FALLOW OF THE GREENSTONE
The area began its anthropogenic history as the primary route from the West Coast to Central Otago by early Maori, and the first Europeans to see it were the runholders David McKellar and George Gunn in 1862. In fact the name ‘Greenstone’ was translated from the Maori name for the valley – Pounamu – as they used this valley on their travels searching for the rock of the same name. For many years the pack route up the Greenstone and down the Hollyford was the only land access to the West Coast and the remote settlement at Martins Bay. The first runholders began farming in the Caples and Greenstone in 1868, and the original homestead of Birchdale Station still stands.
Eighteen Fallow were captured in Tasmania and released from the shores of Lake Wakatipu circa 1887, and have since spread through the Greenstone and Caples Valleys. Over time they spread down the Pass Burn into the Mavora Lakes area but never seem to have been attracted to the Hollyford or Eglinton. My personal theory is that as the Hollyford was never intensively grazed like the other valleys, it was less preferable habitat to the grazing Fallow deer. Culling first began in 1937 with 440 animals shot and recreational access wasn’t publically available until 1971. The Caples also bears notoriety as one of the few areas where 1080 was trialled as a deer control method, in 1958. By 1981, the Greenstone and Caples were gazetted as part of the 16,500ha Wakatipu Recreational Hunting Area (RHA) recognizing the particular recreational value of this herd.
Back to the present day. This was to be the first trip I couldn’t wriggle out of being the subject of the filming, so the pig hunter jokes were going to be flying thick and fast! But it was an awesome chance to see behind the scenes of NZ Hunter Adventures from a guest’s perspective. I’ve hunted Fallow a lot up north and been fortunate enough to secure some nice bucks but this truly wild, historic herd had always held huge appeal. It was even-stevens this trip though; while our expectations were zero, Willie, Emil and I all had our names on the ballot so we were going to draw straws between the three of us for the first shot at a good buck – if we managed to see one.
We zoomed up the beginnings of the Routeburn, passing endless French and German tourists, then turned off up to Key Summit. It was an easy way to get altitude – basically a four lane highway all the way up – the best intro to an NZ Hunter