Thread: When men were men

Ok. Another instalment of my privilege to spend time with an old school meat hunter.
Ian Mitchell AKA Mitch was a meat hunter in Fiordland, particularly Lake Hauroko and around the Tarries, The puketois, the Akas. He also did possums in the puketois, the Akas and in the Eastern Hutt. He also worked for Reg Elward (I think) in the Ruahines as a shooter/gutter and for Joe Keely out of Opotiki.
He told me that the meat hunters and chopper crews used to have massive piss ups at a pub in Te Anau. The barman used to mop up the slops off the bar and ring the cloth into a bucket. At the end of the night the last men standing used to drink the contents of the bucket.
That’s hard!!