Printable View
Gidday fellow hunter/gatherers,first forum post for this hunter.
Booked the Gold Creek Helisika block for early May and wondering if any members out there have wandered around this bit of the country before?Any tips,info about block/hut etc would be much appreciated.
Welcome to the forum.
My best advise would be to take warm clothes and hunt the sunny spots on the bush edge.
Welcome Carl243
Yup, I have been there. Lots of open tussock and good bush edges. Right up behind the block there is some good wee guts coming out of the scrub. worth sitting and watching those.
Upstream of the hut, you climb up and get onto the tussock. Sneak over the ridges and carefully look. We spooked a few before we worked out the best way to go about it. Some great areas the far end of the block (heading towards Boyds, in that direction.) There is a awesome valley that end.
Lots of areas to explore.
The hut is good, but no fire. Everything you need to cook with is there.
The meat safe is shit! Well 2 years ago it was. We complained as for the cost of going in you should expect a decent safe. One that you can get inside to skin the deer. Take some duct tape to fix the holes incase they never repaired it. Also a portable meat safe might be an idea incase.
Good luck and let us know how you get on.
Thanks for all the info.Will have to check up on the meat safe situation.....thinking positive that we are going to need it.Bring on May!!!
What are your dates?, we could be neighbours, I'm in Golden Hills Hut beginning of May,Quote:
Originally Posted by Carl243
B
We're booked in on the 6th May to the 11th.Hope we hear shots from your way B
G'day Carl, we're in for a quick hunt from 2nd to the 5th. Give me a call on 0211915857 to see how we got on if you like.
Cheers,
Andy
Do you fly fish? Pack a rod if so...
@Rafiki how about a few words and pictures for us all to enjoy :cool:
+1 ... There is an absolute monster in the mini gorge not far from the hut.Quote:
Originally Posted by XXXDMCXXX
Sounds like a plan,the boys might like fish and chips for tea.;)
Need a .243 spinner???????:cool:
There was a massive eel in residence about 5mins downstream!Biggest one I've ever seen in the back country....made bloody sure I checked the river before having a wash:thumbsup:
How did you get on hunting wise? Meat safe still shit?
The hunting was very lean.Weather was ok but animals pretty scarce and in spite of covering the whole block,just couldn't find them outside the monkey scrub and didn't hear any roaring either.All good,just one of those trips where things don't quite go to plan........bambi won this round,re-match needed I'm thinking!
Yeah the meatsafe(or cupboard coz it's that small)is still crap.For the money spent on flying in you'd expect something that could actually hold a deer body but we didn't need it unfortunately:oh noes:
Thanks for the info WW,hope you had a successful roar.
Hey guys anyone hunted gold creek in October? Am heading in there 1st October. Just wanting to see what the block goes like this time if year. It has been closed for the past 3months so am thinking there must be some animals lurking in there. Cheers
Helisika close a block?
Owhangao Trust close the A and B trust blocks at times for their Beekeeping / Honey operation.Quote:
Originally Posted by MSL
B
We filmed an episode of The Red Stag Timber Hunters Club there in October last year, pretty good insight into what to expect if you managed to catch it.
Yea there a few that are closed for 3 month periods
Yea mate saw that episode, cant wait to get in there, am in there for 5 days then flicking over the hill into the Golden Hills strip block
Yea saw that episode mate. Am in there for 5 days then flicking over the hill into the Golden Hills Strip Hut for 6 days. 11 days chasing sika should be good!
I used to hunt it from Boyds quite a bit back in the day :thumbsup: Thats a great valley down the Boyds end. Made me a few dollars and kept the family in groceries.
How things have changed, eh. Back then I didn't even know it was a private block. Like, I didn't see any boundary fence?
Was it always private land Thar?
I also hunted it from boyds while at school, new there was Maori land opposite Charlie Janes old strip but I thought it was public back then?
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Hunted Gold Creek block Nov last year. Hut is good (plenty of mice though), meat safe shite. Trout in river are plenty & some BIG ones in those pools up & downstream of hut.
Deer were there but not in big numbers (or not that time of year anyways). You needed to be 1.5 - 2 hrs walk back from hut to get onto them. Fly camp would be much more productive. Both the SE and SW ends of block were most productive - lots of manuka scrub faces on SE side, ending up in beech that pretty much forms the boundary with golden hills block. A big walk up to the SW end is definetly worth it - some great sniper spots to park up and glass big country. Some good beech up that end & plenty of manuka faces. Would park my arse in a fly camp in that area if I hunted it again.
Hunt there most years and are back in again mid November this year for a week.
I'm also a fisherman so this is a good block and hut for that reason. You can also hunt across the river on the DoC land up on the big burns.
We have seen deer all over the block sometimes out in the open and sometimes down in the thick stuff on the edge of the Ngaruroro River
There is quite a bit of walking to do to get to the best hunting country but keep your eyes peeled at all times - they can pop up anywhere just like in the red stag hunters club episode where the deer was shot quite close to the hut.
We generally manage an animal between our group but I just love the Country up there anyway.
If you are interested here is a short video from a trip we did back in 2013.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0xaNsHjm0Q
Here are a few more photos - its pretty open countryAttachment 41107Attachment 41108Attachment 41109Attachment 41110
Me and @300winmag have had smoko on the bush line in the first photo, 100 yds out from the edge of the picture. We hunted up there from Golden Hills Block. We then backtracked and skirted the bush edge up onto the tops of Golden Hills.
Happy days.
B
Nice wee block, shit meat safe!! Well it was 2 years ago. Take some mutton cloth to protect the meat.
We complained about the safe as the flies had a free for all. Not sure if they fixed it or not.
Back from a weeks hunting the Gold Creek Block in November - blocks had a bit of pressure with hunters and dog in for the week before and another group in as we went out (Helisika must do ok on all the back loads given we all pay for two way travel). Hot and dry for the first half of week. Saw quite a few animals but our group only shot one over Ngaruroro River in the Kaweka Burns. Amazing how the weather in there can change from really hot and dry to freezing cold and snowing within a day. Lots of sign in the well concealed green grassy stream guts especially further back in the block and close to thick manuka and scrub cover - had one deer almost walk up on top of me in a small gully- I'm not sure who got the bigger fright, but it crashed off into the think scrub and could be heard going for miles. Meat safe is still crap but hut is warm and comfortable and even has a flush loo - luxury. Attachment 42909Attachment 42910Attachment 42911Attachment 42912
