Thread: A Grand Day out with a new friend.

A while back while on the forum I noticed a post from Josan from the Netherlands. He was coming to NZ with his wife for a holiday so I had a talk to Beeman and we sorted out a hunt for him while here. The date was set for the 8th Dec which soon rolled round and they arrived on the afternoon of the 7th.
The weather had been up and down with a bit of rain but the forecast was good for the Saturday so it was off to bed with a early rise at 3.45 am. At Beeman's we loaded up his ute and headed for the hills ever hopeful a few deer were running about. After an early cruise round some of our hotspots and little sign being seen we were a bit worried but we still had the camera lines to check and that was a hunt on it's own. Jo was carrying my 243, and being a crack shot with PCP air weapons back in his country I had no doubt he could handle it with ease.
On my line I have 7 camera's to check so we took off with high hopes, the first had several pics of a nice velvet stag with 11 points, the next nothing since my last visit as was the next. Little sign being encountered along the way.
As we carried on down the spur towards an old overgrown skid site we put a stag up out of a bed, both of us caught a glimpse as he hot footed it down into the gully the next camera was in. No chance for a shot Bugger!!
At the next camera we had several deer on it plus a stag captured only minutes before, yep it was the stag we had bumped out of his bed.
The rest of the cameras had deer on them, the wallow had some excellent footage of PD wallowing in all his glory in the middle of the day.
Back to Beeman's for lunch ( Chicken and Chips ) yum then we relaxed a while before our evening sortie. First stop was a few shots for Jo with the 243 at 200 yards which were good enough for the task at hand. We cruised around in the early afternoon and once again sign was a bit scarce until we found a heap of sign along a new clear cut.
As the wind wasn't the best for this spot Beeman decided that the "Lookout " would be a likely spot and generously gave Jo and I the task of staking it out.
It must have been around 6.30 ish when we climbed up to the top and set ourselves up for an evening of glassing. At about 7.30pm I spotted a rusty red shape, on closer inspection we established it was a nice looking stag with big wide antlers. The range was 440 yards which was doable but Jo wasn't to confident at that range in the gusty wind with the 243, I offered him my 300 Win Mag but having limited experience with high powered rifles he declined.
I ranged a closer knob which if we could get there undetected would take about 170 yards off the range. I said to Jo lets give it a go and took off down the spur then across to the new vantage point. By the time I got there the stag had feed down a bit and was now at 237 yards. Several minutes later Jo caught up and we started looking for a stump to rest on for the shot. With one sorted we crawled in a bit but to my horror I noticed the big boy had picked up our movement and was staring at us. With a bit of urgency I told Jo to shoot ASAP but he was having difficulty picking up the stag. Then he ran up hill about 20 meters and stopped broadside, Jo still was having problems and couldn't find the stag in the scope, Jo said "shoot him I can't see him" so I hastily rest on a skinny little pine tree and let strip dropping him with a base of neck shot.
Time was marching on shadows were lengthening so it was a quick bash and crash across to the stag to find a humungus animal with a massive 9 point head, this stag was one of the biggest I have shot and estimated him to be at least 120 kg gutted(actual weight 125 kg). When Jo arrived he was buggered so after photo's he made tracks for the road before full darkness set in, I removed the head and radioed Beeman to tell we had our work cut out and would pick him up shortly.
Job done ( gutted and head remove it was off to the road which was about half a km away across slash and crap ) I then meet Jo and off to the truck then down to pick up Beeman then back to the stag. In full darkness we headed up and then tied on our ropes for dragging the animal back with. What a mission we sweated blood, shit he was a heavy sucker no way one person could move him, Beeman broke his stick on his rope four time during the haul.
Finally after much effort we had him on the truck and we were on the way out ….time 11.30 pm!! , at Beemans place we tidied up the stag then it was home for Jo and I arriving there at 1.00pm and into bed by 2.00pm after showering and a bite to eat.
What an end to an epic day out on the hill with a new found friend and me old mate Beeman, until the next adventure we will keep a few bullets nice and sharp.
The stag had no eye teeth and was missing several teeth on the lower jaw he was obviously a very old stag and the tops of his antlers were showing the start of the decline. The velvet is pretty much hard right to the top tips which is surprisingly early, this stag would have been real cracker a year or two earlier but still one I am very happy with.
The antlers at a quick measure are 35 long by 39.5 wide.

Great work guys love reading your hunting yarns, big bugger all right, hope he strips off ok.

Wow! Big deer and big effort. Well done.

Thats a mean stag brother! well done

What a great experience for a visitor. Well done all!

Good on you guys for taking Jo out for a real kiwi experience. I am sure he would of loved every minute

Beautifull deer and an unforgettable experience!

As Mooseman said, this adventure started with him offering me to take me on a hunt. And after a few message exchanges we met up at december 7th. Now it's a little bit strange to be arriving at someones house, who you don't know, and they're going to take you out on a trip and even make you stay at their place. What unbelievable hospitality! But luckily Mooseman and his wife are very nice people and a pleasure to be around with.

We started of by preparing our kit on the friday evening. After that, have a chat with the four of us. The wives had a lady's program planned for the next day! After a short night, in which i didn't get a lot of sleep, possible in part by the anticipation, we got up early to join up with Beeman. Together we drove down to the forest where we would first check the trail cams. Now already this was a unique experience for me. Not only do i seldom shoot centerfire rifles, i also never was on a big game hunt, and now i'm sitting here with these two guys in a truck, driving through the early morning light, to go do exactly that. Mind you, in The netherlands we do not have the space and an overload of rules that prevent most people of having this pleasure. These are the main reasons i almost only shoot PCP airrifles (which are free at >18) in The Netherlands.

Walking around to the trail cams was an adventure in itself. The terrain can be really demanding for an office boy like me. But it was very enjoyable in the early morning cool. We even got to spot a deer closeby running away from us as we approached.
After having lunch at Beeman's place and checking the trail cam footage we set out to determine a suitable hunting spot. Now i was very lucky to meet up with probably two of the most authentic hunting guys in NZ. Together they have almost one century of hunting experience and they read the forest, tracks and marks like a book. After a short chat they determined the most promising ambush locations and i was to go out with Mooseman sitting on a hilltop overlooking a stretck where, around us, the trees were cut some time ago, and there was new pine growing to approximately 1-1,5m high.

The climbs up and down those hills was pretty tiring. Not only the incline, but also the stuff on the ground that will make you trip, slip and slide and spray your ankles. Blackberry thorns riping your flesh and your clothes. So after coming to breath, sitting on the hill side was almost a spriritual experience. It is completely relaxing and down to basics there. You're thinking about: wind, light, sound, silence movement, temperature, hunter, prey, food, live, death, blood, all the basic stuff since humankind. I had to pich myself to remember i was on a holiday trip in NZ.

So after Mooseman spotted the deer with his trained eyes we sat out to close the distance. You have to know i was determined to take the shot when i'm confident of being able of hitting the right spot. Unfortunately, in our approach we alerted the deer and he moved some distance from where he first was. When i finally got settled i couldn't surely make out the deer, because from my vantage point most of it was hidden by brush. I saw only it's head stick through the bush. The light was fading and my heart rate was still up from the climb. To not let the opportunity go to waste by waiting much longer - the deer was already staring in our direction - i told Mooseman to take the shot, which he did expertly. The deer dropped on the spot. After climbing up to the deer and shooting some pictures of Mooseman and the deer, the light started to fade rapidly and i stumbled back to the truck while Mooseman started prepraring the deer. We then went to pick up Beeman to help with getting the deer down. Both guys fixed that though these steep and treacherous hill sides in almost complete darkness with only a torch to light their way. While the shot fell at around 8PM, we finally got to drive home and arrive at Mooseman's place at around 1AM.

I still feel like being run over by a truck the next day. Muscles are stiff and my head is full of racing images and memories.

What an epic experience this was. So, another big, big thanks to Mooseman and Beeman for making this possible!

Excellent stuff. Kiwi hospitality all the way.

Nice one a trip they will remember forever

Hay there Jo great write up,loved it and the experience with you. We had a great day out, one I will remember always. Thanks for the gifts you gave Beeman and I and My wife and I hope you and your wife enjoy the rest of your visit. Until next time safe travels.

Great result Mooseman.....

Nice wide head
Good on you guys for taking him out

How did you get that big stag on the truck? good effort in the hunt.Enjoy the veni.

Originally Posted by Trout

How did you get that big stag on the truck? good effort in the hunt.Enjoy the veni.

It was a big effort from the three of us but we got him up there, I have since stripped the velvet and he was hard right to the tips even on the top tines. I will color them up with some condies crystals shortly. I re scored them after stripping and he scores out at 232 DS after a 15 point deduction penalty for over spread.

Was sitting in the plane and saw that i still had some blood on my sleeves! Oops!

Now back in NL. Snow on the ground and playing around with my new .22 PCP. I'll keep watching this forum for some of your great hunting stories.

Nice Xmas and new year to you all!

Jo