russell forest or am i wasting my time? Also whats the consensus on parking vehicles etc at road ends, can any one recomend a good/ safe place for access? i was told by one person not to park my vehicle anywhere unless i plan on it not being there when i return

welcome, i used to live there in late 88-89, though spent allot of my time there as a kid with the grandparents.
are the abbey caves still open to the public ?? went thru them in a flood once diving from air pocket to air pocket ( i was young and stupid)

Originally Posted by Ryanwiggins

Hey Guys,
I just moved to Whangarei recently and not yet bothered with any hunting up here as i usually head down the line, but this year i'll be staying abit closer to home with a young family around.
Has anyone heard if there are still sika floating about in the Russell forest or am i wasting my time? Also whats the consensus on parking vehicles etc at road ends, can any one recomend a good/ safe place for access? i was told by one person not to park my vehicle anywhere unless i plan on it not being there when i return

Deer - I honestly don't know, and I think it unlikely those that do would say anything. Goats are getting hard enough to find on public land, but I think there are plenty of pigs around if hunting with dogs is your thing. As for parking, anything can happen anywhere, nowhere is safe, but some parts of Northland are worse than others.

Welcome along.

yep abbey caves are sill open with heaps of tourists checking them out every day

I’m not sure if there are any floating around in russel forest but I’m guessing numbers will be low. I haven’t tried to try find them so I don’t know what access is like. I also think doc 1080 Russell Forrest at the end of last year but you might have to double check that.

Yeah, Russell Forest 1080ed

Gday mate. Didn’t realise we had so many of you guys up so far north!

I’m surprised how many memebers live in northland as well!

Nice looking head you have there on your Avatar.
That would not be those Cape Reinga bulls by any chance?
Had a crack at them when a mate of mine used to work on a farm way up there. All we found was big hoof marks and even bigger poo not much fun in that tight Manuka and gorse.

Hi Sideshow, no the bulls were from taumaranui.. Those Cape Reinga bulls sound interesting though. It’s a hard carry out. Had to lug it approximately 500m up a hill to the Ute. Took about 8 trips haha. Some of the meat was quite tough though. Cheers Liam

Not sure if there's any left?
This was a while ago had back in the late 80's early 90's way out by Surville cliffs.
Think its probably all pines now. Big chunk of land in there though, so who knows could be a few still running about