Thread: Shutes Hut and Wild sheep - info request

Hi everyone,

Planning a trip to shutes Hut over new year, lookin to get onto some wild Merino and do some fishing.

Looking for any info you are willing to share on the shutes hut area/river crossings/terrain/sheep sightings!

Cheers

They were in there 25 years ago lol. That’s the last time I went in. Bush bashed our way out and nearly ended up lost and spending the night in the snow. Young and dumb

Take it easy on them, they are registered as a herd of genetic significance

Some jet boat lads shoot them for practise and their numbers are low

Stunning fishing in the area.

What do you mean by take it easy? As in just don't shoot many? We won't be shooting lots. We'll have to pop into DOC and get the licence as they aren't covered by the normal hunting permit. Hopefully DOC have some good info and advice

The wild sheep are definitely still there, Interesting to hear they are registered as significant?!

Originally Posted by Scott Cowan

They were in there 25 years ago lol. That’s the last time I went in. Bush bashed our way out and nearly ended up lost and spending the night in the snow. Young and dumb

And earlier. Sad everyone wants to blitz them . Sorta like the Arapawa ram. When one got shot many moons ago the intestine was used a trout lure.Nothing wasted. The raft was just above water line. Plus a huge fat boned out stag. Gently floating out to Whanawhana in the hot HB sun awaiting a return to the freezing works. Life was good. Had an Aussie mate with us... Fosters was his name. Good bugger. LOL.

Yep seen them in there a couple of times. Each too their own as its allowed to hunt them, but I left them alone. Not many left and I dont want to be the person that kills them out.

I was in there last in October 2021. Was primarily a fly fishing trip, but I took along a rifle just in case we saw a deer, but we weren’t actively hunting. Saw plenty of deer sign on the track down from Komata.

The fishing was superb. Caught and released plenty of good rainbows, all in fantastic condition. Water was super clear when we were there. We saw a couple of the sheep while we were fish on a slip directly above where we were fishing. Shootable distance, but we left em alone.

As I say, we weren’t actively hunting. Bush gets pretty damn thick in spots. Definitely one of the coolest huts I’ve been to though.