Call from a mate last night,He could do with some veni in the freezer and would I give him a hand lamping one off his mates farm? Sounded like a mission but you have to help out your mates so I begrudgingly said"oh alright but you owe me"
It was a given I would be the shooter as his cut down single shot 357/38special with no front sight probably wasn't up to the task which put me in a difficult position.
No1 Sako 308 was scopeless due to only having one set of 30mm rings and no2 sako 308 had just been fully stripped and cleaned to get all the Fiordland and lake Rotoroa out of it.
Not wanting to take no2 without a zero check it was down to the wifes rifle!Honestly it was the only option!
Grabbed all the necessary shit picked up mate and headed off for parts unknown.
Cruising round the property with said mate directing it was bloody wet and slushy plus steep with new growth,while not usually a problem you haven't been out with my mate.He is legendary for putting you in a position of no return without a back up vehicle in the middle of the night and no cell service and then saying"yea I couldn't do it in my wagon either but I thought this would" After a couple of small let goes I said to him "if this thing takes off get the fuck back inside quick!" as he was standing out the sunroof with the lamp.
A solitary(weird, in my experience there is ALWAYS more than one Fallow) Fallow was spotted that promptly buggered off which was fine as they were not on the menu.
A bit later another deer was spotted in a gut, bailed out the drivers seat grabbing the wifes rifle out of the passenger seat got a rest and chambered a round,"its a red" I said "range?" Mate who had his first go with a range finder 2 hours previously replied "350". Quartering on I held for previously memorized drop and squeezed off my favorite high lung shot.
Dropped on the spot my mate looks around with the lamp for any mates(owner wanted one if we could get 2) I said " hold the F ing Light on it!" head came up once......twice and all was still.
Mate said "what was it?" and I replyd "Pretty sure its a yearling hind"
On arrival it was obvious this was a big bloody hind! used to looking threw 14x it looked small on 9x(max on this rifle).
Two options for recovery were up threw steep native to a paddock or back in the direction of the shot threw swamp.
It was now absolutely pissing down.
I went with swamp.
All went well for a start but with around 90k on my back(still head and liver attached) I sunk over my knees in one spot and overbalanced into a lovely stinky mud with a stream running over it.
Unsticking myself and dragging deer up onto a bit of rushes to help with getting it back on I noticed my mate had very carefully placed the wifes rifle under water and in mud to help me!
Eventually I made the barb wire fence,while not a long carry I was absolutely rooted cos it was heavy and carrying threw swamp, Backing up to the fence I slipped one shoulder/arm out and while I was getting the other arm out the neck flopped to the other side which overbalanced me again,rather than have another dislocated shoulder I did a sort of back flip and followed it over the fence landing on the deer.
This was a source of my mates amusement obviously who was doubled over laughing and eventually rolling around on the ground laughing and saying "thats the funnest thing I have ever seen!"
I was laughing and trying to catch my breath.
It took us a good 5min to settle down and get it the back of the Cruiser.
Somehow in all that I managed to dislocate a finger again(a problem of mine) popped it back in an all good forgot about it but man is it swollen and sore today!
So now having now been fully submerged in freezing water(me not him) it was decided we would look for another for the land owner. A stagasuraus was spotted but he didn't stop and a bit far for Kentucky windage anyway.
Fucken frozen to the core(wet from head to toe) on the drive home even with heater cranking and heated seat on.
Getting it into the chiller my mate "lifted"(yea right) one rear leg while I almost burst a fu fu valve getting mine up.
I can assure you if the shoulders touch the floor of my chiller its "Farking Big!"
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