Thread: Bloody Poachers!

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

Should that not be the other way around Scribe? I have been on property's where free range(but on good tucker/fed ect) stags around 300 douglas are culled as they should be and usually are around 350 360 douglas.

I would put way more value on a 260- 300 Douglas public land stag that has avoided the 1080 and WARO and has had some sort of effort put in. As opposed to ride the 4 wheeler walk 500m shoot a bloody big stag have the guide skin and carry it and hand over your 10k

Yeah you are right man. Just thinking of a way to liven things up a bit...The real test would be getting out again without getting caught and not paying 10 k.

I guess I miss the excitement of the good old days where one could be accused of poaching a couple times a week by some half mad stubble hopper. I just about had the Chopper confiscated on the spot once by a DOC worker once over in Whangamomana for catching stinking old goats. Perish the thought losing your machine chasing stinking old goats. Though I have to admit to making a lot of money out of these goats at the time. We were getting 200 dollars a head for anything with a fanny. When an old bugger of a farmer thought if he could see us working in the distance then we must have been on his land and rang DOC. Wiser heads prevailed in this case in the end though but it was a near run thing.

Then a few days later I got a ring from the local Police...What did I know about the theft of a black cattle beast about three years old from a certain property. This woman had identified her animal under our helicopter as I was flying over her property. Actually it was a rather large wild boar out of the Heao.

When I explained to the Cop That it was a Hughes 300c I was flying and it would have been lucky to have lifted 250 kilos on that day he was quite satisfied then it wasnt a really a clear cut case after all.

Originally Posted by Scribe

When I explained to the Cop That it was a Hughes 300c I was flying and it would have been lucky to have lifted 250 kilos on that day he was quite satisfied then it wasnt a really a clear cut case after all.

I know an old timer that flew a load double that in an old B model from the Pyke valley back to Queenstown. I have no reason to doubt him as I have worked with/for him for yrs. I sometimes would be forced to cringe when I got the one more or hook the rest on signal when I was shooting for him.

I'll never forget when I shot an animal in a shitty gut way up high in the Turnbull when we were on the way back home from a good run. I thought we were going to B line it home and forgot to wrap a couple strops around myself after we dropped the last load at the truck.
Without thinking I stepped off the skid onto a boulder and made my way cautiously down to the animal. I stuck it and reached for a strop....bugger, no good to me lying on the floor of the machine, eh.
Having to run back up the gut to get one out of the machine would surely anger my employer due to the time and wasted fuel. He is lets say, well known for doing his nut for lesser indiscretions.
I held with my back to the annoying down draft that all impatient pilots seem too bestow on their shooters by hovering mere inches above your head thinking it will hurry you up. Hunched over the carcass I was contemplating my next move. Most of all, I was dreading the abuse that was sure to come when I had to reveal my mistake.
I was just plucking up the courage when I seen a huge white flash and felt like I was sucker punched by Mike Tyson in the back of the scone.
Old grizzle guts knew I had no strop and took great pleasure in beaming me from 30-40 feet in the head while hovering with a tied up strop. What made it worse, was we bought a heap of new candium coated steel carabiners that replaced our alloy ones. I reckon I just about wore a strop everywhere I went after that. I never forgot one again.