John Miller found the wire while visiting the area some time after New Year's Eve with his daughter and grandchildren, aged 5 and 9.
He was there to help launch the children's paddleboards into Blueskin Bay, but soon after spotted the rusty sections of wire scattered across a 4m-wide vehicle access point to the beach.
''After I drove out on to the sand and launched their boats, I went back up into the plantation. I noticed one piece of wire and picked it up nonchalantly and flicked it away.
''Then my daughter picked up another piece, and then we looked a bit closer ... They were spread across the entranceway, so someone had cut them and laid them there deliberately.''
Mr Miller (73) collected 52 pieces of rusty barbed wire, each measuring between 20cm and 30cm. More buried pieces were found when the Otago Daily Times visited yesterday, bringing the total to more than 60.
The barbs were hard to spot among pine needles, sticks and and other beach debris, but posed a threat to anyone using the area, he believed.
''They could have punctured children's feet. I suppose they were put there to puncture car tyres.''
His find came amid debate over vehicle access to the bay and the fate of two boulders used to block vehicles from using a nearby unformed legal road to reach the beach.
Mr Miller suspected his discovery was connected to the ongoing ructions, although he could not say how long the barbed wire had been there.
Logs had been used in the past to block the vehicle track where it met the beach, ''but puncturing someone's foot is another thing''.
''[It is] pretty disappointing and done by a sick mind, I think. Why else would you put it there?''
Waikouaiti Coast Community Board member Geraldine Tait, of Waitati, was shocked when told of the find yesterday.
The bay remained a popular spot for holiday-makers and beachgoers, many of whom liked to wander the area in bare feet, she said.
The ''horrific'' discovery appeared to be aimed at those driving vehicles on to the beach, but was ill-conceived as it risked injuring pedestrians and animals, she said.
''I understand there's some people - and I would be one of them - who are very keen to discourage vehicles from driving on the estuary.
''But I certainly would personally never do anything like that, and it's pretty horrific when it could injure children.
''I think it's a really dumb thing to do, and very sad.''
Mr Miller, who has lived in Warrington since 1942, said his grandchildren did not tread on the wire, ''thank goodness'', but he would be referring the matter to police.
Senior Sergeant Craig Brown, of Dunedin, declined to comment until a complaint was received.
