Finally got my first Deer.
I just got back from 6 nights of chasing Sika at the Rangatikei Bivi in the Kaimanawa Ranges.
I'd never really been on a proper deer hunt with anyone experienced so I was diving in the deep end a bit. After flying in with three others we quickly set out for an afternoon hunt. I couldn't believe the amount of sign around and thought it was going to be a turkey shoot over the next few days, oh how I was wrong.
The next day we threw our packs on and headed for the tops to stay out for the night and do some glassing. On the way up the ridge with my mate we heard a Sika stag begin roaring in reply to a electronic caller that another member had further up. After ditching our packs and sneaking through the beech twig infested forest we managed to get within about 30 metres from the stag which was in the river between ridges. It was in amongst quite tight stuff that we couldn't really get through quietly. After trying for another 10 minutes we heard a warning bark and the stag was gone.
We threw our backs back on and walked/crawled/bashed our way to the tops and over the middle range to a spot over the other side which overlooked the Waipakihi Hut, no more deer were seen that day by me but my mates uncle saw four hinds on the tops in various places, but we were after stags that day. When we caught up with the other two we found out the guy with the roarer got within 11 metres of the stag (he paced it out) when we were at our closest, he had a remote for his roarer which was still on the ridge, learnt from that one.
The next day my mate and I walked down to the edge of the bush and gave a few red roars. Within 10 seconds a red spiker walked out about 20 meters away but was gone before we could raise a rifle. The clouds closed in so we made our way back to the hut via the wrong spur, ended up having to throw packs down banks and waterfalls and slide down on my arse a lot, my fault for being too stubborn to turn back and my mates fault for reading his GPS wrong.
Over the next few days I spent bush stalking up ridges by myself and with my mate, we managed to make it up to the tops on the opposite side of the valley but there was little vis and no animals seen. In the bush all we managed to do was spook a couple of hinds but all I saw was their white asses as they tore off through the bush the wind over the four remaining days was constantly changing every 30 minutes and swirling a lot. It was quite warm and the Sika weren't really roaring, very sporadic and never enough to track them. The other two in our hunting got two Sika hinds and a nice six pointer Sika stag, yes we (well, I) were the useless young bucks of the party.
Finally on the final afternoon before the chopper I was using my scope to glass the other side of the river before I crossed it and spotted a Sika Hind stading head on looking at me on the other side up on the river terrace about 60m away. I released the safety and fired from the shoulder, the shot hit dead centre at the base of the neck and went through the chest, she just sat down and still looked alert so I leant against the nearest tree and fired a coup de grace. My first deer.
After a quick gut I took her back to the hut and sliced her up, I found the bullet in a rear quarter but had lost so much energy that it did minimal damage to the meat, four good quarters and back steaks, stoked.
Chopper flight out the next day and back to the wife who had been left home alone with our eight month old, no smile, just "it's your turn to get up early in the morning" :D
Back to work on Easter Friday.
Sorry no photos, I wanted a stag but had to settle with the only thing I had a chance at over the entire six days, maybe next time.
