Thread: Ruahine Ranges...Tamaki

Originally Posted by Dougie

+1!

Scribe I hope you don't take this the wrong way but in the short time of knowing you over this awesome forum, I'd like to think you are a bit of a father figure that I could always go to for advice. It's good to see you back around the place. And your little personal note inside my book was such a lovely touch, I really appreciate it!!

It works both ways 'dougie' many a post of yours has put a grin on my face for the rest of the day. Your story and the vivid desciptions you gave of the country and of shooting the deer when you were with the boys in Nelson was just great. Pictures were great to.

A father figure I definately am and advice I will be pleased to give.

Originally Posted by Dundee

You have had many more compliments and respect on other threads on your short silence.

Thanks mate, Can you tell me Dundee if the A Frame hut is still up behind Takapari.

Originally Posted by Scribe

Thanks mate, Can you tell me Dundee if the A Frame hut is still up behind Takapari.

It got trashed by the buggers from the other side of the rangeDrive up wit there 4wd and it takes me 2 hrs on this side to tramp up there peeed off!!!!

Heres the Ruahines from home.Takapari on the true right.That big bump in the hills

Originally Posted by Dundee

Yeah I did the car park looked full. Now that the picnic areas blocked off to traffic its a bit of a cluster up there.

By the way does Doug still have any running off the farm?

Welcome aboard BRADS

I can add lots off pics too this thread,I practically lived up there as a young fella. Great times!!

Na haven't caught one out on the farmland for a while now, only seem to be catching people.

Heres the A-Frame or Takapari Hut

Not like that now mate1, its a a frame and a crete floor no walls its a bit of a shambles actually.

Not like that now mate1, its a a frame and a crete floor no walls its a bit of a shambles actually.It could do with some heating.

I used to hunt the area circa 1967. Access was through the Wiggins and I hunted their place over by the Rokai and up the dry creek. I became quite friendly with them and they used to put me up for the night and feed me. Their son (Murray) hunted for NZFS. I got quite good at getting deer out of there once I learnt a few skills. I loved the winter hunting when there was a bit of snow because it was quite novel to me, and I learnt that a bit of sun would turn it into good hunting. That habit has stuck with me.

When they sold (I think to Timmins?) and I lost the access I just hunted around the dry creek and its headwaters, and continued to do so on and off until about 1990 or so when I left the area. Haven't been back since but it holds a lot of memories for me. Dannevirke is a good area for a young hunter. If you can get deer out of some of those hell holes in the Sthn Ruahines, you can get them anywhere.

Originally Posted by Dundee

Heres the A-Frame or Takapari Hut

Yes its a bastard alright thugs go an wreck a shelter that could save a hunters life

Tahr the dry creek has moved a lot. It can be a shingle slide from the top now.

It is mate but deers stalkers are trying to get ownership of the hut so we can do it up.

Thats great news,Vince will be right onto it.

My last trip up there 20 years ago (see post above). True left of the dry creek.

Is it fun hunting in the snow? Last time there was snow anywhere I could hunt mum said no because there was no one else to go with me which pissed me off alot. I seem to think following trails will be easy if I was to use a bow haha but then it looks hard to walk in and cold for a over night trip using a fly.

Thar or Dundee have either of you got photos of the massive thickets of Leatherleaf that abound on your end of the range. It is amazing that a number of hunters have never come in contact with it. Thar has got some leatherleaf with snow on it in one of his photos Leatherleaf covered in snow does make for some of the hardest going I have ever experienced. In some places in the Ruahines you can find yourself having to clamber over the top of the stuff for a couple of hundred yards before you break into the sub alphine belt or out onto the tussock.
Some days in winter we might of had to cross the tops in a couple of feet of snow. It wasnt bad if the ice crust was thick enough but when you started to break through the ice crust it would cut all the skin of your shins. The cold would stop you feeling anything but you would look back and see that you were leaving quite a blood trail across the snow behind you. For the rest of the winter you would never successfully grow skin back on your shins. Hunting in crown fern and leatherleaf would see to that. Leatherleaf in particular used to rip any new skin off you with its jagged sawblade leaves.
When I was out hunting in the winter to feed track cutting and tree planting gangs I used to climb up on the tops after a fresh snowfall. It was amazing how many deer would be out on the tops on a sunny day. Nearly all of the deer in the area trekked up to the sub alpine belt to get all the leaves off the broadleaf and many other tasty plants that the snowfall had weighed down within reach of them. It is a great way to learn about how a deer thinks and behaves and that is by getting on a deers tracks after a fresh snowfall and just following them until you catch up with them. Particularly a couple of young stags they tend to travel more freely and take in the sights more than all the others.
Leatherleaf is great firewood, burned green or dry. When green it takes a bit of other wood to get it going. Like a lot of alpine woods it is quite dense. Burned green it produces huge hot embers that are great for cooking on and keeping the hut warm, they are the best for making good bread. I can almost smell the smell now of burning leatherleaf and baking bread in Purity, Mackinnon, Top Marapea and a couple of dozen other alpine huts around the country as I sit here.