Thread: Hopping mad

As some of you know my wife and I are currently in the middle of another month long sojourn in our caravan.

We had planned to stop in Geraldine after leaving Christchurch but realised Mr MD would be back at work. I did text him to see if he could recommend somewhere for a wallaby hunt in the area. he came through in spades with an area and step by step instructions on how to get there and where to go when there.

Looking at the map we decided to park up at Claremont Castle as it accepts members of the motorhome association, we usually park up at Woodbury but Claremont was closer to the hunting area.

Yesterday morning my wife took the car and went for brunch with an old friend who lives in Temuka while I stayed back and cleaned the caravan and packed some hunting gear. I left at 1pm for the 35 minute drive and parked in the DOC reserve. Shouldering my day pack and rifle I set off up the circular route in the clockwise direction as instructed. The track was steep and I was soon puffing and loosing gravy, on breaking out of the trees I left the track to head for a group of rocks that overlook the gully to where the hoppers come out.

I set my self up and settled in to glassing the opposite face and it wasn't long before the first ones were seen, setting the rifle up (Savage Model16 in 22-250) I adjusted the 3-9x40 Redfield and fed in the first round. A lot of the hoppers were 400m away and not being confident at that distance with this rifle I decided to wait until some closer ones appeared. Eventually a few started appearing under 300m and I let rip, I managed to tip over 5 of them with breaks to wait for them to reappear. I was surprised at how fast they can move once the shooting started.

I had just decided to pack up as darkness wasn't far away when a large ginger porker showed up after missing with 3 shots I stopped not sure why the rifle was suddenly shooting off. I packed up then headed back to the main track deciding it would be good to walk the circuit not realising that over the top it is very poorly marked, with head-torch now in place I carried on. At one point I missed the track and blundered down what I thought was it only to realise it wasn't after sliding down a muddy bank, it took me a good 20 minutes and a fair bit of swearing at myself to get back on track and carry on. At the sign with 30 minutes to carpark I stopped and ate my last sandwich eventually getting there at 7.30pm.

All in all a good afternoon out doing a little bit for conservation, stretching the legs and realising that my legs hadn't fully recovered from Kaikoura so in conclusion Ageing sucks and I'm not that old yet (late 50's).

Oh and I found out why the rifle was off at the end as when I unshouldered it there was a rattle which in the dark I though oops the scopes loose but ti turned out not to be that as when I cleaned it next morning the action screws had come loose, a quick tighten with an allen key for now and I will torque them when we get home in another week and a half.

Been to the lolly shop in Oamaru today and off to Dunedin tomorrow.

And one last thing a big Thanks to @Micky Duck not only for the directions but for following up to see how it went. Maybe catch you when we swing back through.

Cheers HJ

May I suggest stopping over at Borland Lodge, Borland Road, on the Riverton to Manapouri road. Excellent facilities. Cheap. Brilliant bush walk over the road and an outstanding non-towing visit to South Arm.
Another great place we’ve stayed with our van is Omakau Domain. Park up there and take a day trip (easy 4wd) up Symes Road, out of Alex. Road takes you up top of Old Man Range. Last two times we were there (both January) there was still pockets of snow.

I'd second Borland Lodge, hunt right from your caravan and there are a lot of fairly educated deer handy. Waipohatu in the Catlins is the same, a great spot. And if you're down this way don't miss out Lake Mavoura, arguably one of the most fantastic campsites in NZ.

I'm stoked you managed to tip a few over...that pig I have not seen but considering how many corpses are on that face it doesn't surprise me one turned up. There must be a jinx on rifles up there as my good scope was loose n stopped adjusting and another one jammed a case on me. Drive safe bud.

Thanks for the recommendations won't be this trip. But possibly doing a 4 monther from October

Was the pig on the face across from the shooting spot? It's not a place for nighttime recoveries so probably just as well you missed. Glad you had a good time, apart from walking out the hard way.

Yep Rumpy it came out and ambled up the hill, it looked a decent size too.

Just felt that since I was there I should do the circuit and see the waterfall.

I certainly wasn't going to go on a recovery mission though.