Thread: The most enjoyable unsuccessful hunt!

We are holidaying at Havelock at the head of the Pelorus sound . . . In which Valley 4 previous generations of my mothers family pioneered and farmed. We visited family graves starting with my Great Great Grandfather. I looked longingly at my Mum and Dad's old farm fronting about 2 miles of beautiful Pelorus river frontage, and in my youth the farms along there all had hill blocks, rising extremely steeply to 800+M (the Bryant range). The hill country was still about 50% bushed, and held large numbers of pigs and goats, with just a few deer - so I was born hunting, even my Mum shot a large pig one time when neighbour's dogs chased it over the river, across the flats right up our drive - she didn't miss, she'd been bought up hunting, her teenage duties included taking younger brothers pig hunting!

Now our family has reached 7 generations in Aoteoroa their "footprint" in the Rai and Pelorus Valleys is all but gone . . . Except for one huge Gulley of forestry behind a dairy farm - yes a cousin retained the forestry block his dad first planted in the 1960s and he was happy for me to go for a shot for a pig or Goat ( but not the fallow deer which have become established there recently). What a privilege!

I did call the dairy farmer, the right of way may give legal access but it's always nice to know what's going on when you're a farmer, and he actually seemed quite pleased to hear from me even though we've never met.

It was with some trepidation that I parked the car and started sorting gear. It was almost exactly 48 years since I last had hunted in the forestry block as a 16 year old (with a brand new Tikka LSA55 in 308 topped with a Nikko Sterling 2.5x). The hills looked bloody steep and I only had an hour or two

I decided to pack @nor-west 's new 257 Robert's M70, it seemed polite to introduce it to some new country but it wasn't sighted in so it was going to need a round through it to get a zero - I'll make a separate post on how to get a rough single round zero using the latest tech.

Up the track I went and soon I was looking down over the scene of a 48 year old fuck-up, I'd been well up the hill and reached the paddocks at absolute last light to find a pig about 75M away but in the poor light I let the post reticle of the 2.5X drift too high and I missed an easy shot. Back to the present and I could hear goats a fair way up the hill in the forestry. I dropped into a narrow gully and fired the one shot I needed for my rough zero.

The sound of the goats above were very faint and as I climbed (slowly) it was obvious they were on a different spur, and I wasn't going to be able to get across to it in the time available - and connecting up with them in steep scrub/forestry is a big ask .

From a vantage point I was able to scan some recently planted faces and after a bit there was a mob of goats, but they too were safe as they ranged at 1160M (thanks Mr lieca).

Then the sound of more goats drifted across from the other side of the main creek, over the backs of the herd of dairy cows that had come up a lane, and guess what, those goats were safe too, the creeks in this area are formidably deeply "cut" and the farm had two lanes, one up each side of it, even modern machinery wasn't up to making a crossing. And it was still 300-400M so not doable with the zero I had, even if I were to shoot over the cows, which I wasn't!.

I have to say that it was with a joyful heart that I turned for home even though I hadn't gotten very far up the hill (267M elevation to be exact) and hadn't shot anything, the experience of treading in the footsteps of my Grandfather (he bought this particular farm about 1912 we think), my Mum, and her bothers put a spring in my step. The goats will keep for another generation to hunt anyway.

Nice. Won't be long and Cousin will be asking you to come back to control the Fallow numbers. Have seen it time and again when cockies overly protect "their" deer and then they are hit by the exponential numbers increase.

Originally Posted by Tahr

Nice. Won't be long and Cousin will be asking you to come back to control the Fallow numbers. Have seen it time and again when cockies overly protect "their" deer and then they are hit by the exponential numbers increase.

Yup. I'd confidently predict that if I last to 70 that will be exactly the case. The farmer told me where they were coming out but I was on the wrong side to be able to look over that area . . .

There's nothing quite like feeling a generations deep connection to a place and walking with your feet in the present and your mind in the past.

Very high goat numbers in the front country round that area, not uncommon to see mobs of a dozen or so grazing right on the highway at the right time of day. The deer are slowly eating the bush in the sounds down to the dirt...

Yeah, on Christmas day there was a mob in our old "top boundary" paddock, which was a ranged 460M from the main road! Not much pig sign spotted but Im guessing its now harder to see with there not being big patches if bracken fern now everything is covered by the giant thistles!

Yeah, farmers of all people should understand population dynamics and herd management principles
But I often see high fallow numbers on the back of farms that limit their potential long term

I also know a few farmers who actually don't realize just how many deer they have because they are time poor and aren't out there in the dark with a thermal to get a decent idea of numbers
I recently had a farmer comment " I haven't seen any fallow lately " as I met him coming back from a hunt on foot. He was on his quad because it's a massive farm.
I had seen 30 deer that morning but shot none because I was shooting some old relic and needed to be within spitting distance

Cool Report!

My great grandmother's family settled in Nelson probably around a similar timeframe too yours. She moved north when she married, but her Brother moved too the West Coast.

It was a happy surprise for us, as we didn't know it at the time, but when we took over our new farm here a year and a half ago, we found out that it had been his 105 years ago.