Thread: Newshub attacking Sika

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

hughs 500 and a good crew doing search n destroy and leaving any good looking stags is a win win when population is too high.... the "who pays for it"??? bit is always the fly in the ointment

Yeah, you’d think so. But the Sika Foundation appear to be having more success with ground hunters in the Rangitikei? However, DoC seemed happy enough with the results of the aerial S&D program they ran in the Kawekas a few years back?

Originally Posted by Maxx

Yeah, you’d think so. But the Sika Foundation appear to be having more success with ground hunters in the Rangitikei? However, DoC seemed happy enough with the results of the aerial S&D program they ran in the Kawekas a few years back?

Tell us more about these sika in the Rangitikei?

Originally Posted by Yesmate

Tell us more about these sika in the Rangitikei?

The lower Rangitikei has always been a high population area. Back in the late 70's early 80's the Makorako and Ecology areas were severely depleted by a high sika population and there was a sika die back as a consequence. Cam Speedy has spent a lot of time studying the Beech collapse and sika die back in there.

Subsequently DOC periodically opened up a heli pad in the Ecology remote experience zone to aid control through rec hunters. The Sika Foundation seem to have taken this over now https://sikafoundation.co.nz and manage 2 sites in the Ecology and one up on the Thunderbolt. The Rangatikei faces are easily accessible from the Thunderbolt. The Ecology is a really neat place to hunt.

I expect that you would be just shooting rats though. They were pretty awful when I hunted in there.

Edit. The headwaters of the Ecology are nice. I used to get dropped off near the saddle between the Makorako tribs and the Ecology but no one will drop you there now.