Voyeur no more.

Evening all, “Laurie’s Hut” here (Mike)
As the title suggests I’ve been watching for some time. Hung in until the bitter end at FishNHunt until Allen finished it off with his “upgrade” and then it got taken over by the 501’s from here.

54 years old, and been hunting for the vast majority of it.
Started with Sparrows and Myna birds, with the odd trophy Magpie as a young fella on the back lawn in Tokoroa. Graduated onto to rabbits, goats with my first 22, and then deer. Had a few calibres over the years, but the mighty 308 is still my favourite. Have too many, must sell a couple…
Not a trophy hunter, although I appreciate a nice head. Not a big venison eater either.
I realised as I’ve got older I seem to have lost the motivation to shoot everything I see, I get as much pleasure from watching a deer in the wild as shooting it. Give away 90% of the meat I take.

Done the majority of my hunting in Pureora and the Clements area of the Kaimaniwas, like most from Tok.
The odd helisika block, desert road, and the Urewera’s, Kaimai’s.
More recently (last 10 years) I’ve discovered that island we creatively called the South Island, love the open tops, and constantly kick myself for not getting into it when I was young, fit and strong with no commitments, instead of bashing around the central north island thick shit…

Have had demanding jobs last 20 years, that post COVID typically meant several weeks a year in Europe, normally March - May :pissed off: and combined with family, it that doesn’t allow a great deal of time for hunting. And based in Auckland means it’s typically not just an hours drive and into it. Having said that, the upside is I’ve hunted a little bit in Austria and Switzerland, and intend to do more.
To contradict my statement on close proximity hunting in Auckland, I’m very fortunate to contract to DOC and ARC to do pest control work in my spare time.
Have been knocking over a few Fallow deer that are spreading too far for Doc’s liking. Quite enjoy the chance to hunt close to home, although the hoops you jump with council and the police are soul destroying, it’s good to be doing this. It’s certainly opened my eyes to a different type of hunting, and put a very different perspective on it.

Anyway, look forward to more stories posted, will whack one up myself when I get a minute.

Chur Mike

Nice intro Mike. Welcome.

Welcome aboard bud,nice to see another former Tokoroaite on here,there are a few here who grew up with smell of chlorine in the air...went back up last month,she is a slighly different town to the one I remember from my childhood...supermarket where the scout hall once stood and heaps of houses gone.... still the same old town at heart though.

Welcome aboard. Great intro!

Welcome. Looking forward to hearing some of those stories.

Welckme aboard man, second the good 8ntro comment.

Welcome aboard Mike. Tokoroa aye? Some bloody good buggers from down that way.