Thread: accommodation with range

Sometimes I really want to run away from Auckland, internet and my lovely dog. Just go to a lodge/cabin in the middle of the bush with a couple of mates for a weekend. Do bbq, maybe some fishing or kayaking if river nearby, little plinking competition at the back of the property, or maybe even clay shooting/shotgun fun. Am I asking for too much? And if this paradise exists somewhere let's say 4h drive from Auckland how I can find it?

Cheers for all the hints

Originally Posted by LookingForMauser

Sometimes I really want to run away from Auckland, internet and my lovely dog. Just go to a lodge/cabin in the middle of the bush with a couple of mates for a weekend. Do bbq, maybe some fishing or kayaking if river nearby, little plinking competition at the back of the property, or maybe even clay shooting/shotgun fun. Am I asking for too much? And if this paradise exists somewhere let's say 4h drive from Auckland how I can find it?

Cheers for all the hints

This is the sort of thing that all of us city-dwelling folk want really.

We go to a place kinda like what you are referring to for family/friends boys trips 3-4 times a year, with a nice lodge to stay in, but the range consists of 16,000 acres of manuka clad hills with quad tracks everywhere, the shooting mounds are anywhere you want them to be, and the targets are not static with a variable mix of red and fallow deer as well as pigs, plus a few goats.

Its about 9-10 hours south of Auckland thou I'm sorry.

But there is surely a huge demand for exactly what you are looking for, a few years ago, me and my dad and another mate went for a long weekend to a property up the Whanganui River. It was being marketed for hunting trips by Damian Hall (Damz) on this forum. He completely oversold the place, the hunting wasn't great, very minimal good hunting area, and piss all animals, and the accommodation, well let's just say that was somewhat lacking.

But.....we actually had a bloody good weekend. From the deck of the hut we could shoot at 3 or 4 steel gongs that were already setup on the adjacent hills, out to about 650 yards from memory. So we all had a pretty relaxed cruisy weekend, we did some gong shooting during the middle of the day from the hut, which was awesome to get my old Dad shooting much much further than he ever had before.

Early morning and late arvo we took the quad out the back to hunt the two open huntable gullies, we did actually manage to shoot 3 small fallow, the only 3 we saw for the whole weekend, and we shot a few goats too.

We cooked up some good meals including some deer heart, onions and mushrooms, but could have just the same taken the weber kettle and got a bit more carried away if we chose. Then after dinner went spotlighting possums etc for a big of fun with the rimfire.

So even thou the hunting was pretty average at best, we actually all had a pretty cool time, just doing the sort of stuff you are looking to do.

Note: I think we were the first group to have our trip to this particular property, I think Damz sold these trips to several others on the forum too, and their experience was less positive than ours. As mentioned he definitely over-sold the place.

I'm sure someone will come up with a suitable place for you to do the type of things you are looking to do.

While i like my more proper hunting trips, there's certainly a place for this kind of relaxed type trip away doing boys stuff. Here's a little vid with some of the action from that trip with my Dad to wet ya whistle.

Originally Posted by muzza

That guy Damz suckered many people. He is , in my opinion , a dishonest thieving c*nt who deserves to be shot with a ball of his own shit.

Do not ever get involved with him - it will end badly.

I am by no means standing up for the fella and have never actually met him, only corresponded via PM/email and maybe a phone call to arrange our trip. But i know the full story of the background of the property, and his situation (Dad and I worked it all out while we were up there).

Around that time of the hunts being sold, he also had a guy that was 'looking after the place' while he was working in Aussie. And im pretty sure the 'caretaker' friend had been shooting the shit out of the place far more than Damz knew. Im pretty sure there use to be alot more deer around than what there was when these trips were sold down.

I see Damz's family and that particular property were back in the news on stuff again this morning, a long tragic drawn out affair it all was.

Have a look at huntingHQ I think it’s called,pay a yearly subscription fee for booking properties and then a daily fee and you are good to go.

most of the safari outfits do managements hunts,most have accomidation and most will still be hurting from a couple of very lean seasons....you could do a hell of a lot worse than ring and state what yo uwant to do and see if they can accomidate you at reasonable expence....

thanks guys, that's a start

I know nothing about the place, but have had this bookmarked on my TM watch list for a year now. Plan to try it out as some point for an extended family gathering.

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/services...9?bof=RxikkYpf

Originally Posted by hotbarrels

I know nothing about the place, but have had this bookmarked on my TM watch list for a year now. Plan to try it out as some point for an extended family gathering.

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/services...9?bof=RxikkYpf

that would be an amazing spot, the upper whanganui river has some good fishing, but you have to cross the Whakapapa and that has amazing fishing.

#12 hare n copper tied rough.... know the country well.....and pretty sure know the outfitter too.

Originally Posted by LookingForMauser

Sometimes I really want to run away from Auckland, internet and my lovely dog. Just go to a lodge/cabin in the middle of the bush with a couple of mates for a weekend. Do bbq, maybe some fishing or kayaking if river nearby, little plinking competition at the back of the property, or maybe even clay shooting/shotgun fun. Am I asking for too much? And if this paradise exists somewhere let's say 4h drive from Auckland how I can find it?

Cheers for all the hints

Ya missed the boat mate, some years ago a bunch of Auckland lads and some Waikato ones did a lot of work on this bus on the lower slopes of Mt Motutapere in the Kaimai Ranges and then for whatever reasons never came back, maybe because I got a bit shitfaced about them allowing their dog to shit in the bus and me having to clean it up or maybe it was the empty grog bottles thrown all around into the bush...over the years it has been offered on various forums for the use of, then along came covid and it was used by grandsons as a retreat from the world, after they moved on a chick living in her car for two years took up residence, but there is talk of her moving on so may become available in the near future....great spot on private land with deer in the neighborhood, the Waihou river a couple of k away for the fishing or kayaking, several spots for shooting ranges including permanent gong on one, there is an old clay bird thrower and a flash battery driven one that shouldn't be too hard to twist the arm of the owner for usage....bring a tent and enjoy what is left of Autumn before Winter sets in.

I went out to his place with a few guys off the other forum a few years ago. Your right it was a bad story about his old man. He seemed like a pretty decent guy and there was a few guys who were taking advantage of his offer to shoot for free on his place. I shot a couple of goats there with my mini 14. There were a few deer there but not too many. Goats were the most plentiful, but we mainly did some gong shooting out to 600m.
Guys were pestering him all the time to go there and shoot deer and he seemed like the guy who wouldn't say no.

Originally Posted by GWH

I am by no means standing up for the fella and have never actually met him, only corresponded via PM/email and maybe a phone call to arrange our trip. But i know the full story of the background of the property, and his situation (Dad and I worked it all out while we were up there).

Around that time of the hunts being sold, he also had a guy that was 'looking after the place' while he was working in Aussie. And im pretty sure the 'caretaker' friend had been shooting the shit out of the place far more than Damz knew. Im pretty sure there use to be alot more deer around than what there was when these trips were sold down.

I see Damz's family and that particular property were back in the news on stuff again this morning, a long tragic drawn out affair it all was.

This would be a great thing, Even if there wasn't hunting, the gong/targets and BBQ/bullsh*t would be worth it. I even got blanks sorted for when my mates try their aim