I’ve hunted this block
at various times of year previously and there has never been a shortage of
animals. Last time a week on my own in August I shot a yearling and saw 14
other deer on my walk about, Beginning of March last year with my brothers we
saw over 30 deer between us in two days.
I’d preached about
this place to my hunting mates for the week, Paul and Anthony told them unbelievable
tales and convinced them our freezers would be overflowing by the time the week
was up. I should have known better than to count my chickens aye!
The Clearings were dry and brown, minimal fresh growth, even Stag clearing was brown. After a quick look over the handy spots for a deer I decided I would head off into the bush.
Jackson has been doing
really well on the deer stalking over the last year, as you would have seen
from my previous stories. He’s honing his skills and we’re beginning to work
quite well as a team.
We were heading for the eastern corner of the block, having back up options to counter wind and time as I was unsure how long it would take. Heading in on the top track we reached the high point and Jackson was showing interest in the breeze, there was a track to our left and a nice open spur in front of us with the wind in our face, this wasn’t one of the back up plans but it would do for now. Hunting our way down the spur through nice open Beech, every leaf crunched, every twig crackled, nothing was quiet! The dog was still keen and as we dropped in elevation, a large clearing opened up to our right, Jackson would sneak forward in his not so quiet Labradozer way and sit while I caught up, he was telling me there was a deer close, real close, we waited it out and tried our best but I can only assume it had heard us closing in and made for safer refuge.
As the spur closed out and the bush deteriorated, I decided we’d sidle back towards where the track should be, as Murphy would dictate there was no shortage of fallen trees entangled in Bush Lawyer, with the dry conditions and the mid morning temperature already heading towards the mid 20’s it made negotiating this debris exhausting. Eventually we intercepted the track and going was easy again for the next 100m where the markers ended, a quick look at the map and a compass bearing had us heading in the right direction – 970m 86° and up 220m would place us on the middle ridge, there was no sense in hunting while there was no fresh sign and the animals obviously fairly close to water. In just over an hour we’d passed our point and had begun dropping over the other side, sign was abundant although the makers were absent. Jackson was keen on the ground scent but there was nothing on the breeze, we persevered for a few hours before calling it quits and heading for the hut arriving back late in the afternoon.
After bacon and eggs for lunch, I was ready to head back out for an evening hunt. The food and relaxation is my favourite part of a fly in trip and I always try to make the most of it. This trip I saved the team from a full week of freeze dry, just add water instant type camp food with home made venison sausages with real mashed spud, boiled fresh veges with cheese sauce, slow cooked venison shanks in a tomato puree on rice, and to end the week, hand cut fries and double crumbed and deep fried cubes of eye fillet, I let them sort their own lunches but the dog and I had a kilo of bacon and a doz eggs to get through so it was b&e pitas muesli bars and fresh fruit for lunch each day.
As each day passed still not seeing deer, I was imagining having to tell everyone that I’d spent a week in the bush and not even seen a deer. Ant had seen a hind and fawn on the southern end of the graveyard on Monday night, he and Paul had seen some goats on the runway, and another deer in the spotlight. Paul had seen 3 or 4 on the edge of the Manuka on his way to Cowboys clearing and I had seen a total of 0! Not even a crash of hooves or a squeal.
I was almost
completely drained after a couple of very late nights, early mornings and
enforced insomnia between the two. Listening to the 747 idling by the door at
night and my big walk about during the heat of the day may have taken it’s toll
too, but I wasn’t giving up yet! I selected a few essential items for my day
pack and dragged myself to the top clearings yet again.
As soon as I reached
the lookout I scanned the immediate area to spot a deer feeding less than 20m
from where I had just walked through!!!
She was moving almost as quick as my heart was beating, and disappeared
before I even thought about taking a shot, 10 mins later and this one moved
demanding my attention,
With no rest and scrub in the way the best I could do was try and take a photo as evidence that I had seen at least one deer for the trip. She must have seen me move to put my camera down, as when I looked back she was also gone. Half an hour passed, continuously watching the area I had last seen her when I noticed in the corner of my eye something out of place, a deer in the stream having a drink, the rifle was ready to go and I had a good rest, she’d just turned slightly away, in behind the shoulder and out the chest on the off side usually drops them on the spot and saves all the useable meat. This time nothing felt good and at the shot she took exit left at high speed.
Once Jackson and I got
down to the stream where the deer had been standing everything looked the same
and there was nothing to identify where she had been exactly, the wet thistle
seeds all looked like clumps of deer hair, there was no slip or splash marks to
indicate where she had left the stream and most importantly no blood! I kicked
some water up onto the bank and within seconds it had absorbed into the dry
ground like a sponge. Walking up and down the middle of the stream I picked the
most likely looking spot in reference to my shooting position and started a
search, Jackson is usually great on the ground scent but even he was confused
with the amount of fresh sign amongst the scrub. I walked back and forwards
looking for any sign of a running deer, run marks, slip marks, fresh, bent and
broken branches, blood, nothing! It was like the deer had vanished. Then as I
decided to push back that little bit further I spotted a white rump on the
ground, I was on my hands and knees crawling through a scrub tunnel, Jackon
moments later hit it at full speed and gave it a shake! The shot was good and
executed as planned, she’d only made it 25m before she’d expired. The blood had
run down her front leg, which is why there was no trail to follow, and I found
the projectile lodged in her Jaw, that’d make me run too!
After some photos and
the dirty work I carted her back over to the track and climbed up to my look
out and waited 45mins till dark, no more deer showed up and I made it back to
the hut well after 10pm.
Finally we had
something hanging in the meat safe and the other guys were keen to come up to
the newly named “hotspot” early next morning.
Up before the sparrows
could even think of farting we were fed and on our way back to the top of the
block with Paul in front, under instruction that if I caught up to him I’d
ankle tap him (how’s that for motivation) and we were there in no time.
Ant had decided he’d
head back up to Cowboys clearing and check that out as the sun hit it, and
while he had no luck Paul had spotted our first deer almost immediately, a
small stag in velvet feeding through the turpentine wood clearings. He wasn’t confident in taking the shot
so I gave it a crack, unfortunately I hugely underestimated the distance and
when we worked out the trajectory later my bullet would have hit the ground
about 1m in front of him. Paul called a miss but I still headed up and spent
over an hour searching for any sign of a hit, I just couldn’t believe I missed
such an easy shot! Hanging my head in disgrace I shuffled back to the hut along
through the top clearings and left Paul to it. He spent the whole day on the
look out and managed to see another 6 deer, that’s less than one an hour! He
did tip over another hind later in the day that Ant was there to video but that
was to be the last deer taken for the trip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFuv7Zw5pDw&feature=player_embedded
We had an awesome
week, good food and great company. Swimming in the river most days to cool off
and laughing over the ever-entertaining memories of past hunts and planning
future ones.
Hunting isn’t always about the animals you shoot but the good ******* you share your adventures with! Long may it continue, cheers guys!
Blair_D wrote: I was in there 12-17th August last year: http://www.fishing.net.nz/asp_forums/few-days-away_topic82378.html and it was hard work, saw a few deer but it's definitely not a mid winter spot. I'd aim for December-March for a freezer filling trip there. |
tugboat wrote:
Just read this, another bloody good report, is this the otupua hut as well, has the hut been upgraded? |
whiti-fisho wrote: Interested why you say its not a mid winter block Blair .I know we only see a few photos but would have thought that with the bush right down to the clearings like that ,it would be ideal to pick them up on the edges catching the sun warming up and coming out for a sweet feed of grass . Shelter from the wind on the edges but plenty of good warming winter sun . Just my thoughts really interested in why you say it would not be a good winter block |
[email protected] wrote: Cheers we were over there in march but we did a different mission on the kingies but while I was over there was keen for a feed of venison but had to settle for king fish snapper mussels...I was surprised to be told that there's no deer left in the coromandel area that sucks!? |
Blair_D wrote:
Dogs going good, he'll be 5 this November. Been hunting with me since he was 12 weeks old. We're just starting to understand each other now - he's getting onto more deer than me. |
Blair_D wrote:
Either NZ Outdoor Hunting or NZ Guns & Hunting. To be fair the first deer i shot over Jackson, he was about 6months old. First one he tracked on his own, he was closer to a year. First one he put me onto that i wouldn't have got without him he was 2 years. Since then we've been shooting about 8-12 deer a year. I'm sure the progress could have been quicker but i'd never hunted with a dog and was pretty fresh myself, so it was a big learning curve for us both. |
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