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A different approach (literally)
The lad's excitement levels for hunting aren't dropping off, and he now says things like "Only 3 more days before we can go hunting again"!
This weekend was planned to be version 2 of the mission where we worked our way down the bluffs between Delaware and Hori Bays, before the lad rolled a boulder over his hand.
We learnt our lesson that time and were planning a different approach. We've done driving, walking and mountain biking, so it was time to try the boat.
From primary school age, my boys have been pretty keen on fishing (though the eldest gets massively seasick!), so we bought a 4m inflatable to use for Sounds missions. It's been an amazing, capable platform for fishing, camping and general adventuring.
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After a clean-up, and patching the odd small leak from fish spines, Friday evening saw us mostly packed and ready to go.
Another slow Saturday morning and eventually we got to Delaware Bay and were on the water a bit after 10am, about an hour before high tide which made for an easy launch.
We headed north to surprise the goats with an attack from the water.
The first mob of goats were spotted not long after the beach and farmland started to rear up into big steep bluffs. There were even a couple of billys with half decent horns. The whole mob was looking pretty relaxed, secure in the knowledge that (after a quick check of the map on my phone) they were outside the public hunting area.
We carried on and soon got to an area that I've been eyeing up for years after IDing it from a YouTube video. A second mob was spotted on grassy clearings at the top of the bluffs, so we landed the boat and got our gear organised.
A staunch scramble up the bluffs, aided by some fixed ropes, saw us sneaking onto the now empty clearings. Either the goats know to bugger off when they hear a boat nearby, or the gentle onshore breeze (the downside of a boat-based approach) was giving the game away, or most likely both.
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We checked out the old ramshackle hut, and the snuck up a ridge into the mostly Manuka bush. The understory right through this area has been destroyed by the goats, with even the gorse bushes looking like topiary from so much nibbling.
The odd goat was seen on slips either side of the ridge, but too far for a shot from a novice. What I didn't realise at the time was that we turned around a few hundred metres before the ridge opened out into more clearings. We'll check them next time.
Back down to the top of the bluffs. The boat is still there (good!).
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Down the ropes, a big feed, and we’re heading further north towards where we saw the goats last time.
It’s pretty steep country here, with the odd waterfall, and lots of good glassing territory.
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Eventually the lad spotted a billy way up on the bluffs so we beached the boat and went for a walk. All the goat prints around a little stream made it clear it was a major watering point for the local population. As we walk further under the bluff when the billy was spotted, the lad saw it again moving under some big pines. We sat still on the beach, and the billy came diagonally down towards up, stopped on a ledge and looked straight at us, then kept coming. I think he was heading down for a drink. When he stopped on the next ledge 30m or so away from us, the lad shot him from a kneeling position. He was stoked!
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This goat was a bag of bones, so we whipped off his tail and tucked him away under a bush. We’ll go back in a couple of months and see what state his head is in.
By this time the tide had gone out a lot further and the sandy beach we’d landed now had plenty of rocks between us and the water. A bit of a grunt pulling the boat (it’s got wheels but they aren’t great in soft sand) along the sand ensued.
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Back in the boat and starting the cruise back south, two more goats were seen up a very steep gully. A dodgy landing in amongst the rock, and a lot of faffing about saw a couple of shots (the first one missed) and a nanny plummeting 40 metres to the boulders - which resulted in a lot of leakage. Result! Again, this goat was a bag of bones with hardly any meat on it’s back legs or back steaks, so we grabbed the tail and spent what felt like ages getting the boat off the rocks and out through the weed and waves.
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By this point the usual Nelson afternoon onshore wind had picked up so it was a bit of a wet blast back to the launching spot where we dragged the boat back to the van, packed up and headed home tired, happy, and with the lad planning our next mission out there.
Sunday morning now, and we’re off to enter his tails on the goat comp.
