Wet and windy weekend of hunting
A couple of mates I haven't hunted with for a long time came over on Sunday and we shot into the hills for an overnighter.
Our plans were to glass five main catchments, that all had nice looking head basins. I'd previously looked into one of the main valleys only once, seeing no animals that time, so this trip was purely reconnaissance. But the hope that a big stag might be out in the tops was a major draw card.
We packed light, and after about 6 hours on the hill we'd found somewhere flat and out of the cold wind to camp for the night. As we set up camp the first spits of rain, which would be the first of many, fell from the sky...
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With camp set up we shot off down the ridge for a hunt, as the heavens opened and the gale picked up. Each time we stopped to glass we had to hide behind a rock or down a bluff to shelter from the wind and rain. Shit it was cold!
Wasn't long before Pip had picked up scent on the wind, and after a fair bit of glassing we spotted a young 8 point stag bedded down on a slip opposite us. He was alone, and spent most of his time feeding. He was the only animal we saw that evening, as I think the weather kept most of them under the cover of the bush.
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It was a long, wet and windy night out in the tops. Sleep was hard to come by, so as soon as the light of dawn came we were up the hill glassing some more likely looking country.
Thankfully the rain has stopped and we'd started to dry off. Soon enough we picked up a group of three reds out feeding on the bush edge. Two hinds and a stag. The stag was small, so we watched them for a while then moved on.
As we headed towards the next catchment we got into some neat Chamois country and sat to glass.
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Within moments of sitting, we'd spotted a group of Chamois. We snuck a bit closer to get a few photos, as none of them were mature animals, nor were they our target species. They weren't too bothered about us, but eventually moved off up into the bluffs.
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Leaving the chamois, we started heading back towards home. By now we could see the rain rolling in from the west. The boys heading into Fiordland would be having a rough start! Within a couple of hours we were drenched, wet to the skin, so we bee lined it for the truck.
Keen to still get an animal for the freezer if we could, we dropped into a gully of beech and hunted our way up it. Even in the bush it was soaking, and we weren't to hopeful of finding a deer. We stumbled across a wallow that'd been freshly used, so kept following a deer trail thru the bush.
Minutes later, Blake had dropped to his knee and lined up on a deer I'd yet to see. One shot and we had some meat to take home. The best part, the carry was only a few hundred metres to the truck!
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Regardless of the substandard weather, and relative lack of animals for the amount of country we covered, it was a good trip, well overdue.
The next 5-6 weeks are booked up, so here's hoping for cold settled weather and less of the wet stuff for the roar!
Josh :)
