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First Sika Hunt, First Fly Trip
So last Sunday I had a date with Korihi Biv for my first fly in trip to chase these sneaky little Sika I had been told about.
After picking up @Alonzo early morning and heading down to Taupo to meet up with some of the other boys for breakfast we headed over to Heli Sika. I scoured the car park for uncle B's (@shift14) F-Gay to sabotage as he had headed in the morning before, but the sneaky bugger had taken another car.
Flew in through the rain and clag to our home away from home for the week and was a lot flasher than I was expecting.
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Once beds had been dibbed and a few things unpacked we headed into the bush. The others that took me in had hunted the area before gave me and Alonzo a few pointers on areas to go and so with the first of many cold wet river crossings under our belt we went in search with cold wet boots.
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Not an hour and a half into the walk a yearling hind was spotted happily feeding within 30m of us but due to some dicking around she survived and eventual meandered off. The rest of the afternoon was spent stalking around and getting to know some of the area.
Next morning, another cold river crossing and back into it. Quick look at the GPS and some terraces noted that we thought worth checking out, sure enough and another hour in we spook a furry critter from a well used wollow, spent the day trying to find it again but with no luck so a plan was hatched for the next day.
First light we were sitting waiting for the owner of said wollow to come by but after an hour or so and with no sign of anyone we decided to start chasing the roars we could hear emanating from not far away. We decided to come back via the wollow and sure enough the cheeky bugger had been by when we were away.
That night after a few ports I was quoted saying "fuck this, I'm going to shoot him in the face even if I have to wait all day!"
......well I didn't shoot him in the face.....
Early that morning I went solo while the others headed for the tops. As I tried to slowly climb the steep hill up to the terrace with the wollow I heard him roar a few times and thought, "fuck! I've left it too late!". But having said what I had I decided to persevere and found a nice tree to sit against 12m away from his hole. As I sat there freezing in my wet boots resisting the distant roars, watching the sun slowly work its way down the trees I caught the sight of my furry friend entering from his well used trail. As slowly and quietly as I could a cocked the blaser, CLICK! Never have I felt it that loud, he stopped dead in his tracks and stared straight into my soul. Not moving a muscle I waited hopefully, and then watched as he made his way into his wollow and started scraping. I slowly shouldered the blaser as he stopped to look and try and work out what I was, CRACK! It was done and dusted, 140gr AMAX straight through the heart.
First comment through the radio I heard was "so, did you shoot him in the face??"
"Na mate I saw he had some things growing out his head so thought best not too."
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The next day saw a massive hike up the tops and a few photos taken and me a broken man on the return to the hut.
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All in all an amazing time with a great bunch of blokes.
