Four days away was the plan. Two of us left Auckland to pick up a mate from Tauranga who was leaving his car at friends in Kinloch then on to meet Ritchie (from Napier) in Taihape. Had a great feed at Gumboot Manor.
From there we were heading into the foothills of the Ruahines. A first for all of us.
Once settled in it was time to put in a few yards to locate a few distant roars.
With one of my knees giving grief for the last week and now strapped in a brace I took the easy ground while Ritchie went for a fish and the other 2 took on some steeper terrain.
After 1 hour not much ground had gone under my shoes when I thought it would be a good time to put up a moan to some not too distant roaring. After 10 minutes of playing tag and the light fading it was time to move closer.
A couple of steps and something crashed off to my left and not far from cutting my wind – WTF??? Quick moans and a couple of “Meh” through the tube had the unseen come back. An obscured view of a stag he was not bad going by the spread. He stopped so tried to pick him up in the scope. Where was he? A bit more movement and he came into sight facing me head on 12m away. Ka boompha sang the 308 and off he went – “you shitting me” is what I recall thinking. Standing there dumbfounded thinking I went a bit high and to the right. The sound of consistent bush crashing just over there was comforting.
A few minutes later I headed in the general direction and there he was – a spiker with handle bars on his head FFS
A quick photo session with my phone and off I went.
Right knee straining and aching like hell. At least it was flat ground and the GPS showed all I had to do was man up and walk the 400m back the way I came
Got back and there was Ritchie with a nice rainbow and tales of many more missed.
That was our lot for the next couple of days with the exception of 1 more trout. Roaring was there but not as strong as the first night with the weather been quite mild.
The last night was a good old fashion blowout getting to bed at 4am then up at 8 to pack and head home.
For me hunting has taken the back seat since our daughter was born 2.5 years ago and now we have another on the way. Initial scan shows a boy and will confirm in a couple of weeks with the next scan.
I miss the hunting but cherish the time at home – torn heart
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