More attempts were made to try and get onto bigger things to shoot with my youngest.
We flagged going down south to a mate's place in central Canterbury where there are lots of deer, due to bad weather forecast, the deer apparently being in unusually bad condition there after winter and them having house guests staying that they weren't getting on that well with!
Change of plan saw us heading to an area I know on the south side of Mt. Owen where there are always goats. First access ford was too high to drive or walk across, so went for an armed tramp up another track that leads up onto Mt. Owen, till we got to the first river crossing. A nice spot, fossicking was done and the young guy enjoyed himself. @Deanohit will recognise the bino pack.
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Nipped out to Murch for more fuel then gave the boy a choice, find a spot to put the tent up beside the Owen River and look for other spots the next day, or go and check out the road up to Inwood's Lookout. He chose the lookout, so off we went only to discover the forestry access was closed, so we headed home to dinner and sleep in our own beds.
Next day, once I had prised him away from a screen, we headed out towards Hori Bay. Stopped and checked out the are below the Whangamoa Saddle road where you are allowed to hunt, but the bush is super dense and weedy, and didn't look inviting.
Drove up to near the top of the access road to Hori Bay and snuck down a likely looking bush track that headed towards the coast.
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Followed the usual trail markers.
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And the unusual ones (old cyalumes/glo sticks).
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Got to the edge of the DOC block and headed down towards the coast in steepening ground.
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Sitting at the top of a big slip that ran all the way down to the waters edge, we saw a few goats right at the bottom. After carefully picking our way down through the steep bush we heard a kid, and saw a goat heading to cross the slip about 20m away.
Then as we got into a better position to take a shot, the lad pulled a daypack sized block out of the hillside and it rolled over his right hand.
Goats scared away, we had a feed and drink, I gave him some painkillers and we started the trek out. 1:45 later and we were back at the van, had a big lunch and drove home. By this time his hand was quite swollen, but after 3-4 hours at after hours and an x-ray there was no break, so a wrist/hand brace was applied and it was home to bed.
We did learn that it would be very easy to access those goats in our 4m inflatable, so that can be a mission when the lad's hand is up to it.
We're getting closer!
