Thread: 2 for 3

Yep, another fun day out. Except this one was hard work and a real test for the bung knee...

All the animals were very skitish after being nailed by a couple of rifle hunters the day before, so stalking in close enough to get a shot was very tricky. It was a day where in hindsight running the percentages before hand would have made life easier.... wind direction, approach, stalking cover, locating and even sun played a big part, if we got one wrong they bolted 50/50 wasn't good enough. The sun was an interesting one, it was low with a lot of glare, come at them with the sun at your back and they couldn't see you..... (much).

Anyway, after chasing down a few mobs, me bumping a few and a couple of missed shots (on target but low....need a fricken rangefinder guessing sux),we found ourselves at the bottom of steep gully with gnarly bluffs and rock gorges..... goat land.

Spotting the next move.

We stalked the fence line (not that there was much of a fence, just a few poles) but the nanny mob we'd spotted earlier had moved on. What we did find was plenty of pig sign (next mission)..... so it was back to an earlier mob that we bumped and hoped they'd settled down. We split up and Rob's story covers his adventures.

The 'not fence' fence line.

I cut back and sidled along in the direction we'd seen a mob earlier. After quietly smashing my way through gorse, Manuka and other scrub I hear munching sounds..... a bunch of young nannies were on 5m in front of me. I froze and slowly dropped.... unfortunately I was in the open with zero cover. I was really relying one the wind (good direction) and the camo on this one. I slowly settled in to a position where I could draw properly, nocked a n arrow and waited for one to move into clear sight. After what seemed like and age and mild foot cramp one abled across nibbling gorse tips, I draw and it saw the movement turning from broad side to front on..... I'd shot one like this before and it wasn't the cleanest angle so I waited to for it to turn for a better angle….. the Monster isn't a bow you want to hold at full draw for too long. Anyway, it spooked and headed off. I went after them and then ran into the rest of the mob 8-12 of them.... finally stalked into a good position and shot..... (on target but low....need a fricken rangefinder guessing sux).... off they went.

Followed the trail through the Manuka and scrub but was getting a bit close to where Rob was so I pulled the pin and caught up with him and his animal.

Off with his head.

I decided to have one last look down the valley into the gorge on the way back and up the other side. Quietly sidling along I saw some movement on the other side, a young caramel billy was heading down to a crossing point. I snuck a long and got into position with a clear shot but shaded by a small bush. I could see the goat looking but it just couldn't seem me (stalking lesson # 2 for the day, position yourself in the shade not in direct sunlight if you can). I drew and tracked it as it moved crossed about 30m from me on the opposite bank, as soon as it was in a clearing I let loose. Whack, straight through and into the bank. A small bleet and it ran about 15m before going down.

Butchering was a job in the tight and steep terrain but at least I din't have a far to carry it as Rob did. After I got the legs and straps I hauled the caracas up away from the stream and started my trek back...... what a mission. Near vertical slippery tight Manuka for a leg burning few hundred meters straight up, eventually I broke into a clearing and an animal track about half way up the ridge so the going got (slightly) easier.... I saw more very fresh pig sign so I nocked another arrow just incase I ran into a deaf one that couldn't hear my weasing and puffing.

In all it was a really fun hunt and we felt we really earnt it this time both in the terrain, the stalking and the fact the the animals were super skittish. Any sound, movement or smell they didn't wait around, they bolted. We both commented that with rifles we could have taken out at least a half dozen each, probably more. But its the close stalking that we like, the odds definately aren't in our favour out there but getting better skills and some luck will help push things our way.

We did spot a massive billy early in the day.... unfortunately he was out of bounds on a neighbouring ridge about 200m away. We estimated tip to tip would have been close to 100cm. Honestly he was HUGE... will have to keep an eye out for that gnarly old bugger.

This hunt was also a bit of a test on knee which held out really well, sports tape rocks! Next hunt might have to be over in deer land.... thanks Dan