Thread: Taking a new chum out for a first hunt...and the stupid shit they do.

Don't know what everyone is so upset about. Make noise etc, it's beneficial.
Dumb deer won't worry.
Dumb deer = lazy deer= tender meat.
Dumb deer live in open easy country = easy to spot = easy retrieval.
Let the heroes chase the clever deer that live in the hard to get too places , with hard retrievals and tough meat. Enjoy the easy, tender meat a newbie will lead you to.... always a silver lining if you look hard enough!

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If a person wants to learn to walk quietly...on muscle not bone.get them to walk barefoot on tarseal for a bit everyday.it teaches how to put your paddles down gently...gently=quietly

I've been that guy. I didn't come from a hunting family so had no idea.

First time I went hunting, I bought along my most appropriate rifle which of course was a 308 in a Kalashnikov type action, which I carried as safely as possible- empty chamber... and empty mag, too. I really had no idea what to expect but I was completely caught off guard when he led me to some goats. So i loaded 5 rounds in the mag and cocked the rifle as quietly as possible, which of course made a clackity clack sound similar in tone, volume and duration to a small train passing.

By the time I was ready, the goats were already starting to leave.

"F**k, where do I aim?!?"

"Aim for the f**king goat"

So I aimed for the goat and of course managed to miss it entirely.

He was a gracious guide, though. He took me hunting again.

I have a story involving my first season out duck shooting.
Putting out decoys on the pond and the some of them were not staying where I had placed them.

Little did I know you were ment to unwind the sinker from around the base of the decoy so they were weighted down.

Yeah , have not lived that one down.....Yet.

The last time I took my teenage son hunting with me I wasn't 10 yards from the ute and I was already gritting my teeth. It amazes me how much noise can be generated walking on grass! If I didn't know better I could have sworn he was trying to scare the deer away.

That said, I recently hunted with my brother and nephew. They tend to shoot their deer across gullies at 400 to 500 yards. They weren't particularly quiet in the tight stuff either.

Talking to a mate the other night, he took his boy and another boy for an evening hunt on a private block with plenty of deer. first hour or so was a bit frustrating as every 30 seconds or so the silence was punctuated with "hiccup"

They bring uninvited children

I took a workmate out for a hunt, walked about 1.5k up a valley and then 200m climb up a ridge. Did some glassing, saw nothing so I suggested we carry on further up the ridge.
He replied with "Na I think this is far enough for me ". I left him there and said I'll pick him up on my way back.

Another young guy I took out pulled out his phone to take photos of the bush we were going through saying it was like a jungle. Not sure what he meant, honestly we were still able to walk through it without crawling.

To someone I can't name, on the occasion of first taking him out..."If you point that rifle at me one more time I'm going to take it off you, shove it up your arse and pull the trigger." Fortunately he listened and recently got his first deer on his own.

Glassing a slip and your mate sparks up a ciggy or having to wait for your short legged friend every 2 minutes

Originally Posted by kano308

Glassing a slip and your mate sparks up a ciggy or having to wait for your short legged friend every 2 minutes

The bloody ciggy!!! it smells like atomised ARSE and it goes EVERYWHERE. They're a deer's best friend

Originally Posted by T.FOYE

The bloody ciggy!!! it smells like atomised ARSE and it goes EVERYWHERE. They're a deer's best friend

Probably less scary to a deer than human scent? I can't abide smoking but I don't think it matters any more than letting any other scent drift with the wind. I never cared about my mates back in the day smoking. Work the breeze correctly and you are ok.

Or the ones that insist on climbing an easy hill using both their feet and their hands, all the while claiming "this is so bloody dangerous, this is so steep, I'm scared, are we there yet". And then when you've climbed about 100 metres, not so quietly to a ridge/glassing point and they stand up straight and climb on to the ridge and go "this is cool". Took 2 guys like this out for their first tahr. Hell it was only 500 metres to the first animal, but they couldnt or wouldnt walk up the tussock, all the time telling their mate how bloody difficult it was. And then get them lying in the tussock watching a bull come down for his evening feed about 200 metres away, plain as day. But they insisted on using their bino's and talking about it, but still couldnt see it. At 150 I told the first guy to take it, still couldnt see it standing in low tussock 150 metres away. So I told him to lay down, get his rest and rifle ready and point it up the hill. Then I stood behind him and wound his bloody scope back down to 3X cos he'd wound it up to find the bull. Then I placed his rifle dead in line with said tahr. All the time these 2 numpties are yakking away to each other like they were miles apart. Then I told him to aim more left as the bull moved, then more left, then more left. Then I talked rather quietly, but in no uncertain terms - "the other fucking left!" finally the bull was about 100-110 and he finally saw it and yelled, "I've found it, I've found it! Bull stops, stands up higher, and ol' mate misses! Another shot and we had our bull. Oh dont we just live for these sorts of hunts.

Noise is absolutely the big one for me.

took a guy out and it started drizzling a little bit, he promptly put on a plastic rain jacket and big baggy rain trousers. sounded like a shopping bag moving through the bush.

took another one out, we're watching a clearing and a hind pokes out. I knew when he saw it because he let out the loudest "HOLY SHIT LOOK THERE'S A DEER!!" which I still give him shit about

Sidling around a spur about a click below the hut where we were staying. I wanted to drop down into the creek where a stag was roaring and my mate wanted to go back to the hut. I said just keep going in the up direction and you can't miss it as its above the bushline on this spur. See you there later. Twenty minutes later, 3 shots rang out followed by a shot every few minutes. I raced back up and found him apparently 'lost' He was used to the open Australian desert shooting from a 4WD and the NZ bush was a bit too much. Still enjoy my trips with him and he is learning every time.

Another interesting one was in the Ureweras in the early 80's. Took this guy who found navigation a bit of a challenge for a day trip. Got to a favourite spot in a saddle and I heard some movement above us. I told him to wait and watch as it seemed an animal was moving down toward us. He was about 10m away from me when a hind and fawn popped out. Before I could say don't shoot, he did and missed from around 20m. The hind decided she didn't want to stick around and ran in an arc around me. He was shooting as she was running and I suddenly found myself between her and him. I dived to the ground and heard the shot that finally connected with her. Needless to say, I read him the riot act. The poor fawn was bleating further down the gut by this stage and we couldn't get close to it. I never took him again.

I've been the new guy and chipped about the noise my stiff shanked alpine boots make on logs and roots. And also about my heel scuffing the inside of my leg as I step over things - that nagging sticks in my head now everytime I go out.
Funny enough, the same mentor that chipped me on these things, cannot navigate his way through the bush in any other fashion than bush bashing. Five minutes struggling along with him and I mutter something about his long legs/pace and leaving me behind, offer to take the lead and BOOM we're consistently on game trails walking with ease. The second I lose a game trail I'm looking for the deer shaped hole in the bush... He's noted several times now that I get us around in the bush pretty well. Maybe its because I'm closer to the ground