Hey all
Just got back from 5days on the block,
So Sunday morning finally came along and i was awake bright and early waiting for my hunting partner to drive down from Auckland and pick me up,he arrived about 6:30 and i loaded my gear into the van and we headed south,stopped in tokoroa for a dose of maccas for breakfast and continued on to helisika,i was excited and nervous as i havent been on a chopper before haha we arrived at the hanger,filled out the papers and weighed the gear,being 10kg over weight Ben,the pilot said we were good to go,the weather was on and off according to metservice but we werent worried at all,once at the hut all the gear was unloaded and sorted and a quik cup of tea and a plan for the day was arranged,we headed our separate ways brendan going north and me heading south up and over sika saddle but no deer being spotted by both of us though plenty of fresh sign and food about,so back at the hut for lunch and a plan for an evening hunt sorted,a few ks walked and alot of stalking was done for the first two days before brendan called me on the rino gps saying he shot a nice yearling and from 252metres away he was well impressed with his shot,i was at the hut at the time so i raced over to give him a hand,he gave me a lesson on dressing in the field as i have no experience with that haha,so i offered to carry it back to the hut for him,once at the hut we hung it the meat safe to set,the next day was pissing down so a good read in the hut was the plan,the next day dawned a beut,so again headed our separate ways for the day again nothing seen and shit that was a big day both of us doing alot of ks,we both got back to the hut about 3ish in the arvo,we cut up the yearling and a good feed of venison was on the menu for dinner,after a good feed brendon took me to a look out that looked promising so ten minutes from the hut we pushed through the scrub and found the first lookout and sure enough down on the river bank was a nice fat spiker,and brendon gave me the chance to nail it,this would be my first sika! 215metres on the range finder so i set up a rest and got comfy just as the spiker turned side on BOOM went his remy 708 and shit it dropped on the spot!!i was confident on the shot so now we were in recovery mode,shit we had a long walk just to get to the animal,down a near vertical cliff with a narrow dodgy track,across the river x3 haha once there i gutted it and strapped it to my back and off home we went,was the hardest but most rewarding walk ive ever done,the hill/cliff was a true gut buster and finally after a 2hour slog i made it to the hut just before dark,the remaining two cans of waikato i put in the stream never taste soo good!!bloody good timing as we were flying out the next morning:-)
Will post pics:-)
