A map is a vital tool for a hunter. Not quite as important as your rifle but not that far behind it. The map gives you a mental picture of the area which you are hunting in. Rivers and mountains do not change position. This information lets you plan a hunt or investigate a potential route.

Here is a real example to illustrate this.

Have a look at map NZ Topo50-BF40 right down by the bottom left-hand corner of the map. Two lines up from the bottom and five and a half lines in from the left is a spot marked Otanatea Hut.  This was one of the huts I lived in while working in the Urewera. Trace the course of the Waikare river north about five kilometres and you will see a swing bridge marked. Just downstream of the swing bridge is the start of the Waikarewhenua flats. We had another hut at the start of the flats. It’s gone now.

Charlie had dropped me off at the end of Mataatua road and I was to make my way to where three other hunters were working in the Waikare. Checking my map, which was an old inch to the mile, I saw that I could turn up the Mangatawhero stream and pick up an old Venetian blind track over into the Takarua and on to Waikarewhenua. All going well, cruised down a long leading ridge, and hit the Motumuka stream at Takarua hut.

Filthy Phil was sitting on the front steps of the hut peeling possums. He was throwing the peeled bodies just as far as he could throw them from a sitting position. The place was alive with blowflies and stank like a polecat.  He asked me if I wanted a brew and a feed. I looked in his camp oven and saw possum femurs poking out of a congealed mess. I said no thanks, I said I’d just had a brew and needed to be in Whenua by dark. I think that is the only time I’ve turned down a brew while in the bush.  Knowing how far it was by reading the map I could see I had a fair chance of making it.

When you find Otanatea hut at BF 40 535319 have a look downstream about two and a half kilometres for the mouth of the Ohauera Stream. Take the true left branch where it forks from the Opamakau Stream and have a look for the second creek marked on the true left. You can see that you have just passed Pukeroa.  Head south up the creek and you will see you can cross a saddle and drop into the Maukuroa Stream. Once you are heading south down the stream you will find awesome easy stalking through big timber. From memory most of the tails I got in this area were from the Ohauera or the upper reaches of the Maukuroa.

When you get to the junction of the creek marked as coming down from elevation point (spot height) 771, don’t keep going down the creek. It drops into an awful waterfall system, you may never come out. Instead climb out onto a little easy saddle onto the ridge marked as a bend in the Waikare River. From there it’s an easy trot down the river with just a couple of river crossings to the hut and a brew. The pool in front of the hut was the source of plenty of trout dinners.

The information you can get from your map is invaluable for planning your hunt and equally for knowing where drainages go if you get it wrong. Another vital benefit is being able to give a correct grid reference if you are ever in need of Search and Rescue. Vital time can be saved in organising a search party if the correct coordinates can be given. My map is not as crucial as my rifle but it’s not that far behind.