Went for an evening stroll near Kaikoura last evening, moved the day due to weather but when arriving in Kaikoura it was torrential rain.... got parked up and threw my gear on. Planned on using a lighter coat but had to put on my work hi vis one but all good. Boots no longer waterproof so the fun continued. Thunder storm started up above just to add to the overall ambience of the evening and I started to think what the hell am I doing here. Wandered around the block and sighted nothing then moved back to a clearing where I attached my torch to the scope/got set up for dark and was just putting my headlight in my pocket when out of the corner of my eye I see two fallow deer about 4 metres away.
Thinking oh crap my rifle is at my feet and they are walking towards me (I'm slightly hidden behind some manuka) to make it even worse the front one is a buck. I turn into a bad impression of a statue and the buck stops about 2 metres away from me with it's radar suddenly turned on (I'm down wind) staring straight at me. No rifle or camera in hand and no rock to throw to make me feel better either. After about 15 seconds the buck decides it doesn't like the statue and two leaps later is in the bush with it's spiker mate following. So ended with nothing to fill the freezer and very wet feet but left with an awesome close encounter.
