Where in the world is Waimate?
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Packed up the truck with four other keen shooters and enough gear to have us comfortable for about 2 weeks and set off on the 5 hour drive up to Waimate to see if we couldn’t get onto some wallabies.
Even though we were only going for 3 days, the old saying that "your better looking at it, than looking for it" meant fitting all the gear in the back of the Isuzu wagon, had me summonsing all my skills from years of practice playing Tetris.
on the third repack, we somehow fitted 4 eskies, (chilly bins) 9 back packs, (still trying to work that one out?) 3 duffel bags, multiple sets of cooking gear and god only knows what else......
We were then able to set off.
We arrived late on the Thursday. I had to work all day so after the drive, I crashed out on the matt and caught some zzzz's
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The game plan was to run a "drive" down the face of the hill by lining up next to one another, spread along in a line, then as we walk along, flushing the 'roos out from under our feet.
shotguns were the preferred tool for those short range snap shots, with some of the party (myself included) using small to medium calibre rifles, when a longer shot presented.
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having this mix of firearms worked well, giving each shooter an opportunity to take shots in the situation their chosen firearm was best suited for.
Some of the most notable, were some spectacular long range running shots. of particular one of the members who had only recently acquired a beautiful Browning White Gold rifle in .308 Winchester. i doubt I will see him wanting to trade it any time soon!
We were also entertained by a few of the wallabies that were taken at some extremely short ranges with the shotguns, Emphatic!
I chose to bring my Windham AR15 Vex chambered in .223 Remington.
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As it is suppressed, the noise levels are comfortably low. Also the animals are not as spooked by the shots, allowing for follow up shots as needed and to take multiple targets as they presented.
I was using Hornady's 55 grain soft point “training” ammo. Quite cheap to shoot, but still accurate and worked reliably on wallaby sized game.
Most shots expanding and failing to exit, with extensive internal damage.
Overall, I think this set is a perfect match of firearm and ammunition for this type of use. I do think though, that my choice of the Leupold VX2 scope in 2x7x33 a little small and if I go again I will go to a larger magnification for those longer shots.
Walking these hills was quite challenging, I don’t have the best knees and sidle'ing across a hill at angles greater than forty five degrees for most of the time, combined with the heat causing dehydration, I suffered cramping and joint pain. But I made it most of the way with the others, admittedly much fitter than me.
The evening, had cloud descending on us. We had to make our way back to camp as it became white out conditions and it was getting dark by then anyway.
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The next morning had the sun back out and I am sure it was even hotter. As a result, the wallaby count was down on the previous day. (it could also have been that some weary legs didn’t cover as much ground too!) so we retreated back to camp.
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the break gave us the chance to make a a few running repairs to firearms and gear. Also to rehydrate before the evening hunt.
The evening hunt had me come up with a cunning plan. Rather than bash through the prickle bush and spear grasses to flush out the wallabies, we tried to set up on an opposing face, and wait for them to appear and try for some longer range shots.
The plan was quite successful, as the shadows grew longer, the wallabies came out from there hides and began to feed in the last rays of sunlight, giving us the opportunity to take a longer shot at the undisturbed animal.
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We ended up taking ten animals just on that one face! Its nice when a plan comes together.
The light began to fade and the wind was starting to cool us off just enough to encourage us back to camp for a hard earned beer, with a surprise guest appearance from one of the locals.
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Pack-up is always a little bit harder than set-up and the drive home was uneventful. Even though everyone was a little tired, with a tally of 236, new friends created and new stories to tell, it made for a great trip.
Greg
