Thread: Canterbury High Country Heli Operator recommendations

Afternoon all.

My hunting mate and I from Sth Akl are travelling down to the Canterbury High Country in the middle of October. We have a capable lifted 4x4/snorkel/winch etc but don't want to put our trip in the search of Tahr/Chamois in the hands of river levels and possible breakages when it comes to access.

I've looked at several operators in the area and have narrowed it down to Rakaia Heli, Main Divide and Heli Rural. Recommendations on these operators or alternatives?

Will be hoping to hunt the Wiberforece/Rakaia/Rangitata area

We'll be flying (hopefully) mid-week and out on Saturday.

Ta

Out of the 3 listed,
I've only flown with Heli Rural at Methven but wouldn't hesitate to recommend .

Main Divide is a long commute to those area's, and Rakaia Heli is the most expensive. Scott at Heli Rural is an excellent operator, has been flying hunters for nearly 15 years. And he goes out of his way to coordinate your flights to coincide with other parties to save on money.

+1 for Scott at Heli Rural (they do our work stuff), but have no experience with the others.

Originally Posted by Husky1600#2

Main Divide is a long commute to those area's, and Rakaia Heli is the most expensive. Scott at Heli Rural is an excellent operator, has been flying hunters for nearly 15 years. And he goes out of his way to coordinate your flights to coincide with other parties to save on money.

He also drops people very close to each other in high density. Ran into a bunch of his parties this year. In a weekend trip just pre roar. We hunted a saturday Sunday and ran into 3 of his parties. Dropped them top and bottom of the same hill.

I'm sure he's a decent guy and everyone wants to make a dollar but coordinated flights just seems to me like he fills the area to the max he can. I can't imagine any savings is worth being flown near enough to someone else to get a discount or getting dropped of where he's picking up a party that's just been there the month.

His organised roar blocks is gross. Its all easy access country and he's got a party every couple kms back to back for a few weeks.

Again I'm sure he's a decent person and good guy.

Another vote for Scott at Heli Rural, great operator and hell of a nice bloke.

Originally Posted by davhope

Out of the 3 listed,
I've only flown with Heli Rural at Methven but wouldn't hesitate to recommend .

Heli Rural Methven are brilliant.
Scott is a top operator.

Originally Posted by stumpys

Afternoon all.

My hunting mate and I from Sth Akl are travelling down to the Canterbury High Country in the middle of October. We have a capable lifted 4x4/snorkel/winch etc but don't want to put our trip in the search of Tahr/Chamois in the hands of river levels and possible breakages when it comes to access.

I've looked at several operators in the area and have narrowed it down to Rakaia Heli, Main Divide and Heli Rural. Recommendations on these operators or alternatives?

Will be hoping to hunt the Wiberforece/Rakaia/Rangitata area

We'll be flying (hopefully) mid-week and out on Saturday.

Ta

Wilberforce, Rakaia, Matthias area getting 1080 drop in September.

Simon from Rakaia helicopters would be one of the more experienced pilots around, he still owns Rangitikei helicopters based up here in the Manawatu - Although Rangitikei helicopters are so expensive for fly in hunts now they've priced themselves out of the market, don't think they want to do that sort of work anymore.

Originally Posted by Sika 8

Simon from Rakaia helicopters would be one of the more experienced pilots around, he still owns Rangitikei helicopters based up here in the Manawatu - Although Rangitikei helicopters are so expensive for fly in hunts now they've priced themselves out of the market, don't think they want to do that sort of work anymore.

At a wild guess, the cost of living crisis doesn't just affect humans, helicopters are suffering too! At another wild guess, if you're heavily dependent on the agricultural sector for the bulk of your income, and that particular tap gets turned off, any work is good work, so you're not going to price yourself out of any market on purpose. Location is key, if you're after a flight into the bush and cost is the first consideration, then probably start with the operators closest to where you want to go (emphasis on "probably").

Ball park costs would be great here too.apples with oranges etc. few years back I did a fly in trip.first ever for me.did ring around and prices were steep.client got on phone and handed me over to Glenorchy helicopter guys. We drove hour and half LESS each way and cost us couple of hundy LESS too.... They flew further than other guys would have but still bet them on price. Shop around. Have had very little bit to do with Mr Geary....spelling probably wrong.from just out of pleasant point but very impressed with his abilities. Might be worth a call too.

A Robbie R44 has a $600,000 cost for a 2200-hour total rebuild, so about $275 per hour of flying needs to be put aside for that. Then add insurance, fuel, staff costs, hangar costs, 50hr services with parts prices rocketing, and general maintenance and stuff going wrong not to mention paying a bank loan off if the operator has one then the hourly breakeven price is not insignificant. The cost to run turbine machines is a lot higher so if the operator's base is a long way from where you want to be dropped, then of course the cost will be high. A good example is the cost of flying into the coastal Fiordland Wapiti blocks.....eye watering but well worth it.

Here's another idea.


Could just walk? Plenty of accessible country close to where you can reach with a car.

I have a 2wd station wagon, which is limiting on where you can reach but haven't had any issues targeting any species in the south island.

Use to live up north so can understand the misconception that you need to fly everywhere down south.

Originally Posted by crocodiledavid

Here's another idea.


Could just walk? Plenty of accessible country close to where you can reach with a car.

I have a 2wd station wagon, which is limiting on where you can reach but haven't had any issues targeting any species in the south island.

Use to live up north so can understand the misconception that you need to fly everywhere down south.

This actually.

What species are you targeting in October to want to fly up the Wilberforce? Tahr numbers are pretty low, stags with have dropped antlers, Chamois are about but id hardly target them there. More tahr as you head further south if that's the goal. Most of south Canterbury if you walk in and climb you will find tahr. Guess it depends what you'd pay to not walk. 700-1000 to save 5-6 hours hike so 80-100 and hour to not walk? There's plenty of tahr within a few hours walk. In fact there's places to glass them from the road if your clever enough. ��

Simon for Rakaia and Malcolm Prouting for Rangitata.