Exploring our New Backcountry Cabin with Bre Lewis
Roars ring through the mountains, stags in each valley echoing the challenges, attempting even more powerful utterances. The clash of antlers punctuates the guttural chorus as two stags locked in combat strain. The clatter of antlers gradually sounds more like a clang, almost metallic. Air thick with the musk of stags now bears hints of coffee. The world’s dark behind closed eyes. The rustling of the leaves in the breeze blends with the crinkling of your sleeping bag as you turn over, but the roaring hasn’t ceased.
“Good morning. Coffee’s on the table,” your guide cheerfully says.
There’s no desire to linger over your amazing hunting dream when the day promises to hold even more excitement. Another roar! It sounds close.
What is better than falling asleep with the mingling of roars outside mixing with dreams of hunting stags and then waking up to a hot cup of coffee from your guide cooked over the fire in a toasty and cozy cabin? Maybe being able to simply walk out the door of the cabin to begin your stag hunt! Our new backcountry cabin at Glen Dene Hunting and Fishing provides this amazing experience up a remote valley on the private station. Not only does this backcountry outing offer supreme hunting and fishing opportunities, but it’s also a chance to escape with your party and guide, tasting the wilderness in a way that can only be experienced when isolated in a remote place.
Exceptional sporting opportunities abound at Glen Dene Hunting and Fishing. However, immersing yourself in the wilderness with this backcountry adventure expands the chances for hunting and fishing. The whole time outside the cabin is a chance to find, observe, and potentially stalk game- from sipping morning coffee at first light, to in the evening when good optical glass is raised to the eye while glass with good wine is raised to the lips. On top of that, the hunt is located above the Craigburn Creek, a location renown for fall trout fishing, so bring your fly rod as well! While the story-sharing, great food, and luxuries of Cross Hill Lodge and Domes are deservedly important and integral aspects to the hunts at Glen Dene Hunting and Fishing, one night of immersion in the hunt and wilderness in the comfortable cabin will add to the experience we can provide you with during your trip.
While a night during the red stag rut when each little gully along the valley vibrates with the robust roars of stags holding their herd of hinds and attempting to intimidate any challengers is an experience out of this world, the cabin offers a prime location for hunting all the species on the property, not only stags, and not only during the rut. Curious chamois often circle the steep ledge system straight across from the hunt. Like ghosts they appear on the rock face, checking out the activities at the cabin, and disappear just as quickly.
However, not to worry, because the tops above the hut are also teeming with the sly creatures. Fallow deer feed out of the native manuka bush dotting the lower portions of the mountainside and into the creek below. Game trails, mainly made by fallow, congregate at the clearing where the cabin is located providing easy accesss for them in their daily migrations from the sheltering scrub to the grass clearings. During their rut, slightly later than the height of the red roar, deep frog-like croaks create the crepuscular chorus throughout the valley, only interrupted by the loud clashes of fallow bucks’ paddles. Rainbow trout travel along the translucent waterway providing optimal opportunities for flyfishing. Glints of their colorful forms can be seen glistening in the blue waters from the road by the cabin above. Along with the many species to hunt, fishing offers even more sporting opportunities; a special blessing when a hunter enjoys early success!
However, it’s not only the game species that make an overnight trip to our backcountry cabin so memorable. The plentiful and friendly native birds thrive in the manuka bush surrounding the cabin’s clearing. Their beautiful songs and bold displays are unlike those anywhere else because the birds here in New Zealand have evolved without native predators, making them incredibly at ease around hunters. Look forward to enjoying the company of a flitting fantail, one of New Zealander’s most beloved native species, as he follows you with his iconic and frequent tail flashes on your hunt!
As much a part of the backcountry experience as the abundant wildlife, and perhaps unlooked for, is the elevation in comradery immersion in the wilderness promotes. Sharing simple comforts without the distractions of everyday life builds great friendships. With only campfire stories for entertainment during the evenings you learn much about everyone quickly and true fellowships are formed in just a brief time. Collaboration to achieve the same goal during the hunt along with evenings spent in a remote place brings the party together.
Submersion in the hunt and surroundings promises closeness with both nature and the people sharing the experience; a phenomenon only possible under remoteness. Try something different for one night of your trip- escape on an overnight hunt at Glen Dene Hunting and Fishing’s backcountry cabin.
Enquire now about our new backcountry hunting trip with overnight stay in on mountain hunt. Email info@glendenehunting.com