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Mid summer wander - north Canterbury
Reader beware - a long read but stuck recuperating after some surgery so a good way to burn some time finishing this yarn I had partially finished a few months ago.
A brief window amongst family commitments over the xmas break had me scouring the DOC maps for some new country to explore with the dog and rifle. This area has been on my to-do list for a while so with a couple of days of clear weather figured we will give it a go.
Arrived at the trail head around 3pm after a hot dusty drive. With couple of caravans, a few cars and a bunch of horse floats there I figured I would have to get off the main track fairly smartly to dodge the crowds and hopefully get onto some animals.
The landscape was generally very dry with little cover available. The streams were still running well though and figured the animals would probably be looking for feed on the the moist gullies.
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Already sweating under the pack in the 26 deg heat, a mixture of impatience and laziness prompted a turn into the first catchment that had some promising looking terrain. Found a spot just out of sight of the main track and threw the trusty naturehike tent up beside a sweet mountain stream. Massive amounts of feed and no sign but dog was eager to get going and with a good 5hrs left of light decided to climb up to the first ridge for a good looksee.
Lower slopes were mainly dense matagouri before giving way to sparse tussock and alpine scrub. After a good hour of climbing with strategic stops to glass when I was getting a bit puffed we cleared the ridge that plateaued out in a series of dry grassy areas. Bone dry now they had a heap of old sign so figured it is probably a good spring grazing area until the summer heat burns it off.
Now heading to the last couple of hours of light and still no sign of animals except for a few cheeky hares that would lope off and watch from 50m away daring the dog to chase them. She was keen but a couple of growls kept her in check.
We followed the terraces round to the start of the next ridge system where I could glass up into the head valley and was relieved to pickup several hinds and yearlings grazing in a gut on the far side of the valley. Watched them for a while but the 800m across a pretty gnarly valley and only another couple of hrs of light was enough to put me off from trying to make a stalk.
Decided to sidle back towards camp to see if I could surprise something on the bush edge and scout out a way across to where the deer were camped. Wind was at our back and swirling over the ridge so not really a surprise hear a crash of an animal disappearing back into the beech. Took a seat on a rock to scan across the valley and hello - picked up a chunky looking stag sitting in an small gully beside a waterfall. At 850m hard to pick out details but the antlers and body size made him look fairly mature. While mainly after meat would not say no to a decent stag. Watched him mooch around grazing contentedly for a bit before he bedded down in the tussock enjoying the last sun. Having picked out a possible route over to him we headed back to camp with a plan for the morning.
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Stags hidy hole in red circle and crappy cell phone zoom where you can just make out its ass.
Predawn we pushed up the matagouri covered slope and started sidling round to the crossing point I sussed out the night before. At first light was crossing through some rocky outcrops and a feathered missile whistled past my head just about making me shat my pants as I missed my step over a knarly steep screw slope. A quick grab of some tussock saved the day but could have got pretty messy had I missed it. The Falcon made repeated dive bombs as we hustled to get out of its territory. Dog was not impressed and belly crawled a good 50 meters before getting her courage back and giving the Falcon a good growling from a safe distance. Cool birds - usually they give away their location with their alarm calls before you get too close but this guy was largely silent.
Crossed the stream and hoofed it up the steep scree on the other side. After a good hr of getting our sneak on carefully peeking into every gully on the way we quietly approached the stags hidy hole from last night. Beautiful spot, lots of browse, idyllic mountain waterfall and only visible from directly across the valley. Unfortunately also now vacated. Bugger. Now well light with a light pack decided we might as well keep working our way round the valley and up round to the ridge we walked up last night.
Not expecting to see much as we were approaching 9:30 am and the Sun was already cooking. I was a bit careless coming over a ridge but luckily noticed the dog lockup looking up valley. A spiker was watching intently from about 200m on a trail across real steep scree slope below us. Could see the arse of at least one deer ahead of him so slowly dropped down behind the rocks onto a mat of dwarf mountain Totara and quickly got the 7mmRM off the pack and loaded. Wind was in our favour and figured they were heading down to the safety and shelter of the beech in the bottom of the valley. The trail would pass around 200m below us so set up on the bipod and waited. Dog was getting more excited and had to go some vigorous gesticulations to get her to sit out of sight.
Sure enough a few rocks heralded the arrival of a couple of hinds, a yearling and old mate spiker who luckily seemed to have discounted the odd figures popping out in the rocks earlier. They were all moving at a steady clip across the slope so wanting to do my bit for population control and freezer filling I lined up on the lead hind and ‘thwack’ put a sst behind the front leg. She lurched down hill before piling up about 40m below. Dog materialized beside me panting with excitement. The suppressor did its job with the other deer standing looking confused. It would have been rude not too so I dropped the phat looking yearling which was enough to send the remaining hind scarpering. The spiker just stood there until I stood up and waved my arms finally convincing him it was time to clear out. He has a lot to learn with several stops in easy shooting range to stare at me as I started down the hill to collect the meat. Dog was beside herself so let her off and she high tailed down the hill like a furry rocket and beelined for the nearest deer. Well pleased with herself until realising the blowies were already on the job sending her into a flurry of snaps trying to get them away from her kill.
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Just after taking the second shot - can still see ole mate spiker on left not sure what is going on. He eventually trotted off directly back through the gully.
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Dragged them into on the shade of a handy tree and boned them out leaving the minced front quarters. Despite the heavy load decided to push up around to the headbasin for a looksee. A couple of hours later I was cursing the wanderlust as I crawled up a particularly arsepuckering steep rocky face to gain the main ridge. Sun was well up now and we both had our tounges hanging out so was relieved to park up beside a small seep for a rest and admire the view.
30mins later decided to push on down the ridge for camp, dog was still being an idiot running round sniffing out for hares but left putting her on the long line too late, Panting uncontrollably, drooling and once she stopped she wouldn’t/couldn’t get up. Fairly concerned at this point and stuck in a pretty exposed ridge with no water supplies handy I tucked her up in the part shade of some tussocks with my jacket tented over the walking pile for some extra shade. Gave her as much water as she would drink and splashed the rest over her belly and armpits where the hair is thinnest. After 3/4 hr and not much change was mentally preparing to jettison the meat to allow me to carry 25kg of hot dog out but after an hour she started to perk up with some clouds that rolled over cutting the brutal heat a bit. 1.5hrs later I put her on a short line and coaxed her down towards camp. Was a long slow walk and relieved to get to the shade of the valley floor and into the nearest pool in the creek to dump the last of the heat. A feed and good loll in the long grass seemed to have her back to normal.
Packed up and walked the 30min back to the car under a hood heavy pack, loaded up and headed home.
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Goes to show don’t have to get far off the beaten track for animals these days, was hoping to get back after the roar when things are cooler but definitely a spot to check out early spring. Since then have been working to curb the dogs enthusiasm in hot temps. Made for a long day having to nurse her down the hill but better than having to carry her out (or worse).
