NEW ZELAND: Our First Hunting Trip To New Zealand

[jduckhunter]

Only 24 hours to go and we'll be on a plane to New Zealand. Well almost, but first we'll be on a plane from Harrisburg to Washington, then Washington to San Francisco, then San Francisco to Auckland, then Auckland to Wellington, over night there, then Wellington to Timaru. And before you know it we'll be there, at least that's what I keep telling my wife. I'll be glad just to get on that first plane, I usually drive myself nuts with planning and packing my own stuff, but after helping the wife and kids pack I am truly ready just to get going.
I usually don't take my laptop with me on hunting trips but this time I am going to give it a try. Depending on how things go I'll try to post some updates on the fly. Just don't expect too much cause I am an analog kind of guy living in a digital world, but my kids will be with me so I will have built in tech support.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Have a great trip.

Going half way around the world is always a traveling adventure.

It should be well worth it.
If the tech team does not work out or you just want to relax do the write up when you get back.

Stay safe.

 

[bluey]

your gunna love NZ , my friend ......
enjoy all them take offs and landings .....
and the rain ........
hunt hard , travel well and above all enjoy the land of the long white cloud with your family.....
and if you get a chance fish for some trout, might want to take a couple floating rapaal lures, perch would be a good choice of colour....
jet boats would be a good adrenaline fix for whole lot of you guys , too....
looking foreward to your report .....
have your selves ,some fun

 

[Witold Krzyżanowski]

Good luck Jduckhunter.
Witold

 

[stug]

Have a great trip, the weather is beautiful and settled at the moment, frosts every morning and clear skies, hopefully it holds for your trip. What animals are you after?

 

[jduckhunter]

Thanks guys I'm sure we're going to have a great trip. stug our main target animals are stags and tahr, but we plan on hunting waterfowl a bit also. Fingers crossed on the weather.

 

[thi9elsp]

Have a great trip! Ann and I had a super time last month. An amazingly beautiful country and wonderful people. I look forward to hearing about your adventure along the way or when you get back. Have fun!

 

[stug]

Your in the right spot for ducks, 50 a day per person. Tahr will be looking great this time of year.

 

[jduckhunter]

Your in the right spot for ducks, 50 a day per person. Tahr will be looking great this time of year.

Yeah the limits on ducks are great, but I don't think I want to shoot that many. But just knowing that I could is awesome, kind of like years ago when I went duck hunting in Alaska for the first time. The limit was 22 ducks a day then and you could have easily shot that many, but I figured 10 or 12 a day was plenty. I want a tahr with a good cape so that's why we booked a later hunt.

 

[RogerHeintzman]

jduckhunter,

You will have a awesome trip.

I just got back yesterday from Wanaka NZ, my first trip. The weather was great, frosty mornings, some wind, and 4" of snow Monday morning which squashed my trip for Wallabe. Took a 400"+ Stag and a 12 1/2 yr. old Tahr, and Paradise Ducks. Helicopter into the mountains and set up a spike camp and hunted from there for the Tahr.

More to come when I get all the notes together and pics downloaded.

Jerome my friend, your help will be needed again.

Roger

 

[huntermn15]

Good luck and safe travels. I look forward to your report.

 

[jduckhunter]

So far so good, sitting at Harrisburg Int. Airport waiting our first flight. Bags checked, guns cleared, no EIN, no AES, no ITN, no BS, no firearm inspection, all gun cases go thru x-ray machine and are cleared easily. That's why I travel out of this airport, it's very hunter friendly. For some reason we were given purple cards that allowed us to basically by-pass all of the pre-flight screening. I have no idea why we were given them but I gladly took them.

 

[johnnyblues]

Have a great hunt. I ve hunted NZ twice I love it there. Gorgeous country and the people are great. It is a heck of a flight at least the food on Air NZ is good. Look forward to seeing some pictures and your report. Who are you hunting with?

 

[jduckhunter]

Have a great hunt. I ve hunted NZ twice I love it there. Gorgeous country and the people are great. It is a heck of a flight at least the food on Air NZ is good. Look forward to seeing some pictures and your report. Who are you hunting with?

New Zealand Safaris, Jim Gibson Yeah the flights are a killer but we are pretty pumped right now, I'm sure the flights home will be a bear though.

 

[johnnyblues]

Great time will be had I m sure.

 

[Royal27]

Travel safe and have a great trip!!!

 

[Nyati]

Wish you the best of luck, jduckhunter!

 

[bluey]

looking foreward to hearing of your thar hunt ..........

 

[jduckhunter]

Ok so we made it to San Francisco, for some of us the enthusiasm is starting to wane. But my son and I are still excited about the trip and I'm sure everyone else will be once we get this next long flight out of the way.
Thanks guys for the well wishes.

 

[ZG47]

Just been watching the evening news. Timaru was down to -5 C last night and up to 13C today, with rain on the way. Should be okay with the right gear though.

Have fun!