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All part of the plan

19th December 2023|4 min

Planning a hunt during the summer months offers endless opportunities thanks to longer daylight hours and warmer weather. These hunts might be tahr or chamois missions, scouting routes for the next Roar, or just a meat hunt while holidaying with family. 

To support the planning of these hunting expeditions, the NZ Mountain Safety Council’s (MSC) Plan My Walk trip planning tool has two new features – Custom Tracks and My Gear Lists.  

MSC knows that most hunting trips in New Zealand are off-track, and planning those routes is an important step of the preparation. No matter what your type of hunt is, from using a tramping track for access and then heading bush, or maybe it’s just over a mate's fence into public land, the new features can support it.  

Map an off-track hunt  

The custom track builder allows hunters to simply and effectively create their own custom track, and still get all the benefits of Plan My Walk, such as track alerts, weather warnings and forecasts, gear lists and more. Hunters can drop pins on a map to create an off-track hunt anywhere in New Zealand. As hunters don’t always stick to a formed track, this feature offers more freedom when planning by allowing the grouping of multiple existing tracks and off-track routes and letting your emergency contact know exactly which route you’ll be taking. 

Create a personalised gear list

This new feature helps to ensure nothing is forgotten when packing for a day hunt or a big game multi-day trip. Being able to create and save specific gear lists for different types of hunting trips makes this preparation step easy. It also helps to make sure all the important items are packed including: a rain jacket, head torches, first aid kit, emergency shelter, and extra warm layers. The items ticked off the list will automatically be sent to your emergency contact with your trip plan, so they know what you have with you. 

All part of the plan 

Once the custom track and personalised gear list is made, complete the trip plan by adding in the trip dates and group members. Once the plan is complete, it can be shared with the group as well as your emergency contact. 

On the day, it's important to keep up with everyone's plans and ensure that you all know what is going on and where. Sticking together and hunting as a team is the best course of action. You gain a lot of situational awareness with another brain and set of eyes. If you are a larger group, make sure that everyone understands where to be. Having plans on how to communicate in the bush is critical - what if something changes? What if someone is delayed? Always know where everyone is. 

Start planning early, then share your Plan My Walk custom route with your mates and emergency contact to give yourself and your family peace of mind to get out there and enjoy your adventure safely. 

Download the Plan My Walk app or head to planmywalk.nz to start planning your summer hunt.  

The article was written for the NZDA Hunting and Wildlife Magazine Summer 2023/24.    

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