Thread: Bloody Poachers!

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.