# Hunting > The Magazine >  Ruahine fly-in: The good and the bad of helicopters for hunters

## GWH

I've been hunting now for 6 or 7 years, and have only just had my first fly-in trip. 

We planned to head over the main range of the Ruahines to the Western side into a rarely used hut in an area that was miles from anywhere that received very little traffic, and had heaps of big grassy slips and faces above the main river and up side creeks.

Peter had been in there 8 years ago with his son and had a pretty special trip where they saw multiple deer each day, they shot a stag each off slip faces including his son shooting his very first deer. Good times.

As the trip was getting closer the anticipation was building, and the week before we were to go the weather forecast wasn't looking that promising, however it came good just in time. Got the word from the Pilot the day before that the trip was on!

Gear waiting to be loaded into the big machine


Ruahines here we come




The pilot gave us an up-close and personal view of some of the area on the way...




Our first view of our temporary home


After a quick un-load of the taxi we quickly settled into the hut


After seeing plenty of stag shit on the hut clearing, and reading in the hut book that no one had been in here for at least 3 months (trampers) and no hunters for ages, we were buzzing at the thought of undisturbed deer out feeding up on all the grassy faces up and down the main river.

Later that afternoon the three of us split up and went our separate ways to watch various slip faces, it was a a stunner of an evening, light winds, clear skys, the last of the sun was shining on the two faces i was watching.....i was quietly confident i was going to see deer very soon....



Next minute....the silence was shattered...

This blue bastard come buzzing down the river checking out every slip and clearing along the way....


Then a few minutes later he heads back over overhead....with another passenger! .....Bastards!


He continued back and forth buzzing around until dark.

We all arrived back at the hut after dark to share stories of the blue bastard, we were a little disheartened as we cooked our dinner.




For the next two days, (Friday and Saturday) we put in a good effort mostly focused on watching faces and slips, all with good grass that appeared to be mowed off short indicating deer were feeding on them.



Came across some Whio (Blue ducks) two adults with 5 young....


The river has some big boulders and some deep gorgy bits and travel was slow in some spots...


For a change of scenery on the Saturday afternoon i climbed high up the track behind the hut heading towards the tops gaining 400 meters of Altitude, sidling thru some nicer areas of more open bush and looking into various head basins and other faces that i came across....


On returning to the hut on Saturday night and catching up with the others, not a single deer had been seen the whole trip to that point, and we were being picked up at 11am the next morning, to say we were disappointed and quite bewildered was an under statement! Our only conclusion was that the choppers had been thrashing the area for a little while and the deer have become fully nocturnal and are not venturing out into the open at all until well after dark.

We had a few drinks and talked a bit of the normal shit, had a late feed. Then set the alarm for early the next morning for one last ditch effort to find a deer.

Once again we went our separate ways, the others heading up and down the main river to watch more faces, and i decided to head up the side creek in behind the hut. The others had each been up there in the previous days, but i hadnt and wanted to check it out.

I was told i had to go up past the log jam, then it started to open out and be less gorgy and there were a few nice slip faces. Well I got up to the log jam and climbed up the steep side above the creek on the true left to sidle around and above the jam.

As i was moving above the log jam the wind had a back gust and i felt it strong against the back of my neck, hmmm bugger. At that very moment i noticed quick movement down in the creek, a large stag must have got my wind not far in front of me and had spooked down into the creek and was heading up the other side directly opposite me.

As i un-slinged my rifle and quickly chambered a round and removed the scope cover i let out a yell which promptly stopped the stag, perfectly broadside in the open at around 40 yards, the stag looked straight at me, he threw his head back in an arrogant pissed off manor, my cross hair settled on his large shoulder and i squeezed the trigger......

Nothing!....... I bloody near pulled the trigger from the rifle......bloody safety was on.....

In the split second it took to flick that off he had turned and was sprinting up a steep rocky water fall up the side of the creek, i yelled again in an attempt to halt him again, hes not as stupid as i think, this time he wasnt stopping for anything, he knew he was right in the shit and was gapping it.....

My options would soon be out if he made the cover of the thicker bush, i had just one option....

He was running straight up, so i lined up on his back and as he gained height i swung the rifle upwards and squeezed the trigger as my crosshair passed over his neck.......Boom!

On the shot, he instantly fell and spectacularly tumbled end for end about four times back down the water fall he'd just ran up.

Even tho he ended up out of sight, there was no question he was down and dead. As i unloaded my rifle i noticed the water coming down the waterfall he was in turned fully red.

I made my way up to him, he had come to rest in an awkward steep spot, one of his long velvet antlers was broken in two places. So i tipped him over the edge and let him tumble a bit further down to a flatter spot to deal with him. 











I got him broken down and cooled off, had a drink and a bite to eat in prep for the heavy slog back down the bouldery creek and back to the hut to make the agreed 9am return to get packed up all ready for our 11am pickup.



I arrived back at the hut to find the other two already there and eagerly awaiting my arrival after them hearing my shot.

They were stoked that i'd got one and retrieved the situation from going home total empty handed. The boys made me a cracker bacon sandwich while i cleaned myself up.

A couple of hours later our taxi home pulled up


All in all a bloody enjoyable trip, new country seen, good times with mates, and enjoyed the travel in the chopper, it wont be my last.

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## stug

Looks like some great country, pity about the blue chopper.

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## Sideshow

Nice one :Thumbsup:

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## 7mmsaum

Nice looking area and well done on the Stag.

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## Sideshow

Did he get hung up on a branch, looks like two wounds to the back?

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## BRADS

Did Jim no who's the robby was mate?
Nice write up.

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## veitnamcam

Cheers for the report.
Well done on the stag.
Shame about the heli pressure but its a lot better than the alternative.

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## GWH

> Did he get hung up on a branch, looks like two wounds to the back?


I think the bullet skimmed his back, opening the skin just before connecting with his neck, either that or it got opened up by a sharp rock as he fell down the waterfall.

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## WallyR

Great story - enjoyed it immensely.
Good you got the stag - despite the blue 'buzzard' nearly ruining your trip.
 :Thumbsup:

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## Tahr

Nice. What rifle did you take?

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## Sideshow

Ok thanks :Thumbsup:

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## GWH

> Did Jim no who's the robby was mate?
> Nice write up.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk


Jimmy never picked us up, he got a young fella to come grab us, but yeah he seemed to know whos the R22 was, based over the Western side by the sounds.

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## GWH

> Nice. What rifle did you take?


I'd been told there was some pretty stretchy stuff so took the Mod 7 7Saum (and there was), however one of my bushpigs probably would have been more suitable in the end, but hey the 7Saum only has a 22" tube (without the Can). And i had some of my mag-fit spook and shoot 150 SGK rounds with me so no drama, did the deed.

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## Nibblet

Hope you claimed the reward on those wanted blue ducks aye @BRADS

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## Kooza

Shame about the heli activity, good to see the old mate getting back out there.

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## i41do2

Awesome write up.
Thanks for sharing.  
Was it a private hut or doc hut you went into.  Pity about the blue bugger.

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## Bonecrusher

Probably one of Jamie Moore's boys local up the Valley,  old poacher from back in the days lots of story's about his escapades

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## HNTMAD

Awesome write up and great end to the trip, Shame about the Chopper. Helps to add bush stalking to your skill set for times like that

Hamish

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## GWH

> Awesome write up.
> Thanks for sharing.  
> Was it a private hut or doc hut you went into.  Pity about the blue bugger.


Yeah was a doc hut, but it was one of the ones they were going to pull out in 2012, but a local Tramping club put their hand up to take over the ongoing maintenance of it.  I must say it was a nice tidy very well maintained hut, but then again its so far away that it wouldnt get the shitheads in there damaging it either.




> Awesome write up and great end to the trip, Shame about the Chopper. Helps to add bush stalking to your skill set for times like that
> 
> Hamish


Yes it most certainly does, i dont mind a bit of bush stalking, actually quite enjoy it, my first few years of hunting were basically solely bush stalking before getting into a bit of wait and watch longer range stuff more recently.

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## i41do2

Cool
Good to see it's getting used. I'm hoping to get into the ruahines over Christmas if the wife allows a night away 
Won't be going that far in though. 
Is the blue heli breaking the law doing that? What are they allowed to do, can you report it?

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## 199p

Good on you mate

I would be making a few phone calls especially if he keeped coming back knowing you where in there. 

Cheers for the write up and good work on the stag

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## P38

Good on ya @GWH

Loved the write up and the photos. 

You have an awesome hunting mates there too.

Cheers
Pete

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## craigc

It's an awesome place alright. Shame about the little R22, they sure can ruin your day!

Great write up and awesome pictures. Thanks for that.

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## Blaser

Nice spot in there, me and a mate fitted the meat safe for DOC last year, they flew it in with us the then we walked out over the tops, we christed it on that trip too, but good to see its getting some use.

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## GWH

> Nice spot in there, me and a mate fitted the meat safe for DOC last year, they flew it in with us the then we walked out over the tops, we christed it on that trip too, but good to see its getting some use.


Oh nice! It doesn't look like its had much use, id almost say the blood you dripped in it would bloody near be the last before mine ;-) The door has warped or dropped slightly making it quite hard to get the bolts slid across and in, but a bit of persuasion gets it sorted.

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## GWH

> Good on ya @GWH
> 
> Loved the write up and the photos. 
> 
> You have an awesome hunting mates there too.
> 
> Cheers
> Pete


Cheers, yeah they are both bloody good buggers eh.




> It's an awesome place alright. Shame about the little R22, they sure can ruin your day!
> 
> Great write up and awesome pictures. Thanks for that.


Thanks Craig, a lot of you guys set the bar pretty high when it comes to trip reports and photos ;-)

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## Shootm

I could be wrong but that valley is a WARO area and he is allowed to be there until the end of Nov. He shouldn't be there from 1st December until 31st April.
Nice spot in there.

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## GWH

> I could be wrong but that valley is a WARO area and he is allowed to be there until the end of Nov. He shouldn't be there from 1st December until 31st April.
> Nice spot in there.


I think you're right Ross, well those photos were taken Dec 1st 

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## Shootm

> I think you're right Ross, well those photos were taken Dec 1st 
> 
> Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk


That's pretty shit as he's had 7months to work it over.

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## tikka

What an awesome trip and country.

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## sako75

WARO or 1080 won't get them all
Great trip by all accounts. Time spent with mates, beautiful country, family of Whio, good weather ........ And a deer to top it off
Didn't see any blowies on your deer. Was it quite cool up there? Last April I'm sure they were wearing puffer jackets

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## Chur Bay

Nice looking country and good story. Cheers

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## outdoorlad

@GWH seeing as you have a nice clear photo of the R22 with the rego, & one with it stropping a deer, I'd consider laying a compliant with DOC, he's either operating outside of the terms of his waro concession (1st Dec) or doesn't have one. The CAA register says its privately owned.

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## GWH

> @GWH seeing as you have a nice clear photo of the R22 with the rego, & one with it stropping a deer, I'd consider laying a compliant with DOC, he's either operating outside of the terms of his waro concession (1st Dec) or doesn't have one. The CAA register says its privately owned.


Those images are taken from my video footage.

My hunting mate is talking to DOC tomorrow.

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## Tahr

> Those images are taken from my video footage.
> 
> My hunting mate is talking to DOC tomorrow.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk


Good

Might also be worth while advising Gordon & Derek too:

_Hi all.
From Gordon

Hi
Today was down as our judicial review hearing over the 2015 WARO review outcome which saw openings to WARO in the Ruahines, Tararuas and Rimutakas.

However there is a delay as the judge who has already read all the associated paperwork was concerned as to whether the WARO operators had been given adequate opportunity to be involved as they are an affected party if she reverses the decision.

The concern is that  they would otherwise have an appeal option and she wants a robust decision. As frustrating as this is it is not necessarily a bad thing for our cause that this concern exists. The north island operators (6 only) will have a few weeks to express an interest and pay for involvement if they want in. A new hearing is likely in mid-January 2017.

However the deer are still out there. A mate and I picked up a yearling early Saturday on the Ruahine tops which seemed fair exchange for a fairly miserable night in a tent with the wind and the rain. On the way out we met 3 other hunters. None knew anything about the WARO changes or challenge or belonged to a club. This raises the issue of we (all of us) not being effective in spreading the word. Some hunters are also complacent perhaps due to the lack of WARO presently – what is the issue they might say ? The answer is simple – what will happen the moment the meat price rises ? Those of us old enough remember exactly what happens under those conditions with all areas open to WARO hammered along with some areas not so open. We need to challenge the openings to ensure they don’t become bedded in as a time bomb awaiting the next meat price rise.

The message is simple, for the sake of the future you need to spread the word and we need your support (your money mostly) for the WARO challenge. This has not been a cheap process, many have donated generously but many more have sat on their wallets while the efforts and spending of others has gained benefits for all (the ruahine review outcome) and the potential to overturn all the changes before the price rises and your favoured hunting spots disappear to the helicopters or to hunters displaced from other areas. This challenge is not the end of the threats but success could help lessen the next threats to come such as the pending CMS removing the closed area status of parts of the Ruahines.

Please help us and help yourself, spread the word and donate

Donations to “Lower North Island Red Deer Foundation Incorporated” Kiwi Bank acct # 38 9017 0707871 01
Check out our Facebook page (LNI Red Deer Foundation) for more info.

Thanks and good hunting,
Gordon George (GG), President, Lower North Island Red Deer Foundation Inc._

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## Monk

Great looking trip mate,nice looking bino bag to👍

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## Danny

Thanks for the post. Very nice. 


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## GWH

> Great looking trip mate,nice looking bino bag to


Yeah I'm loving it mate

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## Boaraxa

What did doc say about the chopper ?

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## Scouser

Great report and great result at the end....well done on going out on the last day....the hard yakka paid off..... :Thumbsup:

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## GWH

> What did doc say about the chopper ?


My mate called them, got a jumbled message back, doesn't sound like they really give a shit, the bloke made mention that they may send a warning letter (if they can be bothered by the sounds), but this was probably just paying it lip service by the sounds.

Ive also tried contacting the people behind the 'Lower North Island Red deer foundation' to pass our info onto them, but no one has made contact as yet.

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## veitnamcam

Not at all a surprising response unfortunately......for public servants they do a pretty shit job of serving the public.

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## Boaraxa

> My mate called them, got a jumbled message back, doesn't sound like they really give a shit, the bloke made mention that they may send a warning letter (if they can be bothered by the sounds), but this was probably just paying it lip service by the sounds.
> 
> Ive also tried contacting the people behind the 'Lower North Island Red deer foundation' to pass our info onto them, but no one has made contact as yet.


Id be spewing getting way off the beatin track to just have some F wit in a shit chopper thrashing the place out of season ...its no wonder your mate got fobbed off tell doc "someone's definitely going to get shot" ...it seems to work for some these days  :O O:

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## Sideshow

Right WHO is your MP write him a letter also write the MP of envroment a letter and call and write the local doc office a letter explaining that you have informed all the above party's and you would like a defiant answer on what there going to do!
Don't roll over on this and just shrug your shoulders saying oh well get bloody stuck in. You pay tax for a reason and you have video footage.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr :On Fire: 

Fuck it it's Christmas drop a tree on there front door :Thumbsup:  a bloody big one with sixty  five week old 1080ed possum in the top

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## Bugsplat

Surely the Police/CAA would be interested ?

Shooting from a moving vehicle ?
Shooting/hunting in, across or onto Public land without a valid  permit.
Use of a firearm where it  causes distress or annoyance to neighbors or the public? 
Illegal? low flying.

Guess you'd have to be able to prove that animal was shot from the aircraft and or ended up being 'commercially processed'.

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## GWH

> Right WHO is your MP write him a letter also write the MP of envroment a letter and call and write the local doc office a letter explaining that you have informed all the above party's and you would like a defiant answer on what there going to do!
> Don't roll over on this and just shrug your shoulders saying oh well get bloody stuck in. You pay tax for a reason and you have video footage.
> Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
> 
> Fuck it it's Christmas drop a tree on there front door a bloody big one with sixty  five week old 1080ed possum in the top


Thanks for the encouragement, after your post i thought 'Bugger it', so posted pics and a quick blurb on the Deerstalking and Hunting FB page, well, within 1 hour i have sure stirred up a hornets nest, ive had PM's from Landowners in the area saying the same machine has been seen chasing deer on their land. There is some very unhappy people.

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## Tahr

> Thanks for the encouragement, after your post i thought 'Bugger it', so posted pics and a quick blurb on the Deerstalking and Hunting FB page, well, within 1 hour i have sure stirred up a hornets nest, ive had PM's from Landowners in the area saying the same machine has been seen chasing deer on their land. There is some very unhappy people.


Link?

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## GWH

> Link?


Its a private group on FB, so unless you are a member of the group you wont be able to see anything. But the group is "Deer Stalking and Hunting in New Zealand".

Like normal, some fellas take it too far with 'Talk' about 'shooting it down' etc. But ive had pm's from a chap with private land bordering the Public land, and he says the same machine has been poaching deer on their private land, and was also seen again Sunday just gone hunting in the public land up the Pohungina.

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## stretch

For those who aren't on bookface. ZK-HIT


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## kiwijames

LOL. @GWH you should stop worrying so much and just go farm hunting in your ute.

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## MSL

It's obviously @kiwijames

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## Sideshow

You will find it very difficult to prove how low the aircraft was flying.
When the farmers protested in Wellington back in 1987 they had top dressing plans fly low over parliament, also during the Spring Bock tour of 1980s and the flower bombing at Hamilton. From my memory no prosecutions could be proven because it is very hard to prove how high they actually are.
Moving vehicle, sorry but not going to happen as there is already prescient be set with whole industry been set up around this.
That leaves you with the last two options.

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## outdoorlad

I'd ring the regional DOC head office & ask to speak to the person in charge of enforcement/complaints/waro/concession breachs, tell them you have clear evidence of either a waro concession breach or illegal hunting, and if they don't follow it up you will take it up with Aunty Maggie & Dunne, I'd then email them both asking why nothing is being done  :Grin: 

When Prouting got done down here for illegally heli hunting tahr outside of his concession area, Doc weren't keen to do anything about it until I believe pressure was brought to bear from Dunne, etc. he eventually ended up losing his heli hunting concession!

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## StrikerNZ

> When Prouting got done down here for illegally heli hunting tahr outside of his concession area, Doc weren't keen to do anything about it until I believe pressure was brought to bear from Dunne, etc. he eventually ended up losing his heli hunting concession!


And then DOC kindly changed the system so the guide held the concession rather than the chopper outfit, and that very same chopper was straight back into it just a few weeks later..

There was another one earlier this year, with a different heli crew dropping their hunters in on a mob of bulls within 800m of an occupied hut, a mob that already had foot hunters within about 200m of them.. All caught on video, chopper crew claimed they didn't see them/hadn't looked. And despite the rules stating no hunting within 1km of a recreational facility, DOC still decided there was no breach and promptly pushed it into the 'ignore' basket.

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## GWH

> I'd ring the regional DOC head office & ask to speak to the person in charge of enforcement/complaints/waro/concession breachs, tell them you have clear evidence of either a waro concession breach or illegal hunting, and if they don't follow it up you will take it up with Aunty Maggie & Dunne, I'd then email them both asking why nothing is being done 
> 
> When Prouting got done down here for illegally heli hunting tahr outside of his concession area, Doc weren't keen to do anything about it until I believe pressure was brought to bear from Dunne, etc. he eventually ended up losing his heli hunting concession!


It's all in motion mate, I have the LNIRDF guys fully on board with this.

Will update in due course.

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## Speill

Any news?

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## Boaraxa

What was the outcome...free chopper ride from the perp , rest of it swept under the carpet ?

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