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WildHunts members need to know about this helicopter company for three reasons ... 
1. Chris Crosse, the owner/pilot, is a keen and active free-range hunter with extremely high ethics, who is more than willing to offer valuable advice and genuine encouragement to like-minded hunters 2. You MUST check out the trophy antlers at the hangar ... whether flying or not! 3. Chris offers competitive rates to those who wish to fly anywhere around the Kaweka, Kaimanawa, Ruahine etc hunting areas East Kaweka Helicopters is based 1 km up the Hukanui Road at Puketitiri, approximately 45 minutes drive inland from Napier on the Puketitiri Road. The Puketitiri Road is the main eastern access route into the Kaweka State forest Park and East Kaweka Helicopters is well based to provide a service for those wanting flying access from this side of the Range. Just opposite the Hangar is the DOC Puketitiri Field Centre and depending on staffing, hunting permits can be obtained from there. 
Any genuine keen hunter is more than welcome to call in for a yarn whether they are wanting to fly in or not. Chris is more than happy to point hunters in the right direction if they are not familiar with the Kawekas and can certainly show them what a bit of Sika antler should look like. For those that do want to fly in, Chris offers competitive rates and is more than happy to try and work in with those who want to leave a vehicle somewhere to walk back out to. This may well appeal to trampers as well. To get in contact with Chris, phone (06) 8398693 and a fax can be sent on that same number. A slower means of communication is by e-mail and the address is
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. Postal address is Chris Crosse, Patoka Station, Patoka, RD6 Napier. The hangar is full of sika antler, all taken the proper way - on foot, and other trophy animals that will have you drooling. This image of an 8 point Jap is a stag that Chris shot in the Kawekas during the roar of 2007. It scores 176 DS and is a good representative head. Chris has a wealth of knowledge from a lifetime of long and arduous walking trips throughout the Kawekas. It is ironic that during the roar of 2007, Chris put a pack on his back and spent 10 days doing the hard yards walking around the Kawekas, avoiding huts that other hunters were flying into ... yet he owns his own machine! While Chris didn't shoot all the mounted heads himself, there are some amazing trophies on display - including a big Fiordland wapiti and large sika stag shot by Joe McClunie. The wapiti bull measures 50 inches with a Douglas Score of 358 3/8, as documented in Dave McClunie's book " Classic New Zealand Mountain Hunts ". The sika has a Douglas Score of 208 and these trophies will be of interest to any keen hunter. Joe McClunie's 208DS sika Joe McClunie's 50" Fiordland wapiti For those hunters needing an injection of encouragement and enthusiasm into there hunting, Chris will be able to generate this, as I reckon he has walked up and over the main Kaweka Range more times than most hunters will have pulled on a pair of Bullers. Call Chris at (06) 8398693 ... you won't regret it! Go well, Jeff |
