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By Libby Kirkby-McLeod of 

The oldest missing Phillips child will celebrate yet another birthday on the run today, but an experienced bushman says it is likely to be a miserable day.

Jayda Phillips, who turns 12 today, has been missing with her siblings Ember, 9, and Maverick, 10, since December 2021, when they were taken by their father Tom Phillips to an unknown location – though police believe they are still in the King Country, near where they went missing.

Ken McCann is a highly experienced hunter and current secretary of the Central King Country branch of the New Zealand Deerstalkers Association.

He said the King Country bush in winter is a cold and wet place which makes your bones ache.

“With all the rain we’ve had and now we are into sub-zero temperatures with very wet bush, it’s extreme cold. I certainly would not like to be camping in the bush at the current time,” he said.

This is the fourth winter the father and children have been missing.

“I really feel for those kids if they are stuck in the bush through this sort of weather, it would not be a pleasant experience,” said McCann.

Having learnt to hunt at 8 years old, McCann knows what it is like to be in the bush as a child.

Cat, mother of Jayda, Maverick and Ember Phillips. Photo / Michael Craig

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He said if you were planning to be hunting or camping at this time of year, you would need a very good set-up.

“You’d want a really good tent, you’d want to get off the ground as much as possible, you’d really want to put your camp in a clearing where you’d get some sunshine to dry things.”

The Phillips are thought to be nearer to coastal King Country in Marokopa, rather than the central King Country.

“You still get a lot of rain but get a bit more wind and things dry a bit better, but it’s still very unpleasant,” said McCann.

He said it is pretty taxing trying to survive in the bush anywhere in the area during winter, especially without the sun to navigate by.

“If it’s really cloudy and clagged in then it is a lot harder to move around and keep your own internal bearing as to where you are heading. If you are in the fog and it’s low cloud in the bush, it’s not a pleasant place.”

Police and private investigators have repeatedly said they think someone is helping Phillips, both to evade police and to move around.

McCann said it has crossed his mind several times why no hunters had stumbled across the family.

“I’m picking that they are moving quite regularly,” he said.

Police told RNZ yesterday that the Phillips investigation is still active, but there were no updates available.

-RNZ