Thread: nearly old members

Get better soon BruceY

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR KIND WISHES AND SUPPORT.... it does help ....wont be long I'll get the boots on....and I always remember that there are heaps of people worse off than me...CHEERS GUYS....

thats the spirit...

Love your positive attitude Bruce, Hope you have a good recovery and get back out there ASAP.

Only just caught up with this thread after being away hunting for a while & being up at sparrows fart for a call from America .

All the best for a full and speedy recovery @BruceY ,do not hesitate to reach out if you need a hand or just a talk etc ,if l can help in any way l will.

I have just finished a total of 45 days Hunting on trip across Gods Country for multiple game species, in the last couple of months.I decided since l was unable to travel to the US to see Capt Ron before he passed, as he wished,the best way l could honor him was to hunt in the particular areas of New Zealand we had hunted together & that he had loved .

I took along some treasured personal items he had given me, that he carried on challenging/infamous missions with the SEALs & his beloved UDT & took pictures with the game & scenery with it in the frame/background. I have sent the items & photos on to the family & they will be buried in his plot at the Military ceremony to be held shortly.

So don't worry any of you buggers who are temporarily way laid ,those of us growing old disgracefully are holding up the colors until you are back on deck shortly .

A few pics to show a bit of the game & country covered , having guided for a while l have all the "trophies"l desire (always room for a couple of more Black Buff shot up close & personal though) so get more satisfaction out of challenging hunts now or putting someone else on the wall hangers .

The first pic is a old mongrel Red l have hunted for years now,glassed him a couple of times, but only ever had him in the sights once & decided since he was such a clever bugger l would let him spread his genes a bit longer & was the challenge l decided to start the hunts on & the head is dedicated to Capt Ron.

Like me he was well past his prime & more mongrel than Stud now

-Capt Rons Stag -



Smoking a Tahr with the Old Faithful 300 Wby Mag, in some spekky high country-



Tahr on the tops -



Reds in Gods Country -





Capt Ron's favorite camping spot,me & the wife cracked a $300 bottle of Scotch, l was given 7 yrs ago up here to toast Capt Ron -





Mixed bag off the low country -









Had a great time taking time out in the hills hunting to gather my thoughts & just get away from shit & the wife................ came on 14 days of hunting & we had a ball, with her taking some nice shots on challenging hunts .

Hunted from drought to biblical floods,l filled the cool box again for Salami/Sausage making for the summer, after having given all our game meat away to families affected by the floods. Being up in the Hills definitely helped me get through a hard time as Capt Ron was not only a close friend but a great mentor for me,who was in the Top 3 influential people on my life,hope he enjoys flipping through the pics on his last great Frogman Dive, in the bottomless Blue Hole .


"Fair Winds and Following Seas" - Capt Ron you Glorious Bastard

Here is the area the Mongrel head came out of ,another favorite spot of Capt Ron.This is one of the private areas l am lucky enough to have to hunt,us Kiwi's do not appreciate enough how lucky we are to still have "no charge "access to world class hunting areas something that the likes of Capt Ron & others from America jaws would drop when l would show them the Free Range hunts we do.

One of the factors in undertaking such a extensive Hunting Trip was with the Chyna Flu, Cluster Fuck ,l had not visited (even if l was not going to hunt this trip )a few of the property owners that give me access to hunt on their properties .So it was good to catch up with people l have known for decades & l always make a point to drop off some of our home made game Salami,Sausages or fish as a thanks .IMO something everyone who seeks or has gained access should make a point of doing on the regular,during the recent floods,get the Ark weather l had already made a point of contacting all the properties to let them know l was only a call away if they needed any help & l did on 2 of my hunting properties,removing fallen trees,rounding up sodden stock escapes on the quad & repairing fences etc.

This has been a great area for me over the years offering a variety of game rich short & Long Range hunting & good camping .

Attachment 174336

This was also the first chance l got to take my new rifle build out hunting , another Alan Carr build of which l now have all my Hunting Rifles either built or worked on by Alan as he has always done a world class job .

I had it built to all my specs & it performed beautifully on game & for me it just about the perfect all round Kiwi hunting rifle, it is a 284W built on a early 90's Rem action that was trued,Bolt fluted,Bolt Handle skeletonized & trigger worked.We put a 22inch True-Flite rifle barrel on,that after load testing & accuracy proved was docked & threaded at 20inch for the Suppressor,the chamber was long throated to seat the bullets way out in the little fat cases & gain maximum velocity,l have owned 2 of these 284W over the years & found it a highly efficient hunting round ,but always found the only limiting factor in performance was the rifles only had short chambers so the bullet seating limited powder capacity .

All that was pillar bedded into a Ti Stock & topped of with a Loopy 2x7 all up loaded with sling it weighs just under 7lbs,IMO great for shooting offhand or with out the Suppressor, which l prefer to do on the sketchy Tops for Tahr & Chammy where you are lucky to fire a couple of shots a trip.

Attachment 174345


With a long throat & magazine to match, your rifle you can seat bullets level with the base of the neck giving more case capacity than you would with the standard length throat. All my 284W's loved AR2209, my favorite Hunting Loads for Goats ,Pigs,Chammy & small Deer is the Speer 130gn BT pushed along by 58gn hitting around 3150fps ,my all round loads are the 140gn NP with 57gn hitting 3100fps & 145gn Speer with 56gn for 3000fps. My premium Tahr & Deer load is the proven 140gn Barnes-X pushed along to around 3000fps & the 160grn Speer doing around 2900fps ,l have taken Elk & Moose with those as well as plenty of good Reds here.


The other first use on these trips was a Bark River knife my missus got me for xmas ,l am bit of a knife nut & being a Ex Shearer & Abby hand l will not put up with shit blades ,this thing really impressed me performing as good as knives 4X the price,with nice heft & balance . I have for decades always Overland style broken down & boned out my game in the bush, after having a mate blow his knee out on a Tahr hunt over 20 yrs ago.This knife performed very well & responded to light touch ups with being back to shaving sharp in minutes .If you are looking at knives l recommend them .







Had to get a mate to resize the pics to fit so hope it worked & in order

Sorry links did not work so here are the pics again -

"Here is the area the Mongrel head came out of ,another favorite spot of Capt Ron.This is one of the private areas l am lucky enough to have to hunt,us Kiwi's do not appreciate enough how lucky we are to still have "no charge "access to world class hunting areas something that the likes of Capt Ron & others from America jaws would drop when l would show them the Free Range hunts we do."





This was also the first chance l got to take my new rifle build out hunting , another Alan Carr build of which l now have all my Hunting Rifles either built or worked on by Alan as he has always done a world class job .

I had it built to all my specs & it performed beautifully on game & for me it just about the perfect all round Kiwi hunting rifle, it is a 284W built on a early 90's Rem action that was trued,Bolt fluted,Bolt Handle skeletonized & trigger worked.We put a 22inch True-Flite rifle barrel on,that after load testing & accuracy proved was docked & threaded at 20inch for the Suppressor,the chamber was long throated to seat the bullets way out in the little fat cases & gain maximum velocity,l have owned 2 of these 284W over the years & found it a highly efficient hunting round ,but always found the only limiting factor in performance was the rifles only had short chambers so the bullet seating limited powder capacity .

All that was pillar bedded into a Ti Stock & topped of with a Loopy 2x7 all up loaded with sling it weighs just under 7lbs,IMO great for shooting offhand or with out the Suppressor, which l prefer to do on the sketchy Tops for Tahr & Chammy where you are lucky to fire a couple of shots a trip."

Im going to equal you in antler length later this year @Micky Duck.
Building fitness back for some Westland missions after a few slack years, fortunate to not be carrying any real injuries.
Still love a successful hunt although not the killing if that makes sense.
Getting the biggest reward mentoring child one through the start of his hunting career with two more sounding keen.
Now more than ever we need to ensure our hunting culture has a new generation coming through.
Take a new guy hunting!
Share some venison around, let people see the benefits of hard work and free range meat!

Cull females when numbers are high, be part of the conservation solution.
Hot barrels.

Thanx Rok Toy....getting there back on the bike again...just 2-3 km but shit it feels SOOOO good.....