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First Solo Fly Camp - South Canterbury
A solo fly camp overnighter made it to my bucket list as I gained more confidence in the hills. After weeks of planning and preparation, I finally gave it a crack this long weekend.
10 minutes in I heard a beep in my pack. Upon investigation, I realised the camera battery was drained. Not only it managed to turn it self on, but it also went into continuous shooting mode and took hundreds of photos of the inside of my pack.
After 4 hours of brisk hike (and jog), I arrived at my pre-planned spot on the open tops at 5pm. The land was as barren as it gets, and my gut says animals won't be here. There were plenty of flat spots suitable to set up the tent, but I decided to head the small gullies leading down to the main valley. The scrubby bottom looked promising by providing potential food and shelter to the animals.
It was already 6pm by the time I got halfway down the hill. It was steep the whole way, and I started wondering whether I should head back up where it's flat to set up tent. A few small patches of open grass at the very bottom looked like they could be potential sites to setup. I continued heading down at a decent pace, worried that I might not reach there before dark. There was no time to sit and glass, so I ended up spooking numerous wallabies on the way down.
At the very bottom I spotted a wallaby munching 100m away totally unaware of my presence. I sat down, put in the ear plugs, lined up the 243 to my home made old school 80gr Speer Hotcor, BOOM! It went stiff before it dropped to the ground.
As I was slowing working my way through the dense scrub to retrieve the animal, a ginger pig appeared on a nearby patch of open grass 80m away. Again I attempted a sitting shot. The cross hair was quite wobbly from the adrenaline. But I said to myself "if I can hit a wallaby at 100m I should easily hit a pig at 80m". BOOM! It sounded like a hit, but the pig dashed into the scrub.
Then there was a hell of a racket in the scrub. Something was clearly crashing through it. "The pig must be wounded" I thought. So I left all the gear and went down to retrieve. Few minutes later a ginger pig casually walks out. It stared straight at me at less than 5m away, as if it was saying "Were you the guy that just tried to shoot me?" Moments later her black mate appeared right in front of my face too. Luckily a few seconds later they both decided to squeal and run off.
It was getting dark and I finally arrived at my potential camp site. Bugger, it looked flat when viewed from the top but it certainly isn't now. To make things worse it was right next to the very fast flowing main stream. There were no other suitable sites nearby, and no way I could crash through the scrub back up to the top flats in the dark. The site was also right in the middle of the pigs' home. A stinky and messy place. Unfortunately I had to take what was available at the time.
Had very little sleep throughout the night. Sleeping mat kept sliding down the gradient. The stream flow was loud, with the occasional grunting noise around the tent. The following morning, the pile of beef teriyaki spilled on the ground the night before had completely disappeared, not even a grain left. No surprises there.
The sun was up. The hike back up the opposite face was longer and harder than anticipated. I was on full blast in attempt to make it back to the car on the planned time. It eventually became a race against the clock and I had no choice but to ignore all the spooked wallabies. My toes were cramping every few steps, lungs were on fire, and blisters from the day before were kicking in.
Just before exiting the block, I spotted 9 hinds sunning on a patch of open grass across the gully. They were completed exposed and would have been achievable targets at 200m away. My heart was racing like hell, but I knew I wouldn't have the energy nor the time to retrieve them, so observed for a few minutes and left them alone.
So that was the trip. Covered 16km in total, half of that being off track.
Fly camping definitely has the advantage of getting you closer to the animals. By "living" where the animals live, even just through a single 24h cycle, I feel like I've learned a lot about animal behaviour.
I spent less than 10 minutes total glassing in the trip, as I was constantly rushing to my pre-planned locations. Number one adjustment to make for next time would be less walking and more glassing. It's a hunt not a race. No point busting your gut just to jog past all your preys.
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