OUTDOOR ATTRACTIONS

Press, 11 August 1977, Page 25

OUTDOOR ATTRACTIONS

BEN HOPE

By

It was a typical December day when I walked up into the mountain valley. The morning was warm and sunny and little puffs of mountain mist clung in the shadows of the lofty mountain peaks. I walked up the small valley, slightly hunched over by the weight of my pack and at 10 o’clock I made camp on a little grassy flat by the stream. I took my rifle and went hunting into the bush for in all probability the deer would be in the bush waiting for the evening shadows to lengthen before they ventured out into the open.

I saw a deer. It was a nice yearling and reluctantly I squeezed the trigger. I butchered out the deer, packed the meat into my pack and started back to camp. On the way I saw two hinds and watched them until they wheeled about and bounded into the forest.

I reached camp just before noon, took up my trout rod and fished the stream, catching two fine brown trout on the dry fly before deciding to return to the camp site. It had been a good day, enhanced by scenery as good as you can get anywhere. It was in the Murchsion district and there are numerous little valleys just like the one in which I pleasantly wiled away that December day.

Around Murchison you can find good deerstalking if you ask permission of land owners and perhaps only wish to kill one deer for your needs. Murchison land owners have seen their fair share of airborne deer shooters in helicopters and foot shooters intent on mass killing and maximum profit.

The true sportsman, however, is rarely turned away, if he approaches a land owner with courtesy and respect and carries out his hunting accordingly. There are some wild pig there and just above the line where the bush merges into tussock, there may be chamois.

For the trampers there are many trips available. The Owen Valley country is quite magnificent especially with its unusual geological formations and with its sharp contrast between limestone and granite country. Trampers go up the Matiri Valley, or into the Lewis Pass area or up the Matakitaki Valley or its side valleys which are always worth while. For the trout fisherman the Murchsion district is a paradise. The Mangles River, which runs into the mighty Buller, is renowned, but a recent flood

covered a lot of prime trout water with shingle. The Buller itself can be good. There is the riotious flow of the pounding Gowan from Lake Rotoroa, or the Maruia River on the Lewis Pass Road. This can offer superb nymph or dry fly sport. Some of the smaller streams can be good although highly dependable on the seasonal flow of water. If they get too low trout can retreat back to the flow of the Buller. The Owen and Matiri Rivers are worth prospecting, if the intimacy of small streams is preferred.