Thread: Sika Mid March

Hey all, going to book a chopper trip in mid march for my 40th.
Target Species Sika.

Question...

Am I looking for open tops hunting at this time of year eg. otutu? Or am I better lookig for lower down in the valley floors eg. tussock hut, or Ngaawapurua ?

Wouldnt mind bagging a good sika for my 40th, and also would love to get the mrs onto her first sika in general.

I have hunted Tussock , and know the area well, but always keen to bag a new hut also.


what are your thoughts ? as i need to book in now and start saving.

Manson or the Omar tops

Originally Posted by Sika 8

Manson or the Omar tops

thanks man, have done manson. cool little place to be honest. Is that the hut youd recommend - any other ones ? and is it only helisika that fly into there now.

Depends how dry it is. I’ve found low down to be great in March.

You could hunt the Omar tops from the Omar tops campsite, or base yourself at Te Puke hut and hunt the Te Puke tops to the north or the Omar tops to the south pending on the wind.

The Omar tops campsite itself is a pretty awesome spot, one of my favorite in the Kaweka its just a bit of a mission to get water.
Plenty of bush hunting, Good hunting down Herbs creek which will take you down to the Ngaawapurua hut track.

Helisika will be your cheapest option, Midwest fly in there but aren't as cheap as helisika unless they have a job out that way already and pick you up from Kuripapango.

Originally Posted by Sika 8

You could hunt the Omar tops from the Omar tops campsite, or base yourself at Te Puke hut and hunt the Te Puke tops to the north or the Omar tops to the south pending on the wind.

The Omar tops campsite itself is a pretty awesome spot, one of my favorite in the Kaweka its just a bit of a mission to get water.
Plenty of bush hunting, Good hunting down Herbs creek which will take you down to the Ngaawapurua hut track.

Helisika will be your cheapest option, Midwest fly in there but aren't as cheap as helisika unless they have a job out that way already and pick you up from Kuripapango.

im more of a glasser and shoot then big recovery. - so still thinking there or still up higher ?

Omar tops doesn't get a lot of pressure, it's beautiful country in there!

Originally Posted by Sika 8

Omar tops doesn't get a lot of pressure, it's beautiful country in there!

is it worth basing at tepuke hut ? or go straight camping at omar tops ? ios there much shelter to setup a base camp out of the wind etc ?

There is an awesome campsite there, Its actually on Ngakawekaiti south of the saddle between it and the Omar tops, nice and sheltered and has a thunder box style long drop.

As mentioned water can be problematic there, we take a 20L container in with us and drop off the side to get water.

Both,
did a fly in 18mths back feb march?? 2 of us got deer on the tops at dusk and one guy dropped down into the valley floors by water and got a deer as well. He probably saw the most deer during the day but we did see a number of other deer in the distance above the tree line morning or evening.
Z

If you’re flying to the tops where water is a pain to get, you can fly it in with you. We save goon bags and reuse them. Take about 4 x 4l in a pak and save reusable bag

hI there, I have hunted Harkness for the last 12 years during the roar, except for last year when I did my trip from March 15-24 due to wife having an ankle reconstruction. We all got deer and they were down low in the bush, but not far into the bush, within 150m of the margin. The stags were just starting to scrap up and get their territories and mailboxes sorted. I tried to call but didn't get any coming in, so may be a week too early for that. Most that were seen were moulting into winter colours, however I shot the stag below which in bright summer pelage, his antlers suggest he may have been a little different to the others. They seem to be in the region 1000 to 1200m asl where most of the feed was in the creeks. I watched the margins most nights until dark and only saw a couple of hinds so focussed on bush stalking the creeks, and for the week saw 9 and shot 1. Good luck it's a great time to be there and there is 30 minutes of more light at days end. If you stay at Te Puke you have at least 4 choices to travel to hunting areas and can travel a good distance in a short time to be at good hunting grounds, and is great for spot and snot tactics.

thanks for the replies so far, will probably fly into omar tops campsite and base from there. think theres going to be a party of 6, so should get a good camp setup

The campsite isn't huge, so some of your party would have to share tents

yeah, 2 rothers can share, me and the misso can share, and the mate and his mate can share! easy!