Thread: Venison meat hunting in NZ in the past

Well here's another one.
" A couple of risky moves by a tyro".
I was based in the big K when I was 18 and still a learner hunter. One of my work mates was from rangipo where is dad was a prison officer. We always talked hunting at smokos and he reckoned he had heard there were plenty of deer up the whitkau area. He invited me for a weekend at rangipo so Kim, then about 9 months old and a few possums and pigs under her belt and my old three o headed down on a friday night. Garry had no rifle and was 17 and his younger bro 15 was to tag along. Garrys dad decided to take us down a hydro trCk and drip us off at the pillars of hercules. WOW! There was an ancient no'8 wire swing bridge slung over the gorge. Many of the boards were missing and the rest looked pretty iffy. Big drop to the tongariro below. It was like the darn bridge from the temple of doom! I tried sending Kim across ahead of me but she rwfused so I put her in my 'mule and gingerly went over placing my feet only on the outside wires and avoiding getting any sway on. The other two then followed one at a time.
We wandered around the unfamiliar bush on the east side. ( i had no map but later figured the area to be the waipa tributary catchment. As the day wore on with no game sighted we either had to backtrack to the pillars horror or drop down close to the tongariro and find a place to cross. Voting for the latter we came down onto large flattish benches with the river visible below in places. We were unaeare that years prior a bunch of cattle had escaped the prison farm, crossed the river and gone wild. Suddenly there wad a bellow and first one then another charged us through the open bush. I saw no chouce but to shoot them both as headshots when at about 15 yards. Sbot! whst now? Well, rather than waste it we cut off three hind quarters, one each but man were they heavy! By now it was late afternoon so we scuttled along until we could see a long straight river reach below so dropped down to check it out. The river was wide and deep but not rapids. I tried sending Kim acrosd but aftef a few yards she baulked and swum back having been taken downstream several yards. I felt I had no choice but to give it a go as the reach extended about 100 yards below before a bend. Steep shingle banks then bush both sides. I strapped my rifle to my pack then tied a cord to the dog holding in in one hand and held a leg over my shoulder with the other. By now Garry wad not looking happy and the 15 yr old was crying. I told them to wait to see how I fared getting across. Started in having to angle downstream in order to stay upright. The weight of the lef kept by boots firmly planted on the bottom rocks. The water got progressively deeper till about 20 yards from the other side the bottom dropped away and then over my head. I was still upright with that leg holding me down to I held my breath, let the dog go and in the clear water jogged along the bottom fully submerged for several seconds. The bottom started shelving up quit steeply as I jogged along but I could keep my balance and running out of breath I dropped the leg and bobbed up to swim the ladt few yards to the bank and hauled myself out. Kim was there and we were about 50 yards downstream from our opposite side starting point. Garry and his young bro sripped off and waded and swam across. We had a fair climb up through the bush till be hit a boundary fence and swede paddock so we had a relieved munch on some nice swedes and headed west across the prison farm. We ended up opposite the village a bit after dark so we had walked a bunch of miles north from the pillars before recrossing. Tas, the local ranger gave me a bit of a lecture next day and said the last bod to try crossing there three years ago had drowned.
Learn by your experiences in those days and what the limits are ay.
( As a footnote, it turned out those wild cattle were the source of bovine TB infecting the possums through the waipa and adjoining catchments and as a result the area suffered the green rain for several years on.)
Over the years I've taken several dunkings in river crossings even when using a pole of rifle as a prop but a lot more careful than I was on that one as a tyro. Be careful out there

There used to be a fair few good pigs over there at one stage , just a bit dodgy getting to them and out gain
Was a couple of keen dudes from Turangi that used to chance it with good success but also knew when to leg with dogs in tow to get out real quick