WHITEWATER WAPITI BUGLING BULLS AND BATTERED BODIES
"Hopping into a chopper with ten days' worth of food and hunting gear and knowing you are about to fly into some of the harshest, steepest and most remote country in New Zealand is an incomparable feeling. All the months leading in are filled with excitement, anticipation, planning and preparation for this moment... so what have we forgotten? What sights and stories will we come back with?"
The feeling of isolation grew as each unpassable ridgeline disappeared behind us. As we approached George Sound, we received our first glimpse of the Whitewater Wapiti block - our home for the next ten days. As we were sharing the block with another hunting party we had split the block using the main Whitewater River as the boundary. The true left of the river was our hunting ground, and so we planned to drop the majority of our gear down near the river at a basecamp – an area our pilot, Mark Hollows from Fiordland Helicopters, had told us about. We had five fine days of weather forecast before a classic Fiordland three-day deluge would set in, followed by a couple good days at the tail end of the trip - it’s important to note that down there a long-range forecast should always be taken with a grain of salt To make the most of the early fine weather, the decision was made to be dropped on the tops with four nights worth of food in preparation to glass the surrounding bush lines
