Thread: When men were men

Originally Posted by RUMPY

Recently read 'I did it my way' by Bill Black who passed away in July last year. Tells many stories of his young meat hunting days, learning to fly, dodgy shit, scary shit and the many SAR operations he was involved with which is tallied at over 500. A good read.

Bill Black was simply amazing what he did,who he rescued etc.A wizard in my book,,only ever met him twice and that was brief.
I got to know his shooter Jimmy Kane at one stage through another ol mate who has now gone. That guy was unreal when it come to dropping deer etc from a machine. There was a party put on for Jim at one time and I recall Bill Black Giving Jimmy a huge collection of deer tusks collected over time,a gift of ivory as such,young Jimmy was almost in tears,,,they were like two peas in a pod.


More on this later eh..

Originally Posted by doinit

Bill Black was simply amazing what he did,who he rescued etc.A wizard in my book,,only ever met him twice and that was brief.
I got to know his shooter Jimmy Kane at one stage through another ol mate who has now gone. That guy was unreal when it come to dropping deer etc from a machine. There was a party put on for Jim at one time and I recall Bill Black Giving Jimmy a huge collection of deer tusks collected over time,a gift of ivory as such,young Jimmy was almost in tears,,,they were like two peas in a pod.


More on this later eh..

The first time I met Jim Kane was down at a mates at Tapanui. A coupla weeks chasing the Fallow in the Blue Mts was the go.
First night out with the big moon went ok with a few wee deer on board and as usual we were full of it and talking shit on our way home.
Anyways it had broken daylight by now and we were coming up onto an area we had already done during the dark hours.
My mate Dave hit the anchors and pointed up the hill "There's one " he snapped. Jimmy jumps out, swings his rifle onto this ok Fallow buck in full flight headin down toward the road. This buck was fired up movin fast, 80 odd yards at least. Well I counted at least 6 rapid shots,very quick ti say the least. The last coupla shots saw the buck loosing it fi sure,then down.
Dave being Dave remarks "you usless prick,six bloody rounds to drop a wee Fallow deer" eh.
Jimmy never blinked an eye just looked at Dave and smiled,then remarked "you keen enough ti hop up there and drag him down?"
" I'll get it" I said then headed up.
Finally arriving at the dead buck I was a little surprised just how far it was,more like a hundred yrds.
It was on closer inspection that I took a wee gulp of air and grinned to my self. Staggering onto the road Dave and Jim were now both lookin and Jim remarked.."Ha a little low with that one " as he pointed to a small hole. With out a word of a lie there were six little entry holes leaking blood and all in a group the size of a small dinner plate. That buck had ti be dead on his feet before finally dropping.
I have to this day never seen shooting like I did that morning,Dave was nutting off about it right up until he died..hell JK was a wizard.

My ol mate Dave,bless his soul..on the right with a few deer and velvets,with him Gordon Anderson,brother of Sandy who supposedly dropped a female Moose during meat hunting.The locals in TeAnau all swore it was true.

Originally Posted by doinit

My ol mate Dave,bless his soul..on the right with a few deer and velvets,with him Gordon Anderson,brother of Sandy who supposedly dropped a female Moose during meat hunting.The locals in TeAnau all swore it was true.Attachment 181430

The late Graeme Sievers who was meat hunting down Te Anau way at that time told me he was in the pub drinking with Bernie Milroy (I think) when Gordon Anderson came in and told them he’d shot a moose. Reckoned he was going to get the head to prove it but sadly walked into the prop of a float plane on the way back in.

I shot deer for a good part of my income for a couple of years during the 70's. I left shepherding to do it and casual mustering & shearing, and the first deer I shot I got more than a week's shepherding wages. I then went onto deer capture and then deer farming.
Ive never thought that there was anything manly or unusual about it, and seldom reflect on it. Truth is I'm a lot better hunter now and when I look back I was really a bit of a naive kid (in my late 20's). Good times though. Quite a selfish life for a married man with a couple of kids (like I had).

Ive got almost all of the old books. No use to me, but reluctant to let them go. Nostalgia I guess.

Originally Posted by Tahr

I shot deer for a good part of my income for a couple of years during the 70's. I left shepherding to do it and casual mustering & shearing, and the first deer I shot I got more than a week's shepherding wages. I then went onto deer capture and then deer farming.
Ive never thought that there was anything manly or unusual about it, and seldom reflect on it. Truth is I'm a lot better hunter now and when I look back I was really a bit of a naive kid (in my late 20's). Good times though. Quite a selfish life for a married man with a couple of kids (like I had).

Ive got almost all of the old books. No use to me, but reluctant to let them go. Nostalgia I guess.

your a very humble man @Thar good on you

It's almost closer to that valley now thanks to certain public access. I never get down there any more. A mate called in at our hut a few years back and found someone had left a pile of meat sitting on the table. A holes. Shot my first deer there up by what we called Henry's burn. Didn't Craig get his first round that way?

The books by Joff Thompson are classics, recounting culling and shooting for skins in the era before meat hunting.
Anyway, here is a wee anecdote from yours truly.
I was a new boy on a particular block and a chap familiar with the area suggested an excursion into a creek that had some nice small grassy flats amongst teatree and scrub. The creek meandered through this parklike area.
He directed me to a bench overlooking the first flat and told me to give him half an hour or so for him to circle well downstream, the idea being we would then hunt from two directions toward each other, but safely above any animals below and not be hunting each other. After the half hour I began to sneak quietly along the top edge of the bench scanning the occaisional open areas below. After a while I picked lut a couple of donks and lined up to take a shot. Then BOOOOM from downstream. My donks fled across the creek and I managed to drop one just as it was about to dissappear into bush 150 yards away.
So, went down to get ears and backsgraps and mate hollers from above. "Want a hand"?. "Nup, only this one"; what did you get? "

Silence.
Well, met him up top. Sheepish looks. One parry duck down his swanny.
"Good change of kai eh mate"

My old meat hunting days gave me a great dislike for Swanndris. Nothing colder or miserable than the wind whipping into a wet Swanndri on the Ruahine tops while trudging back to camp.

Brno .222





Summer

Ruahines

[/URL]

Puketoi



Tararuas
5 hour carry out

A good title for your thread @Micky Duck.
This is one of the men that I will always remember as a “real good man” – Henry Irwin who lived in the bush behind Tokomaru just south of Palmerston North – he made his living from deer skins and ammo from tails. He packed the dried skins out in big bundles and down to the end of Albert Rd to catch a Newmans bus to Dalgety’s in Palmy.
Sadly – Henry lost his way in life after the war and became a recluse in the bush – he was a good friend to most of us hunters who bothered to visit him – he would always tell us where to get a deer.
Pictures around 1965 on the Tokomaru River.

Originally Posted by time out

A good title for your thread @Micky Duck.
This is one of the men that I will always remember as a “real good man” – Henry Irwin who lived in the bush behind Tokomaru just south of Palmerston North – he made his living from deer skins and ammo from tails. He packed the dried skins out in big bundles and down to the end of Albert Rd to catch a Newmans bus to Dalgety’s in Palmy.
Sadly – Henry lost his way in life after the war and became a recluse in the bush – he was a good friend to most of us hunters who bothered to visit him – he would always tell us where to get a deer.
Pictures around 1965 on the Tokomaru River.
Attachment 181205

Attachment 181206

Wonderful pics! He was character all right. That velvet stag Im holding (above) was over the top in the Managahao from the biv up the creek. Carried it right back to Rider's house.

Originally Posted by time out

A good title for your thread @Micky Duck.
This is one of the men that I will always remember as a “real good man” – Henry Irwin who lived in the bush behind Tokomaru just south of Palmerston North – he made his living from deer skins and ammo from tails. He packed the dried skins out in big bundles and down to the end of Albert Rd to catch a Newmans bus to Dalgety’s in Palmy.
Sadly – Henry lost his way in life after the war and became a recluse in the bush – he was a good friend to most of us hunters who bothered to visit him – he would always tell us where to get a deer.
Pictures around 1965 on the Tokomaru River.
Attachment 181205

Attachment 181206

He was a character alright. I first met him when he was living behind the rubbish tip at Toko. He moved into an old house up in the farm. We would always drop in and give him a pair of shoes and some bread and milk. He had some great yarns. Strangled a couple of deer.

Originally Posted by Cowboy

He was a character alright. I first met him when he was living behind the rubbish tip at Toko. He moved into an old house up in the farm. We would always drop in and give him a pair of shoes and some bread and milk. He had some great yarns. Strangled a couple of deer.

I only new him when he lived up on the plateau.

On reflection those pics of him really are outstanding.

Its a generation nearly gone. Is your (step?) Dad still alive?

They really are. Yeah he's been working around the world and came back for the Covid era. Stayed on his yacht here in the harbor below my house. Flew out to Germany and then Sri Lanka for work just yesterday. Was nice to have him round to see my little girl grow from 3 to 5.
His dad,Ted Rout, has been gone a while now. After I posted that last post I had a look at the area on sat photos and see our old hut appears to be still there.
Such a nice time to grow up. I love how we used to blow the horn as we came up the drive if we'd been successful. The old girl would always have food ready to go. Just a nice time. Every one had pride and weren't ashamed of it.