Bruce Bay to Moeraki hunting

Description

This site covers a large area of hill country and wetland west of SH 6 including the Ohinemaka, lower Paringa River, and hill country behind Lake Paringa and Moeraki.  The area is a mix of flat swampy areas with Kahikatea forest and mixed forest hill country. There are no open tops and few open river flats except small patches in the Ohinemaka and along the lower Paringa River.

Access

Access to the area is off SH 6. A poorly maintained quadbike track starts at Doughboy Creek, follows the toe of Hunt Hill to Power Creek and ends at the beach at Buttress Point.

Boat

There are boat ramps at both Lake Moeraki and Lake Paringa.

There is jet boat access to the mouth of the Paringa River from the SH6 bridge and you can boat across Lake Paringa to the start of Collie Creek or the northern lake head.

The Monro Track on the northern side of the Moeraki River provides access to the coast and travel to Tokakoriri Creek is easy.

These points all provide good access to the forests.  Near the coast there are dense patches of kiekie but elsewhere forest travel is reasonable.

Landholders

There is no need to cross any pastoral lease or privately owned land to access this area.

Maps

 NZTopo50 BX13, BY13, BY12.

Dogs

All areas are prohibited to dogs except where authorisation has been granted by DOC. People wishing to take a dog into this area should seek authorisation from the local DOC office. Dogs are not permitted in the Whakapohai Wildlife Refuge in the lower Moeraki and Whakapohai areas.

Huts

There are no DOC huts in the area.

Hunting information

There are moderate numbers of red deer and chamois throughout the area. Hunting is good any time of the year however spring hunting along stream clearings and the Roar is most popular.

Know before you go

Check for current pesticide operations that may be in progress where you intend to hunt. Use the West Coast pesticide summary map.

The use of shotguns, shotgun-rifle combos, .22 calibre and rim-fire firearms are prohibited on public conservation land unless stated otherwise.