I post a bit about vintage and BP rifles but this morning I went through 6 pages on the forum to find a hunting/ magazine post
So this is my plee for more hunting stories ( even basic boring ones like mine ) and shooting posts
I think we all need to smell the roses while we can
I have a forum member coming to stay and work for me for a week soon
So decided it would be nice to have some fresh camp meat on hand to take the strain off the cook.
Canterbury has been very hot and totally dry all year and the very thought of hunting had not been an option
But in the back of the cyclone and having had the vastly more benign side of Gabrielle it was cool and clear and calm
So a quick meat hunt was undertaken
Two hinds seen still from the truck but a long way away and impossible to flank them and get a shot at them with the wind as it was
Stick with plan A
Decent long walk through native regeneration with some open patches
Plenty of sign but waist high dry cocksfoot grass is a challenge
Get to a favorite lookout that I can spot back into some scattered open grass areas
Saw a deers head ? I'm long grass about 1km away
Then convinced myself it was the back and ears of a hare
But kept going back and looking at it often and the the hare stood up and became a very big red hind
Ok so I wasted 30 minutes thinking it was a hare. So very quick de camp and big loop to come up under her and into the wind
Popped out about 150m under her last seen location
Scanning with thermal ( private conservation land ) and you have to be patient
Eventually a head and neck shows up like a periscope in the shoulder high bush
It took me ages to find in the binoculars
And ages again to find the 150mm wide gap I was seeing the hot spot through
Now 150m is unusually close for this country and no rest was available so a very wobbly bush was used to put a bullet into the base of the neck
Well she was a big fat unit
Despite it being dry there is clearly a lot of feed in that regen bush and old pasture areas
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The moral of the story is to take your time and hunt when the conditions are helpful
Work the wind in your favour
And enjoy your hunting
And please a few more stories about hunting and shooting
( but not wanting to take anything away from the bigger issues as well )
Cheers
