Stewart Island Winter Trip

Hi everyone I'm new to the forum but keen to help out where I can and also gain some knowledge from some of you. I do a fair bit of bush hunting in the central north island for sika, fallow and reds but have decided to head to to Rakiura / Stewart island for a week in June. Iv booked Doughboy bay block on the Southwestern side of the island which we will be flying into. I'm after a few bits of advice if anyone can help out, will the whitetail bucks still have their antlers this late in the year or be dropping them by this point? Also I have read on the DOC site there may still be red deer roaming around, can anyone confirm this? And lastly is the water supply decent at the hut?
Cheers to anyone who is willing to share any info

Haha - welcome aboard. The "little grey ghosts" will give your bush hunting skills a throughly good workout in the winter, they literally "go bush". But Stewart is is a marvelous place to visit in any season. I don't know that block but you can drink the water anywhere on the Island.

Welcome to the forum.
Your Sika stalking skill will come in handy down there. Be patient.

I've heard they a quite the challenge! Do you know if they still roam the beaches much during the winter months?

You probably won't run into Reds that far south.

The bucks will likely still have their antlers.

The water at the hut will be sweet.

You'll still bump into them on the beaches.

Welcome. Tank water at the hut & you will find sign on the beach, maybe with 1 standing in it. Good luck 7 happy hunting.

Bush hunting Whitetail are no harder to hunt than bush hunting Sika.
You'll be fine.
If you want to hunt bucks you may have to pass on some yearlings or Does.

Itll be a bit of a gamble whether the bucks still have antlers. Depends what end of june? But again you never know haha. I was down there at the end of March. Ahot one 5yo buck that was stripped and all stained up and then shot a 4yo buck that was still in full velvet... Theyre funny critters. Very addictive. Winter hunting down there is a lot harder than in the summer. They seem to go up the trees or underground...

Should still have antlers shots them in late march still in velvet and yes theirs reds their shot one late may deer and sign was in bush rather than the beach but the hut book suggests they had a hurry up with thermals in the sand dunes/beach’s and the gut bags every where supported that

Plenty of good fishing off the rocks in there too [emoji106]

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Whats the approximate cost to do this sort of trip? I do a few heli trips a year and have often thought about having a go on Stewart Island.

Are all the blocks ballot blocks there? And is it a bit like the Fiordland blocks where you're super lucky to get one & can go years missing out?

Check out the DoC poisons schedule. They are doing a major poison drop about this time. It may make you have a rethink about things.

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Originally Posted by ghosts

Check out the DoC poisons schedule. They are doing a major poison drop about this time. It may make you have a rethink about things.

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Iv called up to make sure this isnt happening while we are there, it does happen shortly after though

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Originally Posted by Sika 8

Whats the approximate cost to do this sort of trip? I do a few heli trips a year and have often thought about having a go on Stewart Island.

Are all the blocks ballot blocks there? And is it a bit like the Fiordland blocks where you're super lucky to get one & can go years missing out?

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They are not ballot blocks and are open to apply for all year round its just a small fee to book the block you want. You can either heli or fly to the west side of the island or catch the boat if you are hunting a block closer to Oban. For 4 of us to fly from Invercargill with all our gear is around $3000

Take a fishing rod, compass, check out the old cave