Thread: Umukarikari or Oamaru valley

Well, as it turned out we had a successful plan B.
I wanted to do something for him: I missed his birthday earlier in May as I was in Germany. The day I flew out, I asked him if there was anything he wanted me to get for him for his birthday, and he said he wanted to go hunting. Just us, no brothers or sisters.

When the consensus on here reinforced my thoughts, to stay off the tops with the forecast weather bomb, I started thinking about plan b. I briefly considered a one way Helisika drop at the Boyd, and hunting-walking out. Probable rain and rising rivers ruled that out.
So called my old mate with a farm/orchard down Te Puke way, to see if we could come and shoot a few rabbits and possums.
Got the thumbs up, and he mentioned there’s the odd deer down the back. Bring a bottle of red was has parting shot.
He’s got a beautiful place up high with amazing views out to sea. White Island and Mayor on a good day.
As a young fulla I’ve shot plenty of rabbits on his place, and enjoyed many a wine after the cows were milked watching the sun go down, stereo cranking no neighbours to upset.
So the plan was set to relive at least part of our early years, pre wives and children.

First evening the .22 and .222 over the shoulder off we went. Apparently heaps of rabbits and pheasants.
Only saw 3 or 4 rabbits, none obliged us with a suitable shot, no pheasants, no deer, although there was a fair bit of sign, which made me quietly optimistic. It was a very cold evening and a full moon, I wondered if that had anything to do with so little seen. I’d never seen a deer on his place in all the years I hunted there, although most of it over 20 years ago. But I’d also never seen so much sign. Multiple animals of varying sizes and travelling quite some distances from the gorge. So I had hope for the morning.

Back to the farm house for dinner, and a wine or two. Before we got too deep into the wine, we took the boys, a spotlight and 22 for a walk to see if there were any handy possums.
Even colder, and no sign of any possums, it wasn’t before they wanted to head back to the warm. (and their electronic devices)
We didn’t try and sway them, knowing the next bottle would have had time to breathe and required drinking.
Sent them off to bed with, “do you want me to wake you up early, and get down the back before daybreak to see if we can catch one of the deer out?” Got a resounding yes.

Woke about 6 with the reminisce of the wine and a couple of whiskeys trying unsuccessfully to convince me to go back to sleep.
Woke up the boys; my son and mates son, to see if they still wanted to go. Both out of bed and dressed in a flash. I guess that’s a yes.
Off we went in the dark, a 22 & 222, no torch but still a good moon to light our way.

This time straight down the back, to where we’d seen the sign. We crept along the edge of a shelter belt into a position where we could watch the back boundary. We’d only been sitting 5 minutes when the rising sun started to lighten up the paddocks, just enough you could start to make out the scrub and definition of bush on the boundary. I looked across a gully to our left, and saw two shapes which I thought could be deer, or possibly a bit of scrub. Looked back at them literally a minute later and I could clearly see they were two deer, moving. Excitement; game on. At 230M too far away for the 222, and an inexperienced shooter. I was wishing I bought my 308, as I have some lighter 130gn loads he can shoot.
But thought no problem we can get closer, it used to be called deerstalking after all.
We backed up, climbed a little bank into the orchard, so we could sneak in closer completely concealed. I whispered a few instructions: no talking, only whispers, try not to stand on any sticks or branches on the ground. Don’t bang the fence wires! Be super quiet. The boys were perfect, we snuck down in silence. Slithered back under the 2 wire fence and out onto a nice high point, it was still half dark, but the unsuspecting deer were easily seen with the naked eye now. Ranged them at 115 meters.

Got him and the old Brno Fox set up over my daypack, with a reminder on where to aim, how the set trigger worked (actually he remembered it better than me) and a take your time don’t rush!
Too much Fortnite and first person shooter games, has given him an instinct to aim and shoot as soon as possible, before someone can shoot you! I didn’t want a rushed shot.

The suppressed and subtle bang of the 222 was followed by the sound of a hit in the still morning air, and the deer dropping instantly. The other one hung around for long enough that I contemplated if we should drop it too, then it suddenly legged it. Apparently there was a third one they saw which I didn’t see.

Up jumped a very happy young man. The pair of them waited impatiently while I insisted we just wait a minute, make sure it doesn’t get up, or something else doesn’t appear. I took a couple of photos, then off they went, down into the gulley and up the other side to inspect the kill.

I couldn’t believe all the times I’d watched this same boundary years before with no result, we got lucky this time.
I had deliberately talked down the odds, as I’ve taken him hunting before in places where by rights we should have seen animals, or had a chance of a shot. We’d done everything right and just hadn’t had the rub. So I didn’t want to build up to another no cigar.

But this time plan B came through.

Awesome - well done to the young fella.