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Father & Son overnighter in North Canterbury.
Back in October, we managed to get a block in behind Hanmer. A two-hour walk in found us next to a major river and about to pop up onto a little broom covered terrace on a beautiful spring day. I had my 13-year-old with me, eager to see a deer as the previous outings had been pretty unsuccessful but better than what he would have been doing at home (phone/TV, adventure park on his bike!)
We were around 20 minutes from a creek which was our intended tent site, when I spotted a pig, feeding in the open only 60 metres away. The wind was in our faces and I had ample time to load a round and lie down to take a shot over my pack as a quality rest. Easy shot and it was a solid hit. It ran about 10 mtrs before stumbling into some broom. A quick search and we followed some blood into thicker cover where it was found dead. Took the back legs and we carried on about another 2 ks and set up camp.
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It was a fantastic spot with a creek nearby and my son was pretty keen to wander up the valley and look for a deer. Around 7pm we worked our way up an obvious spur to an open high point where we started to glass. A deer was spied almost immediately, but it was hours away and on the wrong side of the valley. I said to my son " let's be patient, a deer will be closer than that one" Glassing in the evening light can be magnificent, and this was one of those evenings. Another 4-5 had popped out of a bushy spot but once again, they were around 2 k's distant and would have involved dropping down into a creek and a big verticle climb to get to them. By now it was 8.30pm and we probably only had around 40 minutes of shootable light remaining. We shouldered our light packs and continued up the spur towards a couple of scrubby creeks which looked promising on the map. As we crested a small rise and peered down into a nice looking area, a hind was spotted feeding on some new growth. I sat down and took aim. It was now looking at me but didn't seem too alarmed so I waited until it turned side on and started feeding again. "Boom" and I was greeted with 'thwack' which indicated a hit. I had pulled the shot though and it was hit well back, but it still went down. A follow up shot seemed to be a clean miss, but the 3rd finished it off. Up until now, I had been lucky to knock my previous deer over with one shot, and I can honestly say that I didn't enjoy seeing that deer wobble around and sit down in obvious pain.
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We butchered the animal and got some great meat. My boy navigated back to the tent in the dark which made me proud, and we had a late dinner of pasta while watching the stars and satellites cruise overhead. A fantastic trip into a superb area.
