2023 -what a year so far .and so it continues.
Im here buggerising about on me computer last week when hello a PM arrives Bugger me its an invite to join mickey duck for a 3day stint in his wee hidey hole!!!
Im sittng here hmmming and haaing till from the lounge spake the boss of bosses(e r indoors)"go god sake go!!"
Come friday morning with truck packed(Id supply a whole army ,ask anyone who knows me ),I sally forth calling in on my old mate &sparring partner GSPF& and his lovely partner, before navigating me way inland toward the alps!
Well ye old green machine navigating skills didnt let me down (again)and eventually i located the road mentioned .driving up it I came to hills that put porter pass /otira gorge to shame Seeing the trusty aussie ute is only 2wd and after a couple of stalls It was 1st gear and floor it-jeez the rear end jumped about like a possum with his arse caught on the electric fence!
get to the top of this to be stopped by the ineviable private property sign no shooting etcet but parked up and piquibng my interest was a very tidy 2litre telstar S/W.we met the lady whoo owned that later in the day -an eyeopener 70+fit as a buck rat and had spent 12hours circumnavigating this peak!!!!!!!!!She left my totally bedazzled and impressed!!!!!
anyhow after a short& bloody hot park up to enjoy the view right to the pacific,I slowly started down the road to meet mine host, and as i slowly proceeded down one of m any hills there he was complete with wee caravan in tow.very cheerful bugge r too !!
we drove up a little further and quickly set up a camp-site ,kettle on ,get to know each other.
After a lengthly chat with mltiple cuppas we took a short stroll just on dusk to see what was lurking -with Mickey pointing out various wee hidey holes hes been lucky in over his years of hunting !
no luck but i throughly enjoyed it and so back for a cook up -great basic kai! and lots of it.
oh yeah out comes my dear old "dundee special "the wee Stirling.22 a bloody magic gift to me from Joe90 now resplendent with suppressor courtesy of smiffy!!!!.
My youth came flooding back as I relaunched my possum hunting career with vengeance and our luck was in as we nailed a young bugger who hung about trying to work out who we ere for too long!
back to camp and a bit of rest
next morning after another cracker feed courtesy of his nibs-hes keen to show me his track hes cut to various points in the area .its a bloody long time since ive bush bashed and its showed-I slid down a greasy ban k and stepped in holes ,but as we made our way up a pretty little creek-water was way too irresistible so hat and sweaT rag got a good soaking to cool me down!alas a little further on and despite a warning from MD my foot slid on a rock and i arsed up big time
Soaking wet and feeling somewhat foolish ,we had a short heart to heart before Mickey made the call to return to camp.when a man whose an active hunter and member of LSAR speaks i do not argue-experience in dealing with outdoor injuries and overconfidence shows out end of story.
soaked to the skin but able to have a laugh we trudged back and turned camp for a brew and turning my treuck inot an indian laundry .wet jocks can be hung from a CB aerial to dry.
it'd was very hotso a little weapon zeroing session for my 7.62x39 ,its wee cuzzie the .223 ,and the .22 commenced.
the .bisley.223 (a birthday present from my family courtesy of tim&talon some years ago) was first and after a few shots she was ok.sext wee beastyie that ,heavy barrel too .sooo over to good old big brother &.62x39.no matter how hard i tried and all my accumulated techniques for past i could not get it to group!!!!!!!!
Up steps Mickey-a couple of shots and whooooaa-scope is spinning ion the bloody mounts-problem solved -who said piss poor planning and preparation +piss poor preformance.that fault ive just remedied this morning although im inclined toward replacing those mounts with a more durable set!!
soo up comes the joe 9-0 special and a repeat of 7.62 malady-I got it printing but thje bloody group[ wouldnt close up ........FMR
as said earlier Smiffy very kindly built and gave me a suppressor for it-a heavy hearty beastie its too.well professor mickey took cnetre stag again amidst some boisterous banter re my shooting skillor lack thereof and lo and behold hes nailed it.after shots with supressor on hed removed it and proceeded with some of my large stock of HV.22ammo.\bingo!!!!groupings .a close exam suggests probable baffle strike in the supressor but that wont be too hard to sort Im confident.]\
Again I cant emphasis enough how much valuable info and learning i picked up in this session,plus the great enjoyment I got.
quite laste afternoon mickey decided to go walkabout to check some of his numerous wee honeypot spots his trusty .270 has counted coup on whilst yours sincerely after a wasp .honey bee ,snadlfy interrupted snooze,shoulders sexy wee .223 beast and goes for a wee rambo up the track.
I dont quite know why but being o ut in this landscaspe totally fascinates me ,from simply the types of plants ,the contours of the land and the wildlife, but also what sorts of people make it their life work to earn a living from some bloo dy rugged terrain.
Id di take a wee detour through a promising clearing via afairly muddy track and yep spotted deer tracks -from the hoof size and lentgth of stride It seemd likely it was fallow ,altho an older set suggests a young red deer .
vby this stage the wind wasx gettin rasther bllody serious and ominously gathering strength.anyhow following a late evening kai ,it as shoulder muskets and possum ..or larger patrol.plenty of enthusiam but nup noone come out to gaze upon two funny looking things in this neck of the woods .!!!!or bloody light show was spectacular.
sleep was slow in coming ,and Id be a liar if i didnt say my butt cheeks were clenched a tad tighter than usual for boy oh boy id the wind vent its fury and then some .
of course the inevitable so half groogy fall off my sleeping bech and onto floor with full bladder and thinking its pissing down .stagger otside woooooow ,its a full moon with a wierd like horror movie glowing fog and way below a foggy glow .as im now diabetc a couple of repeats were needed.
anyhow woke next moring decided wed leisurely p ack up and make for home . aftewr a spot of tiki touring across canterbury landscape Im home safe and sound nad happy as pig in a pile of mud!!rifles have had full service todays tasking!
Phots -should have but took wrong camera with flat batteries.!!
\
Thanks again Mickey for being such a bloody big heatered arthur and wonderful mine host and Iwouldnt hesitate to do it all again.
