7:20am Thursday morning Dean(Mohawk660) arrived at my place to pick me up then we made tracks for Taupo with a stop off at the rifle range to check sighting on our rifles. We got to poronui at 11:15 after getting kitted up we were off on the long walk to Oamaru hut, we only just got past the gate when the bloke from helisika came rolling down the road from the helipad and dean thought it would be a good plan to stick his thumb out just for laughs sure enough we scored a lift on the back of the wagon down to where the pole routed goes across the swampy area. Once we got kitted back up and gave the heliska bloke a friendly wave we resumed the walk to the hut. Going through cutovers of the eucalyptus stands that have been logged out we continued the rather normal views you would see on any farm we came across a few signs that had been doctored by previous trampers using them as cross references to make sure we were on the right track as some of the markers are missing due to loggers removing or burying them so we went past fingerling crossing (doctored to Fingering Ross) then we went past Dick on u road (don't know what it was originally called) then Anal road I was ging to take photos but could not be bothered getting the camera out of the backpack. Before we knew it we were at the Poronui boundary crossed over and headed up the new track to the Kaipo crossing 30 min we got to the hut which was definitely a sight for sore eyes (could not wait to offload the 1/2 ton of crap I took in)
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We got in to find the wood burner cranking away and the hut nice and warm so we knew that we would be sharing the hut with others. We dumped our gear off in the empty dorm made a coffee and had a nibble then headed off for a late afternoon hunt to see what was about. After having a bit of a look around we decided to head back and organize dinner, on our way back we met up with the other two hunters that we would be sharing the hut with after a round of introductions we all made tracks for the hut. Dean and one of the other hunters decided to carry on having a look over the other side of the river flat while myself and the other guy headed back up to the hut. Later that evening after everyone had eaten their dinner we all sat around chatting and then I decided to head out for a ciggy only to spot a possum with fur as black as the ace of spades munching on the apple core I biffed out on to the grass from the apple I had when we arrived at the hut, so frantically I was looking around for something to wallop the possum with as it was not even worried that I was only a few feet away, so I popped my head back into the hut to see if there was anything in there when I mentioned what I was up to the other two guys we were flatting with for the next two nights jumped up one grabbed the floor mop while the other went running for the machete that was outside when the possum clicked to what was going on it scarpered very quickly and hid in the manuka tree by the dog house.
After the bit of excitement involving possums, mops and machetes we all decided to retire for the night. After a restless night and a couple of hours sleep we were all up at 5:30 am for brekky and discussion on where we were going to go hunting we ended up with Te Iringa while the others went for the south end. So at day break dean and I made way up the Te Iringa then we decided that it may be more of a chance to see a deer if we separated and hunted at different end of the track so dean carried on up and I went back down and then decided to head back to the hut to pick up my camera which I had forgotten to pack into my poor excuse of a makeshift mutton cloth pikau (which held up quite well) I headed back to the area I intended to hunt so I was getting into a bit of sidling around trying to find ways to get up to the areas that were getting the sun but kept hitting areas that were too difficult to climb due to being near vertical so I went back down onto the track to think of a plan B. Went back out onto the flats and looked across the kaipo saw where the sun was hitting on the true left and decided I would cross over and hunt around there so after a cold crossing and a bit of a walk through a swampy bit I was heading up on to the areas that were getting the morning sun, After a bit of looking around and no evidence of deer I decided to circle back around and sidle around some of the steeper stuff along the creek found a bit of deer shit and hoof prints so they were definitely around but didn't get squealed at and didn't see anything while glassing around every now and then with the binos by this time it was close to lunch time so I headed back to the hut for a bite to eat and plan for my afternoon walk. By this time dean was also arriving back for a bit of lunch and discussed with each other about how we got on and we were both in the same boat, the other two guys came back and they had been a bit more successful than us so we all had a bit of a yarn then I decided to head south as the other guys wanted to do the north end and at the time Dean was going to have a look across the kaipo. With a bit of wandering around checking the manuka edges while slowly walking along and walking up every deer track i found with fresh deer droppings in hope to find ways of getting up onto sidelings only to be met with thick toi toi I headed back out and continued checking every game trail I came across which one led me up onto a plateau we had seen the afternoon before and had very good evidence of deer being there I kept checking out every bit I saw in case there was a clearing or area where a deer could possibly be. By this time I had got to the end of the tussock flats so I decided I would head to the 5th creek south of the track only to hear the daunting sound of a rifle shot ring out ahead of me, so with me feeling a bit buggered from the lack of sleep the night before I decided I would head back to the hut for a rest and a snooze before dinner. Last night we all chipped in an item of food that we bought in with us for a bloody nice shared dinner bit of a goulash but by god it tasted good. Followed by a bit of a yarn and the two other guys sharing tips and tricks with us about deer hunting as Dean and I are still in the learning stage we learned a bit more to help us on our learning path. After a bloody good nights sleep we packed up said our goodbyes to the other two guys at the hut and headed out 3:40 later we got back to the carpark and headed into Taupo for a scoff at Bk and made tracks back to Te Awamutu for Dean to drop me off we had a coffee then Dean headed off for his next mission. Learned a bit like not to take too much bulky stuff etc next time I have a long hike (yes I am feeling to repercussion right now and my walking seems to resemble that of those characters on the movie happy feet as the missus described it), as we were unfamiliar with the Oamaru getting to see a different bit of scrub and getting familiarized with the outlay of the area and the awesomeness of the terrain we got to hunt I would happily go back there any day may have been a long slog into there but was worth every bit of it no matter how sore I was.
Maybe the next trip in will be a bit more successful
