Thread: a couple of winter ruahine hunts

On a frosty morning in mid July I headed to one of my favorite spots to look for any good stags that might be out & about making the most of the good weather after the recent cold blast. not long after settling in glassing a spot that usually produces deer on such a morning I spotted 2 stags, problem being they were over 1km away and only sporting small 8 point heads, I was after 10points & more since the freezers full, so the video camera took them instead, after a while they moved on out of sight to seek the sun in a big grass clearing, so I moved on too, to another spot over a couple of ridges, sat down & glassed some likely spots. Not long & I found 4 stags grazing in the shade in some tight scrub on the edge of a shingle slide, watching through binos & video they turned out to be young spikers & a small 8 pointer, then I spotted 5 more hinds & yearlings 100yds away from the stags sitting down. after giving the ridges & faces across from me a decent glassing I spotted up to 15 deer all up, but still nothing decent in the stag department to warrant the 800yd walk to get in shooting range. The morning was getting on now & I was running out of time so packed my stuff into the pack & prepared to head for home.As I got up movement caught my eye & a yearling spiker was staring at me from a grass clearing 150 yds away. Not being the type to turn down a "gift horse" the .300 spoke & the spiker was down . With more meat for the freezer I was home boundthe dawn was awesome! The "gift horse"

In August on a frosty morning just after the rain seen me race up the same steep ridge to get to my favorite spot before daylight. As the daylight unfolded so did the figures of 5 good stags, after a time of glassing & assessing the situation the rangefinder was put into service. I settled on what looked to be the biggest of the stags - the range was 501 yards so settled in for the shot, The .300 spoke once again & the stag rolled down into a patch of broadleaf, the others hesitated then decided it was best to depart for safer pastures. so after a half hour getting my way over the valley I found a nice conditioned 8 pointer stag. After a quick photo & video It was cut up & carry time, making good time I was back at the truck before midday which was timely as the winter weather had turned for the worse and spits of rain were falling now.