Long weekend had good mate and I eager to get into the hills.Aim was to firm up some roar ideas and spend a couple of days in the creeks hoping to find a stupid one out late.
Te Urewera was the spot and is usually a 3 night trip for us but we were doing a 'quick' 2 night one.
Leaving Orkland at 4am we set off down the highway in good spirits. BP steak pie in hand and talking up our chances, all is good.
Cruising into the galatea valley its looking a bit dry. Rivers are low which suits us as the rivers are the highways for the bush hobbits aye?
We haven't been into te U for a while so was good to be back. Looking at the ridges and the ,'old man' trees and giving thanks for being in this rohe. Always good to acknowledge the ancestors in your own way when visiting an area as a visitor. Feels right for me and may help in ways I can't describe.
Catching up with local news with our drop off man was good. ( been too long)
after a while we're off down the trail. Nice cool morning though fining up and about to get warm later.
Some good sign in down the river and stopped in at the first hut for a cuppa. Checking the doc book shows the usual trickle of People coming through.
We have about another 1 1/2hr to hike into our stream side camp which goes ok though we're happy to doff packs and set camp.
Had a little moi before heading out for an evening hunt each way on the stream. Been a group of 6 come through on horseback a few days ago though still fresh sign in stream with real nice benches to ghost through to pick up a quiet lounger.
Nothing sighted that evening and we quickly fell into a sleep of the dead after a long day punctuated by the turns in the night to alleviate sore hips. (Curse of the side sleeper)
Next day saw us up pre dawn for a morning stream hunt followed by reccy on a few ridge systems that we figure could serve well in the roar.
I went upstream and just kept going, hunting through nice stream benches with fresh sign. I felt like I could come across deer at any time through the morning. Not to be and mid morning I had a cook up and a little moi stream side.
Had a look up a few ridges that went ok. A bit if old stag sapling thrashing around and nice feed areas and cover in the guts.
Nothing seen or bumped for the day though and was back to camp for a cook up and conflab with mate.
Stream side went same for him and he also went right up a long ridge that we were interested in. Unfortunately it turned out a bit shit with not many good spurs and guts off it. He also got bluffed a few times getting down off there that i'm sure didn't add to his impression if it.
All good though. This was Intel we needed and time well spent. We talked about walking the stream at roar and gaining height on any of the ridges to roar and locate stags. The animals are defo. In there.
That evening we pack up and walk back to first hut. Tomorrow sees us with last roll of the dice. There's 2 beats to walk from the hut. One up the stream and the other through the clearings over the river.
Now my mate has spent a few trips doing the mahi and not getting the treats. The man is due.
So I'm lining up for him to take the primo beat over the river. Now, this English is a funny language but anyway we got it fucked up.
In the morning, I'm off first. Chur bro, good luck. I'm just starting up the stream when there's a light behind me. Shit, must be an issue. So we have a conflab. Hahaha. Turns out it's easier for me to go over the river to fix us into a quick morning hunt.
Back over the river and dawning. First clearing, an unsighted hind breaks from a finger and is in full stride for the bush. Too fast. Mooching through that clearing on the fringe and onto the next.
At 80m on the other side of a rise here's this fawn looking at me. Next to it I can only see the hinds head. The fawn is full frontal and so gets a 103eldx from my newly acquired 6creedmoor. The fawn is sacked and 2 hinds break for The bush.
Not my proudest moment as a hunter as I've moved into real bambi killer territory. All the same, I'm thankful for the meat and was really the only animal offering a shot.
Beggars can't be choosers aye?Attachment 159587
PS other thing to note here was full moon which can make it easier for the deer to nocturnal feed. Also waking up in bright moonlight at 3am thinking 'fuck, I've missed the dawn'
