Hunting The Hunting thread

[TheKiwi]

Damn, that is a decent sized catch. My mates hit D'Urville island about 2 weeks ago to try to get some red deer but unfortunately the conditions were against them and although they saw a lot of deer sign, no deer were gotten.

 

[primer]

15 week old Stars first Stag

No sweat for the heading dog.

Went in a couple of days ago, did a little prospecting exploring first then headed to well known territory.

Woke up in the dark. Downed our wheebix flicked on the red torch and went down the track and her hooked to my waist by a bootlace.
She ground scents real well but with no easy stags in the lower country we crossed a stream and headed up a spur.
She was trailing. I wanted to keep going up but I noticed her veer off and knew to trust that. So we went over to start sidling and then went up another side spur of the one we went up which flattened off and the bush under canopy opened up revealing a nice place where a stag would wait for hinds coming back up the hill. Gave a few hind calls and heard moment ahead. I picked out a young stag in the scope only 30 m away. Checked that Star was behind the barrel and fired. She didn't seem fazed and I could hear the Stag take off down the hill.
We cut its blood trail and followed it for 70 m. Being green she wasn't sure what to do but she soon trailed it. There I saw the reddy brown form laying and knew the search was over.
Got her to bark at it to get her excited about it. Turned the blacklegs into a pack then had her redo the blood trail to imprint it all better and hand fed her some venison.
Got her to stay and took the pic. Headed off with the leg back pack with prime cuts in a bag suffed down my front. Back to camp and felt like the luckiest bastard in the world.

 

[TheKiwi]

Well done, nice score.

The chestnuts are falling at dad's farm so tomorrow night we're off to cull possums. Might go look for some goats on the hills too.

 

[TheKiwi]

So we hit dad's farm last night. Wandered around, covered about 8km of faffing about and ended up with about 25 possums to our name which wasn't terrible for this time of year. Then did a midnight skinny dip in the river which was cold AF.

 

[goldfishsoldier]

I'll be doing more hunting next year. A mate of mine has access to properties less than an hour away full of deer, pigs and wild dogs and I'm always welcome to come along with him. Plus I got a gift voucher for a local gun shop I'll be using to put a deposit down on an air rifle to slay cane toads. I'll have plenty of photo's to post.

Put that air rifle to use the other night.

 

[TheKiwi]

You are doing Gods work there mate. Well done. Those are some fat bastards.

 

[goldfishsoldier]

The one on the left took two shots to put him down. I'll do another sweep tonight and see what I find.

 

[goldfishsoldier]

Another two.

 

[primer]

Just come in from a 2 day wander back to a place I camped 20 years ago.
Things change a lot in the NZ bush in that time frame, everything grows fast here. The original track in was over grown and a short cut with a bridge over the stream had been built to get to the camp site that is a grassy clearing in the middle of no where.
A particularly freezing night had the stags going hard in the surrounding hills.
Morning, headed along a logging track that had Stags roaring on both sides. Took the option to go toward a river and Star trailed ahead in the directing of a young Stag mewing. Starting mewing back with a few hind calls and a big mature sag roared back. We quietly moved forward giving occasional calls to convince them we were deer.
Stopped and waited and after some more conversation a stag charged forward but off to the side and out of view, then whistled alarm and ran back the way he came. I stopped him with a whistle and got the cross hairs on him but he didn't look like a mature stag, Only a satellite keeping lookout. Let him move off and kept calling and moving slowly in the direction of the big stag who was roaring but hidden only 30 or 40 meters away and moving. There is nothing like a mature Sika roar at that distance. Its primordial. I wont lie I was not cool I was really excited in the grip of classic buck fever.
I couldn't get a glimpse then we were led to a huge marked up wallow created in the base of an old log skidding track that stretched for about 20 yards. It was the only water up on this plateau so it was prime stag estate. Hang back about 40 yards and kept calling for 1/4 of an hour and could hear a stag come forward but again couldn't see him. Shifted to my right and this mud covered black stag whistled warning and bolted. I'm pretty sure he was another satellite. We trailed them for a while and then they went quiet.
Wandered a long a bluff on the side of the river, looking for a way down on a deer trail. It is surprising what then can climb up and down. After some coaxing and lifting Star we climbed down and spooked a hind on the first bench then carried on down a series of steep drops until we got to a huge bluff of about 200 foot and the river with tussock grassy patches and scrub for cover. Great place for deer. Only there was no way to it.
We kept going along until the bench ended and forced a climb all the way back up where a fall would end up many hundred of feet below. Just before the top was a rotten and loose looking slip/land slide with only one possible way up it or climb back down and spend another hour going back out the way in. Star not being a mountaineer didn't help. She would just hang on the the place I lifted her up to and force me to climb over her. The route paid off and the footing held long enough for us to extricate.
Up top time to sit down and ponder the insanity of it all decided that was enough for that day. Go back to camp. Don't stink up the rest of the place so the stags will be nice and keen tomorrow instead of wary.
That night one of the owners of the vast forest arrived and we had a big fire to share, keep warm and swap stories.
The site is apparently getting a proper hut to help young kids grow up, search and rescue, army, that sort of thing. The place was getting civilization.
On the way out explored some more. Used the saw and winch on the ute to pull some pines off the road that had fallen over. These exotic trees grow too fast for their roots. I've seen them go down like dominoes.
No pics.... Another camera wrecked by good pure NZ water.

 

[primer]

 

[goldfishsoldier]

That's a beaut hootchie set up.

 

[primer]

Venison for breakfast.

Star gets car sick like no other dog I've known. It probably started with that long journey home from the east coast. Shes smart and its imprinted on her.

 

[primer]

Progress on the hunting whare.


Star in the river valley. We found a way in.


Star backtracking our trail out of the valley with crown fern markers.


She is getting very territorial , growling at people and things in the bush. Just a faze.
Beginning to air scent well. Trailed a deer this morning but I blew it by not slowing down and calling to lure it back.
Did more exploring. I nearly got us to spend the night in the bush by hunting and not watching the map. Got back ok to the comfy whare after a sweaty high speed push to get into camp.
Spent a little time on the road back clearing a pine tree and got her in the cab of the truck and fed her some cheeze as we drove along. This made her forget her car sick faze.

 

[primer]

Star trailed a stag. Did a loop back into the wind. I called. It roared back to my right and another roared off to the left both stag only 100 yds each way. I can't stuff this up? So after me calling and them answering but not coming we quietly stalk forward. Wind changes and blows my scent to my right. That stag crashes off unseen so ok I think the one on the left sounded bigger. Stalk that way and behind me that stag has gone round my back track sniffed that and gone wary, barks and goes off.
Had some other close calls These stags are mature and in often hunted place. Wary stags in thick bush and swirly wind is hard, needs knowledge of the place, persistence to create the luck .
After trailing it we found the wallow. Only about 150 yards from where the stags were. Stopped and called no result. Wallow is the key to it..



Had to clear this on the way out. Just as I was taking piss in the middle of the road figuring the best place to cut it through a ute drives up from the other side. I go grab my saw and walk toward them and the tree drop starting my saw thinking they might help and all they do is quickly turn round and take off. Not locals.
Ute ripped it off the road in diff-lock.

 

[primer]

Been up to the range a couple of times trying to figure out why my usually MOA Bergara BA13 was shooting 6 inch and worse groups all of a sudden. Coincided with change of primers and powder and using brass resized from another rifle, and I painted the barrel to cover up ridiculousness shinny stainless. After scraping away paint from possible contact points and firing about 40 rounds of variously reloaded and fire formed brass...
Ended up noticing the scope base was loose after the telling shot, followed by muttering profanities.
Its amazing how a little wobble there creates such a big dispersion of shots. It had done this to me about six months ago not long after buying it and caused a wounded stag. Thought I had solved the lazy Spanish screw driver by tightening it myself with a socket & rachet but I didn't use lock tight as I've drilled out locktight screw heads in the past and thrown away perfectly good rings as a result of Mr Locktight seizing the threads of the pitifully small screws they seem to prefer to supply for going on heavy recoiling rifles.
Do they think its a weight saving using screws more suitable for a wristwatch than on a rifle, as for sending out rifles with an important thing such as the picatinny rail loose... He needs better pay.

 

[primer]

Spent another three days after these clever stags
We made it back into the gorge from another access. Some the deer use are so hairy I wouldn't even contemplate without a rope. Its steep and also lose. They must have crampons for hooves.

Stars going really well. Reckon she's better for deer than any hunting bred dog. She'll stop and cock her paw and being more brainy will follow at the heel perfectly on a cord without getting tangled around undergrowth aswell as off the cord now. Fast learner, just what I wanted.


We hunted back into big native bush. These are the tree's NZ used to have all over.
Enough timber for several houses in this one.

Bush Robin, These hang around like pets.

A Kaka parrot. Landed in a tree only ten meters away at the base then worked its way up the top ripping into the wood with its beak for grubs.. Very rare for that to happen so close.

Beer bottle from the old deer culling days and 1080. Before farmed deer in NZ a man could make living from possum trapping or carting out deer on the back. Hard Yakka. Thirsty work. Would have only been used for water

Lost three or four kilo on the three day hunt.
Campsite. Used a Huntech bivy. Will show yas next time. Look it up. Clever simple design from NZ. The guy who designed it was also NZ first Salmon farmer. Smart man, he sold the company. Its all chinese made now.

The size of the Sika stags hoof next to a 308. He's huge and willy. Don't get to be that old in good access without being smart.

They feed in the pines during the day then at dawn hide in the steep gorge.

 

[primer]

Huntech bivvy

 

[TheKiwi]

Went to a mates farm this afternoon to go after bunnies and possums.

Saw two bunnies as I crested a hill. Naturally my rifle was slung, my magazine in my pocket. Other mate got one of the bunnies so he gets the rabbit stew.

When darkness fell we went after possums. But... it seems to be the wrong time of the year. We saw a grand total of one possum which I got.

So one rabbit and one possum. But a nice walk around in the open air. So I'll call that a win.

 

[primer]

Cold bore shot with suppressor.
Cold is top below is three shots.


Pretty simple physics. Dirty bore will produce less velocity.
Bore is on a Mauser M18 that's been lapped. Put away with light film of ballistol. Result consistent.
270 norma brass, 130 gn barnes ttsx, Fed 210 primers, 56 gns H4831. .050 off lands, federal large primers.


Just a couple of links:
Cold bore with suppressor resource
Argument over cold bore shot here.

 

[primer]

My first Canadian goose. They pop up more often these days in a place I hunt. Like many game in NZ its considered a pest by either farmers or greenies. So its open season on them all year.

Over cooked a little bit but very nice. Like duck and something else.
Brined it using an American recipe before cooking. Covered the bullet hole with the bacon. Was still reasonably moist despite me over doing the cooking time.

NZ has a native duck, the Paradise duck. Some says its terrible to east. Like cook it, throw it away and then eat your boots terrible...But I reckon the breast cooked like a venison steak rare is the best thing on a stick in the bush.