Greenstone Trip

Work commitments delayed us by a day, whether had a wee part to play as well so up at 4.30 on Tuesday for a 5.30am start to the Divide. Our ballot period started on Tuesday and would run until Saturday the 26th, pretty good dates we figured to chase some fallow in the Upper Greenstone.

We made good time with a few pit stops and began our walk in at 11.30, we figured 4 hours to the Hut and then walk down valley as far as we wanted before making camp, hopefully leaving enough time for a quick evening hunt. We actually made the mcKerrow Hut in 3 hours, my mate does not like to walk slow and although I lagged behind a bit I did try and keep up so we made good time. Weather was still a bit average so we stopped of at the Hut for brew, Hut Warden was in residence so had a chat, go an up to date forecast and talked with a couple of Hikers before a couple of hours before heading down valley for 45 minutes. We managed to spook a deer on the bush edge at 5pm, pretty promising sign we hoped of things to come.

After setting up camp we really only had 45 minutes of light left so a quick walk along the bush edge was all we had time for plenty of time left. nothing further seen so big feed and off to bed, I was pretty shagged and had just drifted off when I was woken by a deer thundering right through camp between the two tents we had set up, bloody hard case, was fair moving so it obviously got a bit of a fright.

Next day we awoke to Sunshine, we figured we would split and cover a bit of ground to see if we could figure where the deer were located, I chose to travel high up on the south side of the Valley, my mate to walk back up valley toward the hut and hunt a nice looking Fan. We did see hind just on the bush edge again, just 5 minutes walk from camp up valley, easy shot but hinds not on the menu, we only wanted to shoot a buck, and a good one at that.

Bush was pretty good, on the South side lots of crown fern, chest high in places but still lots of open beech, pretty good country for staking and spotting deer. We were hoping to hear the deer croaking, as it turned out the only deer we heard croaking the whole trip was on the way in before the hut, guessing the guys in the next week or so should hear a few, heres hoping for them!

No deer sighted during the morning, a fair bit of sign and some light trails in the bush were evidence off deer being present, maybe not in the numbers we had hoped for, we decided over a cuppa to move down valley a couple ks to where we thought a better campsite was. After setting up a quick walk down valley revealed a good amount of sign on the bush edge, including buck sign, no deer sighted this night though. We found horse tracks and after speaking with the Hut warden we learned that the stock had only just been mustered out of the valley, possibly the day before, at least the last couple of days, possibly the commotion had pushed the deer up the hill.

The plan for day 3 was for me to climb to the tops on the North side, I also wanted to have a crack at a Chamois, just across from Camp was an easy ridge to climb, good sign and also some deer trails were encouraging, however I only spooked one deer, must have spotted me as all I saw was a bum disappearing at about 60 meters. After stalking the ridge I managed to get to the tops at 10.30, quick munch and a glass as well as photos and then time for a further climb, the weather was beginning to close so tried to climb s fast as I could, just not fast enough as within n hour visibility was down to a hundred meters, an hour later and vis now just 25 meters, I sat beside a creek and had lunch in the rain, hoping for it to clear, a short further climb nd with the weather closing in I decided to bail out. Stalking the ridge seemed a better option than trying to spot a Cham.

No further sightings this day, we regrouped at camp before another quick evening hunt, for me a couple of kms back up valley with the wind in my favour, hoping a buck might be lurking trying to swoop up the single does we had been seeing on the bush edge.

Next day, day 4. we both decided to hunt in the bush on the north side of the valley, me a wee bit closer to camp, my mate further down the valley. i managed to stalk onto a silly wee spiker, had to miss him as he was polishing his spikes on a bush, shaking the shit out of it really, tried to get a couple of snaps but some daft bugger(me) had the wrong settings so pictures turned out very blurry. My mate had better luck, managed to see 5 deer, including a spiker that walked up to him to a distance of about6-7 meters, then just walked away feeding!

My mate had also talked to the hut warden so we had an updated forecast, rain on the way, we upped camp and headed for the hut, just an hour up valley. We had seen a rubbling and also a pad close to the hut so knew animals were in the vicinity.

An evening hunt saw me walking up into some pretty nice bush and down a ridge with good tracking and and a couple of pads, one recently used, some nice flat fans at the base of the hill provided some great stalking, no deer seen or heard though.

We awoke to rain on day 5, we decided on a quick hunt then a walk out to the car. I cover the same ground as yesterday to see if the pads had been used over night, one had and fresh sign, I really had a good scout around, rain and a swirling wind meant stalking was hard and soon enough it was all over, back at camp with a cuppa and packing ready to head out.

So all in all a good week in the bush, a few animals sighted but not really in the numbers we were expecting. Have to say we were disappointed we did not hear any croaks, Anzac day is normally the Peak for the Blues where we hunt a bit, would have been a heap easier to find the deer!! Still couple days in the bush is way better than driving a desk, even managed to lose a couple Kgs and get the fitness up there again, now to plan another trip to keep it up.

Off later in the week to Long Gully for a day so hope to get on to a cracker then

Cheers

DinoAttachment 36046[ATTACH=CONFIG]36047[/ATTACHAttachment 36049

great report dino maybe next time.

It's definitely a nice valley, been a few years since I was there.

I missed my "two" ballots this year because i got sick and work… Damn me… Great report, better luck next time for sure… You guys saw more deer than my fellow mates that where there during my ballot.

All the best.

Great write up, enjoyed reading.
Its called hunting and not killing for a reason.... ( yes borrowed from a fishing quote :) )