Taking the Plunge

Like @geeves I have doubts about the ability or suitability of the original poster to fullfill his plans. The fact that he publicly states a desire to build huts on conservation land rings loud alarm bells for me. I'm much more interested in the idea in general and especially the views on the acceptability of this. As someone who has repeatedly taken over a bunk in a doc hut for months at a time, controlled a pest known to impact on both fauna & flora down to below 1/4 of its initial numbers, cleaned de-ratted, maintained huts, tidied up tracks ... I feel I make a net positive contribution. Yes ... I hog a bed. But you don't possum out of busy huts. A visitor a week is generally more than I ever see. Yes: true possum control for conservation would drop numbers to below 5 in 100 traps, not the 15 I pull out at. But that, sadly, is economics. And surely taking out 3/4 of the population must help? There are really bad examples of possumers taking over huts. The Wioweka examples (2011ish) at Tawa and Kahunui are the worst I've met. Tawa hut crammed to the rafters with personal junk. The Kahunui fella just point-blank not accepting visitors. But, if we are accommodating & tidy - is our passtime/lifestyle/occupation acceptable? Do you think we make a positive contribution? Keen to continue hearing thoughts.

to the original poster, dont take our comments personally, we're trying to help you avoid an unecessary bad experience, we applaud people wanting to get into the outdoors and we want to help people have positive experiences, we're not knocking your desire to have a go and try something different. but theres a lot of experience talking on this site, we know what its like with people who have a lot of motivation to get into the outdoors, sometimes some extra planning and learning is a good idea before heading out there...

you should post on a survivalist forum (if there is one for nz?) as negative reactions seem to be the norm here. long story short, what you want to do has been done by multiple people in nz, it can be done, though Im not sure about the North island, the people I've heard from were on the south island usually. and yeah building your own hut on public land is a no go probablu. but I've heard of people taking over derelict huts and fixing/rebuilding them. here is one example: http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/201838382/miriam-lancewood-6-years-in-nz's-wilderness though most people who do that don't end up writing a book about it or going in medias telling their stories.

@gaiters. no offence taken, nothing wrong with a debate :). might be getting bit off topic though. In m time, NZFS hunters shared the huts willingly. when I was at college, and using those huts, I was always fed, and made welcome. its what enticed me to join the NZFS asap. the huts were our homes, and were built for the deer control purpose. but I think room was always made for trampers/hunters. But it was a rule from the bosses, though. we were govt employees. this wasn't always the case, with some individual cullers. (probably been on their own too long) probably more trampers in the tararuas than I encountered in other areas in nth/sth islands. as Madpom says, theres some bad examples of huts taken over by possumers. I've seen a lot, mainly in the central NI/urewera. Back to the thread. :)

Assuming it's the RNZ interview from a couple of weeks back, the Lancewood example I think sums up our general point. Hunting for meat but coming out and busking to buy other essentials. Probably typical of the sort of compromise you end up with. There was at least one person living wild in Stuart Island 7 or so years ago by all accounts. But they seemed to be only making do by suplementing food by stealing from camps and huts - given the number of reports of such theft. Talked to someone last week who's son bumped into him back then poking around their camp. The fella walked away without returning a greeting.

theres also the issue of living an active life and a colder environment increasing your requirement for food, you'll need a decent amount of food most days to avoid staving off serious hunger pangs eventually... having a regular, decent amount of starchy , fatty food makes a big difference,

For anyone even contemplating this type of life a good read would be "Woman in the Wilderness" by Miriam Lancewood. This recently released book was written by a dutch woman living remotely in NZ with her partner. Comes with a sense of humour and a good dose of reality concerning logistics and preparations for such a life. A really good read actually, for anyone who loves to spend time in the bush.

The original poster didn't mention public land. I think we've all just inferred that. @madpom For what it's worth, I'm comfortable with what you're talking about. My earlier remark about a few crazies with weird ideas was based on some sporadic evidence I've seen of people trying to trap without having much clue of what they're doing, sometimes improvising and setting traps that are probably of at least as much danger to the important wildlife as they'd be to the target pests. My question on permits (about which @gaiters commented) was me thinking about anyone reading this thread actually being aware that permits are needed if it's to be done legally, which I know isn't everyone's highest priority. I don't know how bureaucratic they are to apply for, hopefully not very, but given someone who doesn't know they're doing can potentially cause real harm to what I suspect most are keen to protect, I don't think it's unreasonable that DOC wants to be aware of who's doing what and where and at what time.

Possum permits are simple to apply for. An email or phonecall is usually all it takes to be legal. Call your local DOC office for details. Theres generally only 1 person per region who can issue them so they can take a few days to be issued if said person is busy. Some areas have blocks - eg Wioweka (1 person / 1 permit per catchment) but orhers are open and its a free for all fir all permit holders (eg Tararuas) Best practice for trapping, including the legalities / illegalities are here: http://www.npca.org.nz/index.php/a-series-best-practice.html

During the same Whakatane tramp in Te Urewera a couple of years, stumbled upon a couple more possumers who had taken over a hut. These characters were the 'bad' kind alluded to on some of the posts: real nut jobs who had stuffed the hut with their detritus and made us feel most unwelcome. The younger of the two was close to the edge and had been in the bush far too long. His elderly companion reminded me of 'the gimp' in Pulp Fiction. Bad vibes all around. Upon awakening we made haste from that freak show. For the rest of the tramp my mate and me would regale each other with re-enacted scenes from Deliverance. Has anyone seen my banjo?