Wildside - Helicopters

Nothing beats a whirlybird.

© Zane Mirfin, Wildside Column, Nothing beats a whirlybird, Nelson Mail, 26 September 2009

 

East Coast Helicopter Pick Up: Ken August, USA, loads up after a great day's fishing
 

Helicopters make everything easier - from finding choice hunting and hunting spots to getting safely out of them.

Some of my greatest trips have been in Hughies and the craft has plenty of reserve power for dicey boulder landings or backing out from under overhanging forest canopies in tight river gorges.


Helicopters are just great machines. They have speed, manoeuvrability and space-age looks to be the perfect magic carpet ride to choice hunting and fishing locations.

Helicopters have always fascinated me. I'm not a pilot but I enjoy getting skyward whenever I can, enjoying wonderful views and epic adventure.

As a guide, I'I've been fortunate to travel regularly in helicopters as part of my job and I've had hundreds of helicopter rides exploring the length of the South Island over the past two decades or so.

The northern South Island has many helicopter companies and we are spoiled for choice in a region awash in helicopters.

My favourite is the old workhouse Hughes 500 - the C,D,and E models. The H500 is a really grunty machine, with that characteristic whine of the turbine engines. Some of my greatest trips have been in Hughies and the craft has plenty of reserve power for dicey boulder landings or backing out from under overhanging forest canopies in tight river gorges.

Helicopter travel is generally safe with the industry being heavily regulated by Civil Aviation, and helicopter maintenance is regularly monitored and audited. Skilled pilots are in abundance and many of the older pilots came from the halcyon venison recovery days in the 70s and 80s when deer were hunted to very low numbers.

There are some great books available from this era and Mike Bennett's The Venison Hunters is a classic. If you want a real thrill, buy a copy of The Last Great Adventure on DVD. It has some phenomenal flying footage of the pursuit of deer, with live capture guys throwing themselves out of helicopters on to the backs of fleeing deer.

The wild west cowboy days were not to last, however, as animal numbers dwindled, deer farming came on stream and wild animal export markets dried up.

Helicopter companies then moved into agriculture, forestry and tourism with a lot of work from government departments and organisations such as the Conservation Department and Animal Health Board.

Early in my guiding career, helicopter access was fabulous because we could go wherever we wanted. But regulation crept in as DOC management plans progressively excluded helicopter access and limited the numbers of operators with concessions in certain areas.

Today, helicopter-free areas in the Northern South Island include Molesworth Station, Paparoa Wilderness Area, Tasman Wilderness Area, and now restrictions for flying into the main-stem Karamea in Kahurangi National Park.

All the new rules achieve is to increase hunting and fishing pressure in smaller geographical areas.

Interestingly, in Kahurangi National Park, as tourism and recreational helicopter users are increasingly managed, DOC acknowledges that the majority of helicopter use in the park is by its staff.

Some of the ugly aspects of helicopter use include balance of power issues, with many helicopter companies competing for access to the same resources. Some days it can be like playing musical helicopters as everyone is racing for the same location.

Many recreational hunters are concerned about commercial helicopter shooting. Contentious issues are the shooting of trophy stags, chamois bucks and Thar bulls by overseas tourists from choppers and the technique known as "spot and drop", where a trophy animal is herded into a place where the tourist hunter can disembark from the helicopter before shooting the animal. The NZ Deerstalkers Association, of which I'm a member, opposes this practise, which seriously affects recreational hunting.

Fishing etiquette is also vital with helicopters, with good guides and recreational anglers always flying the water first to check for other anglers, while staying high enough not to spook the trout.

Most trampers are generally accepting of helicopters, especially when they understand that helicopter access often Pre-dates tramping use of some wilderness areas.

Good helicopter pilots are great people and I've been fortunate to fly with many of New Zealand's legendary pilots. Some of the long-time pilots have a lot of knowledge and history to share and time in the air can be handy when things don't go to plan or the weather closes in unexpectedly.

Some of my greatest adventures have been based around the weather and I have fond memories of helicopter trips in abysmal conditions. One time, we were stranded at the Mohikinui Forks hut for days as a rainstorm created a massive flood that reached up into the trees on both sides of the wide valley.

The first time the helicopter came fro us, there was nowhere to land so the pilot had to leave us there. When he returned the next day we had to swim a flooded channel, with gear, to reach the chopper.

Another time on the West Coast, the weather totally crapped out and we were fogged in with abysmal visibility. I knew it was bad when the pilot landed on the tops and took the doors off to stop us soaking-wet anglers fogging the bubble.

I sat there in the back with freezing cold wind whistling past my frozen ears and hands, holding on for grim death to all the doors that were on my lap as we made it to safety following the sag in power wires to the Buller River below.

Whether it's at the start or end of a successful wilderness adventure, the approaching whine of the helicopter turbines kick-starts an adrenaline turbo-charge through the veins.

Climate change be damned, I'll burn my A1 jet fuel and av-gas any time.

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