An Early Start

It is a two-hour-twenty drive from my place to the roadend and I wanted to be on location for a shot at first light. This always means getting out early, and as we move towards summer, the more so. I had set the alarm for 11:50pm, and was on the road half-an-hour later, walking by 3:00am after muesli and coffee from the flask, and was able to put the torch away just at I approached my shooting position at 5:20am.

The deer are still feeding up in the bush in mid-October and tend to avoid the added risk of the open spots that in another three-to-four weeks time they won’t be able to resist. I still hoped to catch one out that had been grazing the start of the new growth under the safety of darkness and before it moved back into cover — hence the need for the early start. If nothing came of it I’d spend the morning stalking the surrounding bush.

The slips were just starting to come into detail, everything now bathed in a dull orange, replacing the earlier monochrome. Almost straight away I picked up a deer through the binos from a pair of ears, the white standing out, but I couldn’t make out much else. It wasn’t a particularly long way away, but I had no sense of scale to judge its size. Whatever it was was parked up behind a tussock, so I spent the next quarter of an hour looking around to see if there was anything else still out in the open and available for an immediate shot. It was all very quiet. Each time I returned to look for the ears, more detail became apparent; it was a hind bedded up and chewing on its cud. Periodically it would stretch out and actively sample the air, then I was able to see its neck too and so work out the relative position of the rest of its body that was hidden from view.

While what little breeze there was seemed steady enough, there was always the possibility of some vagary of the current taking my scent downwards, perhaps as far as the valley floor and then being lifted back up to her. If this happened I knew she would be gone in seconds as the bush fringe was only several bounds away. I decided to shoot her in her bed rather than raising her with a call, hoping that the tussock would save me a further 30m of vertical haul that would be needed it the carcass tumbled. And that was how it worked out.


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It was still early as I dropped off a good load of venison back up on the DoC track and then wandered up to the start of the leatherwood to enjoy the view. It was one of those rare times where now up at 900m it had become completely calm. For an hour the valleys layered with mist and the air was filled with insects. Beyond the olive green of the southern spine were the snow-capped peaks of the central Ruahines. The only noises were the streams far below and the occasional call of a karearea.


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Cool Story. How far away was it?

Nice one


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Great write-up, thanks. Gotta love it when committing to an early start pays off!

Nice one,and i thought i got up early lol

Well done. Hardly worth going to bed if you're waking up before midnight. :D

I enjoyed reading that. Early start more like late night haha

Beautiful , The early bird gets the worm

I wouldnt like to go being shot in bed, unlike people ( Ask David Bain), deer can be quite easy to miss like that for some strange reason. Sacked that one Puffin !

Great work, getting up before midnight shows real dedication to the cause...and is well beyond an 'early' start.
Really enjoyed your telling of the yarn too.

good read and pics, thanks for sharing

real early start but well worth it in the end.

Nice trip report. Good to see you have a few NZ Falcon up there:thumbsup:

Jeeeez thats cruel. Makes me sick. Homesick. ooooooohhh how i waaaana to go home. Bloody well written and painted a wonderful picture where i could hear the sounds and smell the smells. Thanks Puffin.

Well done