In March last year Don Yearbury a long time NZDA Whangarei member passed away peacefully at his home in Kamo. His Partner Dawn had the hard job of sorting through his arsenal and I was lucky enough to pick up a .45 Cal muzzle loading black powder rifle.
It took me a while to get around to learning how to use it and getting it shooting ok, but after a box of balls and cup of powder I had a 3” group at 50 yards and was ready for the 2024 roar.
My brother and I do an annual trip to the Raukumaras chasing roaring reds in early April. I had also splurged on a new MIA tent with a little fireplace, so adding the heavy gun to the usual plethora of gear had us weighing in at 365kg on the chopper pad, a mere 5kg off the limit. We had a favourable forecast for the start of the trip with the end of the week looking really wet and wild. So, a decent chopper trip later over to the southern side of the range we set up a super comfortable camp and got into some hunting.
Day 1 was short after the big drive, flight and camp set up, so my brother went up hill from our river side camp to listen for a roar and I poked around the close river flats with no avail.
Day 2 saw clear skies and a stiff southerly’s so I loaded the .45 and went for a big walk. I spooked a couple animals early on but was itching to shoot something with the round ball just to make sure it hit hard and put them on the deck quick. I had opportunity 5kms from camp to shoot a small stag, hind or fawn but thought better of the carry so let them be. Lucky for me on the walk home I saw a yearling hind on a slip a mere 1km from camp. While it was facing uphill grazing I was able to close the gap to a respectable 60 yards and place a shot into the front shoulder. The round ball did an excellent job and put down the small animal hard and fast, 1st kill for the 45.
Day 3 was another stunning morning and a big day of listening to then looking at deer. After putting the little fella on the deck, the goal was a half decent stag so the little 6s were safe from me and the searched continued. My brother managed to seal the deal on a nice 9pt that was missing a bay tine, so we were on the board
Day 4 had a tricky hick up within the first couple of hours of hunting. While climbing a spur I noticed the adjusting screw holding the rear sight down had fallen out and the rear sight was flapping it the breeze. A bit of stick and some tape later I had the sight back together somewhere near where it was before but unsure how accurate I would be I put a 25 yard limit on myself and carried on with my day. The stags were roaring well and after a stalk threw the mountain Nei Nei I was on to what sounded like a decent animal. At 30 yards I saw one of his hinds and she hadn’t seen me but knew something was going on in my direction. We both stood still looking in each other’s direction and it was enough to annoy the stag into action to come get me away from his girls. I waited until he was under 20 yards and gave him the .45 to the brisket as he came at me. Through the cloud of smoke he ran on and I watched him make 30 yards downhill before he turned and continued running not slowing and was out of sight. Scared I had shanked my shot I took a breather, marked my spot on my GPS, reloaded and made my way after him. A further 20-30 yards on I found him stone cold and I had successfully taken a decent 10 pt with the muzzle loader. I tried to move him around for a photo shoot, but he was a big bodied lad and try as I might I couldn’t move him in one piece, so back steaks, rump, silver side and head later I was in for a heavy walk home. It took 5 fu$%ing hours.
Day 5 I was broken and so was the .45, but the weather was holding so I went out for another nudge and took the 7mm08 for a walk. The stags were still going well but I only saw spikers and hinds so came back to camp blissfully light. My brother took a hind for meat, so we had a full meat safe at camp
Day 6 I had somewhat recuperated, but the weather was starting to turn. I donned the wet weathers and took the 7mm08 back uphill. After some good roaring action I spotted a decent stag and watched him close the gap. He was a bigger 10 than the last one so he wore 140 grains and was added to the bone and steak collection at camp. He was a smaller bodied animal and upon closer inspection probably younger than the other animal. He was just unlucky to have run into me and to have had such good head gear.
Day 7 was to wet to bother so we waited out the storm in the tent hoping for a pickup on the morrow. Luckily the next day was clear and still, so after a hasty pack up we were loaded into the chopper, then into the car and home. Red roar 2024 done and dusted with Don’s .45 taking a beauty stag.Attachment 248262Attachment 248262Attachment 248263Attachment 248263Attachment 248264
