Thread: Hunting and that bastard Murphy ...

Off the back of @Harv's fallow thread , does anyone have any stories around breaking the golden rule and not having a rifle handy and Murphy's Law kicking in about that being when you see an animal ?

Last roar was sitting down on a tree stump having a coffee about a hour after sun rise.The 300wm was about 2 mtrs away.Two stags came out of the bush chasing each other around on the river bed and about 5 seconds later they stopped and looked at me wtf.They were only about 200yds away,i froze.The 300 was out of reach grr,i just slowly put my coffee down and they were off.Didnt hang around for 10 seconds.

I see deer on the farm probably 3 times per month, always without a rifle. Then I can spend many hours every month looking for them with a rifle and see nothing. Not a hunting story as such, does this count?

Another story,HC and i got to a little hut after about a 3hr walk.Put rifles down at one end of the deck and about 3 mtrs at the other end of the deck we were sitting down having a coffee.Well bugger me days about 300yards away,with out a lie at least a dozen big stags popped up out of the dryed river bed and tussocks and trotted away up the hill into the low cloud.We were so gobb smack in orrr watching them moving very quickly.If the rifles were beside us we might have got one stag at leasted.Lesson learnt,always have yr rifle beside you out hunting.

I think I need to extend this rule to my tramping trips.
I tramp more than hunt, when in a group in remote areas we will often see animals, deer or chamois usually. If I return a few weeks later solo with rifle in tow they are nowhere to be seen.
My wife made comment at a BBQ just last night, "Whenever he goes for a walk with a rifle, all the animals disappear"

It is either that or you see them walk across the track in front of you offering a clean shot, Or the tramper exiting the hut you are arriving at, "Yeah we saw a couple of deer in the clearing 500M up the track yesterday afternoon as we walked in"

4WD trip last Xmas, two wagons driving up the river, nearing dusk, campsite only 2km away. Mate in front exits the riverbed onto a clearing, Over the UHF radio comes "Is your rifle handy? There are over two dozen deer in front of me" We were 100m or so behind and rifles was in a hard case in the boot as we weren't hunting until the next day. We get to the clearing and see two deer arses meandering off into the bush on the opposite side of the clearing.
Worst part was, they didn't even take a photo as they were gobsmacked at the sight.

Around 10 years ago a mate and I took some of our older kids to an old bivy site we use, Kids were8-10 at the time.
Went for a stroll up to waterfall to show the kids. made a fire and boiled the billy for milo and noodles, .270 out of the way, leaning on the bank of the stream bed. 4-5 goats wander around the corner and look at us for a minute or two. Kids whisper "get the gun, get the gun".
Ol Mate says "They'll bolt, watch this", Leans over towards the rifle which is a meter or two out of reach and yep they leap up the bank and gone. We walk in here several times a year and have never seen goats on that section of the walk ever again.

Sat up half the night on a farm waiting for a pig to come out the bush. No show. Next day, went to do some target shooting with wife and son, and came face-to-face with a big sow. Rifle in hand, but ammo in backpack. By the time I got the ammo...

Parked up on a terrace at evening glassing a big slip and bush edge and several gullies, with a back drop behind us of a big patch of gorse, matagouri and manuka. After an hour or so with not much action I got up to take a much needed pee. Went around to the back of the scrub, found a little notch in the head high gorse and stepped into then proceeded to empty the bladder. Well 10 sec later this spiker trots up onto the terrace and wanders past no more than 10 yards away, then saunters off down hill. He never got my scent I guess, but he was safe anyway we were chasing stags.

The two most recent for us was one of our goat chasing walks . 3 hrs in and plop down next to a Creek crossing the track . Retrieve my filter straw from my bag , lean rifle against bag and down into a contortionist pose to get the straw in the creek and catch movement in the corner of my eye . Wandering happily down the track behind me were 5 goats no more than 10 mtrs away . No fast way to grab the gun being I was spread eagled above the creek . I swear the buggers were sniggering between themselves and they looked at me then slowly made their way off track into the bush ....

The second actually had a happy ending ( not so much for the pig)
Had taken the boy out for a bit of target practice with the 22 and my AR with 22 kit fitted .
Had a bomb up for a few hrs at various target distances but sun was starting to go down so time to go . Loaded rifles in the back seat in bags and cases and off we go .
20 mtrs up the road - truck hadn't even changed gear and the biggest sow I had ever seen wanders out the bush and starts walking up the road about 50 mtrs in front of us , apparently oblivious to our presence .
I couldn't believe it .
So hit the brakes , leap between the seats and try to recover the AR from it's hard case , which naturally is buried under everything else . The boy is giving me live commentary on the pigs movements and telling me to pull my finger out .
Finally get the AR out of the case and realized it still has the 22 bolt in .
Murphy - you bastard !
So more scrambling round and get rifle sorted . Open the truck door with window wound down and line up on pig just as it decides to go back into the bush , now about 100 mtrs ahead .
So a few 4 letter words later unload the rifle and throw it back in case .
Proceed with driving home and low and behold , just passing spot pig disappeared into and it pops back out on the road another 50 mtrs ahead .
You have got to be kidding me thinks I .
The boy is getting all excited in the passenger seat again as once more I dive between the seats to retrieve the rifle .
At least it's on the top this time . Get it out and get the mag in just as piggy disappears into the bush again .
So this time lesson learned and I leave the rifle between the front seats .
Start to pull away , get another 50 mtrs or so up the road and lo and behold out pops the bacon again .
Open my door , exit truck and rest rifle through open window and chamber a round ....

FTX - 1 Murphy - 0 (this time....)

And boy did we struggle trying to get that monster pig in the back of the truck ....

Few years back, my first time in Kaimanawas. I stopped for a bush poo.
Rifle leaning against a tree about 2 mtrs away.
Half way through the deed when a stunning Sika stag in full summer coat casually stands up from where I assume he was napping behind a windfall, 50 mtrs from me. I counted six points while sitting like a stunned mullet as he strolled away whistling a merry tune

Shooting on a farm in north canterbury - popping bunnies but also carrying centrefires for pigs on the property. But...not many bunnies on the night, no pigs, starts raining, so we head back towards farmhouse. Get 200m from woolshed so we pack up all rifles in back of truck. Then we go over little brow to last gate and there's 3 nice fat porkers strolling along 20-25m away. Looked at us and carried on... aaaaarghh! Roast pork and bacon

Mate and I had been wandering across a hillside down south looking for a big juicy red or two. We'd already spotted a small group of fallow well below us but decided to see if the reds that were meant to be over in the gully were going to show themselves. They did when they busted us and ran off at speed across the slip and filed into the bush. After freezing our arses off in the southerly blasting across the hillside for a couple of hours we gave up on them and decided to head back to see if the fallow were still about. But not before said mate had gone stalking through the tree edge behind us and stumbled across a massive pig moving through the tussock. Having done all of his NZ hunting in the nice wide open tussock country, he hadn't yet learned the hard lesson that bush stalking will inevitably provide - ALWAYS be able to get a shot off quickly (but safely - usually a round in the chamber but bolt not closed sort of thing). He learnt it that day! Mr Pig heard him working the bolt and was gone.

On the way back down the hill a possum suddenly exploded out of the tussock just above me and ran across my foot before disappearing down into the tussock again. Weird! Got back to a spot overlooking where the fallow had been earlier. Set up the rifles to take a shot at any deer that might show themselves on the slope below us. Time wore on and I wanted to figure out the best way to get down the hill to set up an ambush on the deer as they came out of the scrub to feed in the evening. Got up to have a look around with the binos at our potential route. Walked away from where my mate and my rifle were sitting - you can see where this is going.....

Walked barely fifty metres from our position to get a better look down the ridgeline and a deer appears skylined on the ridge above me to my left. I say 'oh bother' or something similar as I crouch down to minimise my profile. The deer carries on walking around the hillside much less than a hundred metres away and three more follow it. There's a yearling in the group that had I not walked away from my rifle, would have been a simple shot to secure. Another harsh lesson learnt. Duck down out of sight and try to scurry quickly back to my mate who is blissfully unaware of the four deer walking across the hillside above him within rock-throwing distance.

Luckily my crazed hissing of "deer, deer!" got his attention, but he was a bit surprised they were behind us!

Anyway, the story ended well, we got two of them. Well he got two of them. My poor judgement means I still haven't got a fallow to my name. Not a lesson I'll forget in a hurry! 😁

First time in a new area, gullies a plenty and razor back ridges. shit loads of fern fronds and Rewarewa leaves. some gullies deep others waist deep. This is steep country no flats just gully after gully. The area was covered in mud after the Tarawera eruption then the rain formed lots of gullies in the mud. It was the day after rain so slippery. I was on some new hoof prints but only seeing them occasionally as the fronds and leaf litter left no prints. Slowly up a couple of steps look then repeat. Fresh shit the odd print slowly slowly. The gully I was in around chest height split no prints showing. The left fork had vegetation mostly Rangiora so I went right over the fronds. About 4 meters the gully was steeper and as slippery as a butchers penis. The rifle was half cocked and it was so steep and slippery I removed the round from the spout and closed the bolt on a empty chamber. Hands and knees up the gully for about 10 meters then on a small flatter area in the bottom of the gully I stood straight up. Looking straight at me in the gully next to me was a young hind close like around 5 meters away. We just stared at each other for what seemed like forever but enough time only for me too pull the bolt slowly back. Then it was off and there was 2 hinds but I only was focused on one. I gave a calf call but no gone. It took many more trips to that place before I had one on the deck. I often think about that day. to get so close to a animal was pretty cool but should of had it.

I was in the Tararuas by Waitawaewae hut just before lockdown and I saw a deers arse running off to my left disappear into some scrub and then run up a bank to my right c , I was thinking “damn she was so quick I didn’t have time to load” when another deer burst out of the scrub up the bank. There were two of them and I’d seen the first one , ffs . Then we went through lockdown with no venison.

4hr+slog into the ureweras with a fair whack of sweat lost. Had a mid arvo relax to wait for the deer to come out. Went for a piss by the hut and found some stag sign so went that direction for my hunt. Few hundred meters later I slowly round a bush island on a clearing to find a massive bodied stag with a good hunk of velvet on his head. Lined up on tbe crease at 10m then click.....ffs turns out of my 50 reloads had a few dodgey primers and that happened to be one of them! Also found dodgey primer another 200m down the creek on a big hind so no deer that day. Stole my mates dad's finnlite the next day and found another hind but will never forget those 2 clicks from the day before