BUGGER

Vince wrote:

BUGGER

and I tought you have every day a day off...

Aloysius wrote:

Vince wrote: BUGGER and I tought you have every day a day off...

I do mate...but SWMBO always has some sort of a Honey Do list for me. I'm working harder now in retirement than I did when I was in full time employment.

ah well me Swedish Mate and I filled in spare day well, went for wander and shot a few wallabies.
its now 01:38 and getting ready to go
hope you all well
talk in a week
stay safe
Mike

Enjoy your break and hunt mate.

Waiting for pictures...

out safe....tired and mentally drained,will try to find time to post up report tomorrow,when Ive digested what an awesome week we had and managed to catch up with my Darling Wife.
already cocked up and deleted one photo off camera while showing Nathan.....best to wait for clear head.

just a teaser

Awesome, Elvis! I can't wait to see (and hear) more.

ok here goes.....
long drive down was good,we arrived with time to spare,weighed in twice,first just me fully dressed with boots on 114kg,then later at chopper pad with pack and rifle 146kg!!!!!!
the other two guys much less
managed to squeeze into hughes 500 and off we went like dog shot up the bum.
flight in was great till we hit the cloud/fog/mist it got a bit dodgy there and pilot moved around a bit to find clear air before finding a small gap through and dropped into next gully and continued onwards,eventually dropping us right where we wanted...very very impressed

then it was on with packs and off at plodding pace on shankspony for 5kms till we hit bush edge,off with now heavy packs and out with billy for a boilup/cuppa tea
didnt take long before I spotted first deer of trip,a spiker/young stag way up on a slip...gave a roar with bugga all reaction from spiker.....not what we wanted to see as were hoping they would be all lovesick and roaring thier guts out...I showed my young Swedish mate what I do if I believe roaring is from another hunter
lifter roaring horn and roared MYBAAALSAAAAREEEBIGGERTHAANYOUUURBAAAALLLSS which brought much laughter from my companions untill 2 further young spikers popped out of bush to see who was making all the noise!!!!
we shouldered packs and continued down stream getting feet wet for first of many times.
nearly at area we were going to hunt we saw two guys with dog coming up stream.....yip very deflating,Les has chat to them and found out a bit of what was what and good news was they leaving at 10;00 next day,so we would have area to ourselves..sort of as another lot were a couple of kms down river,never mind.
got into camp clearing and I decided "this will do me" and dropped pack for look around for good spot to pitch tent

inspired choice as it would turn out,Swede and I shared tent on left and as it on slight rise with river gravel under the moss it was dry as underneath,wee creek was 10mtrs behind us giving plenty heaps water for cuppa teas and rehy of the dehy tucker.
next job was set up camp and dig a....shi&*er with the grubber I had carried in,that done old Les off for a look around while Swede n self took stock and generally just tootooed around camp getting set up.
Les came back just on dark having seen 2 hinds and got photos to proove it.
off to sleep we went with stag roaring across river even though departing hunters had fire roaring with heaps of smoke drifting.
next day saw us up and away not long after sparrows were all red faced and apologetic, up beauty we creek with clear grassy bits all around,up up up we went out onto bush line where we got first real roar in reply for trip....I looked over to next ridge and spotted something not right,yip binos confirmed a stag,sat down and had better look while giving another roar,a neat stag at about 450yards but only one antler carrying 4 points...NOT what we were after at all.he didnt want to play ball and come over for photo shoot so we left him and carried on up up up some more,go up to top of ridge and looked down onto lovely alpine lake,sat and took stock of area but no animals were seen or heard despite a lot of bino time put in.

so now it was time to decend back towards camp clearing,we got to bush edge and Les opted for straight down this ridge approach,while Swede and self opted for sneaky bush stalk down closer to our upward route....let me tell you it was simply AWESOME to be ghosting along through some semi open beech without having to watch out for wasps!!!!
we got down to mid height and I spotted deer infront of us at about 25 yards,we stopped and I put scope on her and looked hard for boyfriend...no stag but another hind right next to her staring our way,they couldnt make us out even wearing our trendy hunting duds and after about a minute simply walked off unconcerned,I turned to my mate and we agreed the trip was a success and anything from here onwards was a bonus

Above is my Swedish buddy showing flash nogetshot hunting duds.
we carried on down to camp without further incidents.
cooked tea(well added boiling water to bags anyway) and had another cuppa tea,Les asked why I hadnt shot hind for camp meat to which I replied Swede said it too big...
Les said to head down stream past a shingle slip and look to the left up big gully/the creek we had walked up in morning "and shoot a plurry fawn if possible for me to eat" he said.......... poetic or chrystal ball gazing those words prooved to be......
I did as told and placed meat goggles firmly on eyes and set off downstream,crossed shingle fan and looked to left when buggamesideways spotted a hind standing there gazing out into open,I tell you it was plurry spooky,sat straight down and put scope on her..about 200yards ...but she big hind...kept watching as she still intently looking and couldv'e been stag in attendance..... nope just her fawn which popped out and started to eat...I thought about shot but yeah nah I can do better than this thought I. waited till they moved/trotted out into creekbed proper and off down across river goes I (getting goolies wet in process)up steep shingle bank and onto grassy flat...now hwere did those tasty critters go???? must still be feeding in side creek below,so wandered along trying to get breathing back to slower rate
up pops hinds head 25yards away.....oh dear games up now...
she bolts out past me a screams off across flat..scope on her..nah not her..wheres that fawn..pop up he comes flat stick across flat till .270 spoke with suppresed cough..over it went,quick finisher as first was not ideal placement and out with knife.
back wheels,back steaks,eye steaks and heart got trip back to camp,,,,mmmm mmm sure tasted good and made carrying 300mls of cooking oil all the way in worth while,by weeks end we had all but demolished all that juicy steak.
following day Les and Swede set off for a look for a chammy with Swede colecting a good solid 8" buck again thanks to old Les's knowledge of animals,while I put in epic bush stalk back up close to first days climb,had staring match with hind after hearing 18 roars while climbing up hill,we eye locked for 40 secs or so before she moved off,didnt even raise rifle onto her,had a wee snooze in sun overlooking big shingle fan and grass slip before carrying on wards around hill sidling the contour I was on. got around about 2 spurs and up pops wee stag,crosshairs on him really quick smart but he only a 4 or 5 point,after 20 or so secs of mentally poking holes in him rifle got lowered and I manged to get out camera from waist belt,movement had him move off but wee roars confused him enough to stop for photo at about 40 yards..that first photo above...not best but not bad for a first.
to say I was over the moon at that stage would be under statement,carried on with stalk getting into some regrowth and logjam/windfall that pure shite to move through and stopped and realised I was grinning like cat with the cream...back in my element... yip guys I suddenly came to embrace the fact Im a "bush hobbit" at heart and carried on happy back to camp, big feed of venison and dehy then off to fart sact to sound of camp stag roaring across river and morepork singing in tree down the flats...bliss.
next day was rain on and off so I set off solo for bush stalk to try to catch up with camp stag
up one creek and onto ridge,started to look promising when up pops a spiker,crosshairs on him,no not what Im after and watched him walk
20 mins later 3 roars from down next gully..didnt sound big/deep/throaty so only expected wee stag and when I put scope on him 5 mins later after another good wee stalk,again not what I was after....light timber and not much of it,so let him walk away too
carried on down gully and up over next ridge into following crekbed,which I turns and followed down towards camp in the rain...turned into nice grassy semi open with about 4mtrs each side of creek like a lawn in places
WHAM on went the brakes as I spotted a deer, up comes rifle onto yearling hind,looking for stag..looking for stag...looking for stag....oh come on he got to be here somewhere..look somemore,put scope back onto hind,mentally squeze trigger then lower rifle and just watch her AT 10 YARDS!!!!!! grazing peacefully
"wheres your boyfriend??" I asked her
up pops her head and looks around,grass hanging out of corner of mouth
she look to my right,back towards me and keeps eating
I look some more but cant see anything from where Im standing so ask her again "wheres your boyfriend?" she pops head up and really looks/stares hard at me now (she had creek just behind her so wouldnt have heard a lot) I stay frozen while laughing internally at how silly/special the moment was
she moves off to my right so I pop around tree roots and wait for her to appear ,which she does with Mum as well who takes one look at me and promptly scoots off downstream with yearling in tow
Mates I was just about floating from there back to camp,4 deer in four hours,in rain..bliss
I tell you I slept very well that night.
Les opted to fly camp back up river to try for chammy,it fair persisted down during night,so Swede n I took blue tarp out from under tent and poked it over top to add protection as we both had sleeping mats and ground was dry. loads of thunder and lightning had us wonder how Les was fareing .
next morning stags were roaring so we lept out of fart sacks and away we went across river and over ridge and up up up up up we went right up to skyline where we spotted yearling snoozing in sun on a slip at 125 yards (above photo) it wa my mates 26th birthday and that wee deer was all he wanted to see to make it special
we crested ridge and took a few photos before decending back towards camp.
thats lake TeAnua in distance,with Fiordland behind

wow this is turning into a novel!!!!
ok so Swede and I are descending down ridge towards camp through thick beech regrowth..pure shite and NO Im not enjoying it one little bit,cant see bugger all and noisy as two skeletons having a bonk in a tin bath!!!!
no show of bumping a deer in that crappy stuff,we at about mid ridge height when ny old hooter/snorer gets a strong whiff of deer,we then find fresh hoof marks on ground...we continue a little bit further and it opens up a tad to our left so I tell my mate to head down that way and see if he can find deer,creek leads out to camp and its very close to where Id seen stag the previous day I was to continue down ridge a tad then turn right and do same thing down my side creek.all went well and I made it out to camp clearing without seeing much and only hearing 1 stag moan from above me to right while dropping down creek. got out into open ground and started towards camp when nature decided it had waited long enough and started to call rather loudly (those with delicate stomachs can close eyes for sec or three here) I carefully lent rifle against one small tree and moves 5 yards to 2nd small tree to do bizz,noticing that stag had been polishing his antlers on branches as daks came down to half mast....well got that done and doing the necessary next bit with nice moist spagnum moss when I happened to glance upwards......HOLY SMOKE BATMAN screams my brain..there a plurry great stag, up there on knob,in the open ,looking at me...and Im standing here moss in hand ,daks around knees and rifle 5 yards away
moss got dropped (still dont know if Id finished with it )
pants got hitched up and rifle retrieved,150 grn partition poked up the spout,down to prone I went as stag started to move off.BURRRGH goes my roar and he stops...cant get steady rest as prone + 30ish degree uphill= plurry awkward,add in rapid heartbeat/breathing and yip I got the wobbles
managed to wiggle around and get semi steady,got wobble down to about 1/3rd of shoulder and touched off, big solid thump floated back to me and stag INSTANTLY bolted downhill into scrub with awkward gait

I stood up shaking and retrieved my waist bag and reloaded,walked slowly up towards where I hoped to find stag and yip there he lay,the fallen monarch stone dead.I had camera in left hand snapping photos and rifle at ready in right as I approached and somehow managed that wonderfull shot with the light/balance just spot on.

Now the fun begins. Have to unpack, clean and repack all that gear plus clean the rifles.

Glad it was a good trip...And all safe.