Thread: Nelson lakes fourum hunt 7 8 9 Nov 2014

Wow, so this is what Nelson looks like when it is emptied. Just about hear a pin drop. It is actually quite peacefully. Think I will hang out here for a while

Can still hear VC

Oops fell asleep. Not a bad place to spend the night

The boys will be in to it today.

There's probably thousands of drunk sand flies up at the lake right now .

Ken

Home ...... But since you like it quiet.............. Oh and Kaaaaboooomfaa.

Photos to follow. Unpacking to do.

Here's a few pics from day one ....

Super weekend with super blokes!
We got off the boat-thanks mike and VC ! Me and Munsey got setup and headed off for a 4 hour walk to Morgans hut. 4 massive windfall areas meant it took us 7.5 hours. Well and truly buggered when we got there.
Munsey went for a river dance upstream-ill let him tell that story-I went back down to watch some flats. All I saw were some obese possums.
Sleeping bag was a welcome sight Friday night.Sat am we head off upstream to check some clearings on map.
Plenty of sign up and down the 12km of river flats, a good portion of it fresh.
Glassed the tops every opportunity we got but saw absolutely nothing.
Got back to the hut and had an overdue breakfast and at 1pm headed off on the long buttcrack of a walk back to base.
Had a fair few xtra river crosssings to avoid the windfall. Found a lot more sign and got back to base around 6.30 to a few brown refreshments -your a legend Stingray ! Me and Munsey had a few detailed convos on the way back about such beverage partaking.
Dinner was had along with a few more medicinal brown liquids-got to keep beerdrated!, think I was the first into bed and the last to rise which I can blame some of on being well hydrated and nothing to do with being farking shagged.

After a decent breakfast session it was pack up and into the boat.
All in all a superb weekend and while no deer were shot that doesn't mean there was no lead in the air.
4 parties all got onto deer which I think is a great result in itself for a lot of blokes new to the area.

I think you can measure a trips success sometimes not by the deer on the ground but by the laughter and good times, of which there were tons.

thanks all for a great time !

Pics to follow when I can get them off me phone.

Readying for departure

Arrival at base

Cams over the back there somewhere onto the deer no doubt

And we won't mention the wee lapse in concentration by mr boat driver while there was no one round to see.
Suffice to say the boat has a wee souvenir on its wee nosie, of its first ever, ever ,ever trip in 13 years in fresh water

Originally Posted by stingray

Here's a few pics from day one ....Attachment 30968Attachment 30969Attachment 30970Attachment 30971

You could have at least taken the photo of my good side. Outside the field of view!

Met Munsey and Antsman outside my place for a ride up to lake Rotoroa where we met VC, mikee and Stingray. Good not to be driving, I was still recovering from half an hours driving the previous day and just about lost my lunch on the wharf as it was. We put our meagre collection of gear (there is nothing like travelling light, and we were nothing like travelling light) in the back of mikees boat and set off to the other end of the lake where we met up with tikka.

On arrival we stowed our gear and made plans for an afternoons adventure. I paired up with Stingray who showed me some of his old stomping ground, exactly the area that I thought looked promising to me a couple of nights earlier as I looked over my new map. Once we got into the zone we saw heaps of fresh sign; fresh prints and scat on the track. Smooching around the flats there was even more sign. Heartening stuff! After covering the territory we wanted we headed back to the hut for a rest and a feed. This knackered, out of shape old body needed the rest but with plenty of encouragement from Stingray I made it.

Plenty of old pig routing.



Few deer prints. This one next to a 243 round.



The plan was hatched to return to the promising spots from the previous day so we again headed off. On the clearings we found heaps of fresh sign and a few very well used game trails. We picked on one and followed a trail of fresh droppings and hoof prints up a spur. Stingray checked the wind, in our faces, perfect. There were very fresh deer turds; I could tell by the wet glossy surface, soft texture and the fresh nutty taste. Further up we tracked, ... flies on the scat. Further up and we were beating the flies to the scat. I could hear sticks breaking and feet sliding less than 80m ahead of us, the animal wasn't in a hurry. Then the wind swirls around and blows right up our arses and a few seconds later we hear we hear hurried hoof steps and out quarry crashes away quickly and noisily up. So close! We are heartened by our progress for a couple of rookies.

Fresh and shiney. Get them while they're hot!



Three lane deer highway.



We wander slowly 300m vertically back down to the clearings and have a bit of a squizz around again before heading back to the hut. Damned nice spot.



After a couple of days good slog it was a well earned lie down after a feed and heaps of talk from the other guys; everyone relaying their stories. The last morning was mainly talking and listening before we loaded up, cleaned up and left. No deersies were injured in the making of this story (unfortunately), but I can attest to the fact that some had the shit scared out of 'em. I learned heaps and a big thanks to everyone for making this happen.

And goodbye to some of the friendlier locals before we left.

On ya GM. Good post.

Not much more to add , I managed to see a deer come out near on dark on a large flat , tried to close the gap , but was still 350 mts away and combination of poor scope and deer in feeding in a low part of flat , meant that was too hard to see/ shoot . So he got to live another day . Seen two more out on way back to camp in the head lamp ( eyes only) .
Up early to hopefully get on to them in the morning with antsman , unfortunately not the case , wasn't from lack of trying . We where both knackered .
Perfect weather and great company , great trip good to explore new ground . Farrrrk got to go to work now !
Special thanks to Mikee for the boat ride and stingray for the Scollies good effort

Oh well guys, hard luck on the animals, but at least you where out there, sounds like you all had a great time....which is the main thing!!!!!!

Some good hard yards put in there. Deer are the bonus that would have capped the weekend off. Good to see everyone had a good time and returned safely full of beans.
could this be an annual event?