Thread: When men were men

had the pleasure of meeting Gordon Roberts twice.....he was up as lake sumner off to take photos with bid old tripod in tow many years ago,we were up there with NZDA....He came and gave talk with slides in Timaru clubrooms...if any of you have his great books of photos..the sika in low vege series were coming up one at a time in sequence...the reaction from room of hunters was unreal...ALL OF US craning in seats absolutely spellbound..... the man was a magician with a camera.

Originally Posted by doinit

Bill Black was simply amazing what he did,who he rescued etc.A wizard in my book,,only ever met him twice and that was brief.
I got to know his shooter Jimmy Kane at one stage through another ol mate who has now gone. That guy was unreal when it come to dropping deer etc from a machine. There was a party put on for Jim at one time and I recall Bill Black Giving Jimmy a huge collection of deer tusks collected over time,a gift of ivory as such,young Jimmy was almost in tears,,,they were like two peas in a pod.


More on this later eh..

The first time I met Jim Kane was down at a mates at Tapanui. A coupla weeks chasing the Fallow in the Blue Mts was the go.
First night out with the big moon went ok with a few wee deer on board and as usual we were full of it and talking shit on our way home.
Anyways it had broken daylight by now and we were coming up onto an area we had already done during the dark hours.
My mate Dave hit the anchors and pointed up the hill "There's one " he snapped. Jimmy jumps out, swings his rifle onto this ok Fallow buck in full flight headin down toward the road. This buck was fired up movin fast, 80 odd yards at least. Well I counted at least 6 rapid shots,very quick ti say the least. The last coupla shots saw the buck loosing it fi sure,then down.
Dave being Dave remarks "you usless prick,six bloody rounds to drop a wee Fallow deer" eh.
Jimmy never blinked an eye just looked at Dave and smiled,then remarked "you keen enough ti hop up there and drag him down?"
" I'll get it" I said then headed up.
Finally arriving at the dead buck I was a little surprised just how far it was,more like a hundred yrds.
It was on closer inspection that I took a wee gulp of air and grinned to my self. Staggering onto the road Dave and Jim were now both lookin and Jim remarked.."Ha a little low with that one " as he pointed to a small hole. With out a word of a lie there were six little entry holes leaking blood and all in a group the size of a small dinner plate. That buck had ti be dead on his feet before finally dropping.
I have to this day never seen shooting like I did that morning,Dave was nutting off about it right up until he died..hell JK was a wizard.

My ol mate Dave,bless his soul..on the right with a few deer and velvets,with him Gordon Anderson,brother of Sandy who supposedly dropped a female Moose during meat hunting.The locals in TeAnau all swore it was true.

Had the pleasure of sharing a hut with Ivan Wilson a few times co inventor of the net gun.
A few whiskys and the yarns would flow, he had us all roaring with laughter. He had hundreds of yarns.
One that sticks in my mind was either him or his shooter literally falling out of the helicopter and firing the net gun to recoil himself back in.

The original 3 barreled net gun was was under a bunk for anyone keen enough to try firing it.

A good read recently published is "Dieing for a living" by Milts Kiri.

Ruahines. Mate skinning back the back straps for the carry out. The best price was for the hq and backstops so we would pin bone the hq with the back straps attached, and fold the BS back over and down through the arse cavity for the carry out. We would leave lots of skin to fold over the whole lot to keep it clean and add weight.. Consolidated Traders got onto us and started cutting the surplus skin off so it didn't go into the weighed price. The camera was a Russian copy of an old Leica.




A big one for the chiller.

I forgot to point out that those velvets and venisons in that pic are actually on the back of Daves buggy,parked up in the main drag in TeAnau.
Here's a better pic of Dave and Gordon and the old buggy..Mavora way.

Second pic is Dave given the old buggy a test run..

Real men - 1999 – Glaisnock River - John Muir of Feilding with the shaving brush and Les Battersby of Kaikoura/Picton - both John and Les were very involved with management of the Wapiti herd back then and made many trips to Fiordland.

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

Had the pleasure of sharing a hut with Ivan Wilson a few times co inventor of the net gun.
A few whiskys and the yarns would flow, he had us all roaring with laughter. He had hundreds of yarns.
One that sticks in my mind was either him or his shooter literally falling out of the helicopter and firing the net gun to recoil himself back in.

The original 3 barreled net gun was was under a bunk for anyone keen enough to try firing it.

A good read recently published is "Dieing for a living" by Milts Kiri.

Milton Kiri's book would be hard to beat about the aerial recovery venison era. He survived so he knows what it is all about. Has a second book in pipeline which maybe out in December. The South Coast vid's on the venison era are superb.

Originally Posted by time out

Real men - 1999 – Glaisnock River - John Muir of Feilding with the shaving brush and Les Battersby of Kaikoura/Picton - both John and Les were very involved with management of the Wapiti herd back then and made many trips to Fiordland.

Attachment 181438

Squirel looks a bit different with the shaving foam on. I think the photo is from "69 though, in '99 he would have been 65

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

had the pleasure of meeting Gordon Roberts twice.....he was up as lake sumner off to take photos with bid old tripod in tow many years ago,we were up there with NZDA....He came and gave talk with slides in Timaru clubrooms...if any of you have his great books of photos..the sika in low vege series were coming up one at a time in sequence...the reaction from room of hunters was unreal...ALL OF US craning in seats absolutely spellbound..... the man was a magician with a camera.

Gordan would get around a bit too., I met him in the bush of the Far North in 1999, he was looking for large Kauri to photo in the Puketi Forest, I had a contract possum control job and showed him the best specimen I knew of in the area... he was stoked.

A top bloke that put his rifle down and picked up the camera to share his love of the outdoors.

Originally Posted by doinit

My ol mate Dave,bless his soul..on the right with a few deer and velvets,with him Gordon Anderson,brother of Sandy who supposedly dropped a female Moose during meat hunting.The locals in TeAnau all swore it was true.Attachment 181430

The late Graeme Sievers who was meat hunting down Te Anau way at that time told me he was in the pub drinking with Bernie Milroy (I think) when Gordon Anderson came in and told them he’d shot a moose. Reckoned he was going to get the head to prove it but sadly walked into the prop of a float plane on the way back in.

Originally Posted by thatguy

I was actually wondering - can anyone recommend good books of old nz hunting stories? With lockdown all we can do is dream..

How about a dvd ?

Get yourself a copy of this !!

https://pilotshop.co.nz/products/the...reat-adventure

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

Originally Posted by doinit

I forgot to point out that those velvets and venisons in that pic are actually on the back of Daves buggy,parked up in the main drag in TeAnau.
Here's a better pic of Dave and Gordon and the old buggy..Mavora way.Attachment 181435Attachment 181436

Second pic is Dave given the old buggy a test run..

Fantastic couple pics those

Originally Posted by gilly

The late Graeme Sievers who was meat hunting down Te Anau way at that time told me he was in the pub drinking with Bernie Milroy (I think) when Gordon Anderson came in and told them he’d shot a moose. Reckoned he was going to get the head to prove it but sadly walked into the prop of a float plane on the way back in.

Gidday there gilly..
My mate Dave and myself were more than convinced about the moose senario, lotta different stories emerged,heap of crap amongst it.
There were even so called types from high places arriving once the goss got out..things went quiet damn quick.
Locals were'nt that keen on outsiders movin in lol.

Originally Posted by Lucky

Fantastic couple pics those

Nothin fantastic about them Lucky...no biggy at all mate.