August School Holidays

[Seventenths]

Every school holiday and on weekends to be fair I try to get away when work and weather permit with the kids and sometimes their mates if I can and on this particular set of days I managed to get out for a goat shoot on a property out western Waikato we haven't been out to for the past few months.


Andy and his son Ben were coming out with us, we've been out hunting together before so we were all well over due to do it again.


I took out the usual goat gun being the Tikka .223 and even got to borrow a mates Vixen which has been re-barreled to .223 which has a fair few battle marks and if that stock could talk I'm sure it could tell a few stories!





We were hoping to get Ben his first goat so we trundled down to the back of the property looking for goats as we went but nothing seen as it was just a bit too hot, we cut up along an old track when one goat popped out in front of us so with no time to pass the rifle I just popped it on the spot so that was goat number one.


Once down the back we enjoyed the views and had a bite to eat before carrying on where in a little fold in the landscape there was a loan goat a good 120 mtrs away so Ben and I crept forward where I got Ben all set up and in position.


The goat was facing away from us so we waited for a broad side shot and when the goat turned Ben dropped him with a perfect clean kill.


I'm not sure who was more excited, Ben, his dad or me ;D


From there we wondered along an old fence line separated with bush on one side and farmland on the other when Andy who was ahead spotted some goats just below us.
Andy waited for me where I got him to shoot first where he dropped 3 goats and I dropped two more.


There's always a few pigs in the area so we tend to pile the goats up in spots as the pigs always finish them off.








From there we wondered along through the broken bush country where we dropped down into a small valley and on the other side we spotted amongst some gorse three goats feeding away so we got Jamie in behind the butt where he shot at one but missed, he reloaded quickly but the goats weren't going to make themselves easy targets for a second shot so we carried on.


Further down on a little bend on the valley on our left I could hear a few goats bleating away in the bush so a few goat calls back had them walking out onto a ledge where Jamie missed yet again.


A few more bleats and they came out again which I put down to the suppressor not disturbing them too much and the confusion of sound bouncing around in a valley so this time I let rip with the vixen but also missed.


We ended the day by walking up onto a high spot and letting the boys fire off the remaining ammo I had onto lime stone rocks 400 metres away, the great thing with my little Tikka is the capability of being able to dial the CDS turret so the boys could consistently put their rounds on top of each other out to that range which is always great fun regardless of age.





My next little mission was take the boys into somewhere I hold dear which is the Oamaru Hut where I've spent many trips in there over the years, it's an easy walk which only takes a few hours and when I was younger and much fitter my fastest time getting in there with a pack was 1 hr 58 min


At the car park we loaded up when liam pointed out to stags which were behind Helisika's hanger right out in the paddock 300 mtrs away, I've never seen deer that close to the car park before.





Taking the boys in took a little longer but it's an easy walk even for them but as we walking in through Poronui in the late afternoon we took our time as we got to see a few more Sika about.





The next morning we were up early and on our way to an area I've always wanted to show them as it's stunning beech country, some awesome guts, deer sign was everywhere but it's a little hard hunting when there's three of you and two of them are kids but we persevered but the deer weren't having anything of it.





Lunch consisted of our usual venison salami, crackers and swiss cheese which has come to be a regular for our trips and tastes great.



We did get to hear tow hee haws for the morning and stopped for lunch.
Some of the scrapes were still fresh.





By late afternoon we headed back to the hut where the kids started chopping up firewood as there was a fresh supply bought in by chopper so we cut some up and filled up the wood boxes and got a good fire going.











I even showed the kids the old bullet holes in the hut from a time a few years ago where there was an accidental discharge and a bullet missed several people in the hut and remnants can still be seen on one of the bunk beds from the impact.





The next morning we slowly ambled out of bed and made our way out through Poronui.

[tiroatedson]

Good write up. Thanks


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[Rushy]

Excellent stuff.

[stug]

Good stuff, well done on getting the kids out there and passing on the knowledge.

[tanqueray]

Good stuff 7/10’s, when my kids are a little older I hope to emulate your example. We have such an amazing country, and most kids never get to experience it in this way.

[Seventenths]

I started the kids off young much to my wifes horror as she's never been into the hunting thing but over the years I've either won her over, trained her properly or she's just given up.

I started taking the boys duck shooting





Then I introduced them to goat shooting



Then we progressed through to deer hunting







I don't think there's any "correct" age to do it... just get em out there

Even bow hunting down the Waikato river was fun

[Mooseman]

Fun times for everyone, sure beats sitting in front of a tv screen, won't learn much doing that.

[paddygonebush]

The photo of the young fella being photo bombed by the fallow is gold

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[stagstalker]

That is an awesome photo with the fallow in the background. Awesome