Thread: Wonder through Sika country

About two weeks ago I travelled back up north to visit family and friends where I wanted to get back into the Kaimanawas for a hunt as I simply miss the sika.

A quick 2.5 hr walk into the Oamaru Hut for a few days as there's plenty of country in there to hunt and some favourite haunts to visit and see what the deer numbers and vegetation is like was decided.





The weather was hot so it was an early start as I had a long day a head.

It was great bumping into a couple of blue ducks as I never get bored of seeing or hearing them.









The bush was stunning but I've always loved the beech forests of the Kaimanawas





The day was hot where I decided I would simply hunt with the camera for the day as I was afraid of meat spoiling before I got out but taking photos of animals can often be harder than shooting them as by the time you have the camera out, turned on, waiting for camera to focus the animal has already bolted which is exactly what happened on a few deer.

But I did get lucky on a few others













When I came across the 8 point sika I saw he was still in velvet which is a bit odd for this time of year but even though I could have shot him I decided to leave him as in another 2-3 years he should be a better animal and there were plenty of hinds around to take for meat.

I got back to the hut that night well after dark but still had a great day in great country and it felt quite good not to have shot anything apart from having animals on camera.

Day two was off to another good start nice and early covering some favourite country. I didn't bump into as many animals the day before I did line up a yearling hind for meat but pulled the shot which I wasn't happy with. I spent the next hour looking for her to no avail and even went back in the late afternoon for another look but nudda.

Anyway it was a great couple of days in a great spot in the kaimanawas but I would have loved to have had a longer time in there exploring some other haunts.