Dougie's Trip to the Manawatu
Friday saw a beautiful sunny day in Wellington. By mid-afternoon I had already had a visit from Pistol Pete to drop off ARDave’s Marlin 7mm08 and I had set off for the mighty Manawatu with all my gear and a box of some hunting hand-loads. It was going to be a great weekend.
I arrived in Dannevirke still flooded in sunshine. After introductions (there were a few, that man’s got some kids!) Neckshot and mini-neckshot took me out to a friend’s property to see how the 7mil would perform with me behind the wheel. After some smart comments from the young one, ‘Daaaaaaaaaaad when’s she gonna shoot? She’s not going to hit it is she’ I had settled behind the rifle and successfully pinged the home made 300mm square gong 240 yards down range. We packed up and made some room in the car to head off to a near-by entry to the Ruahines. Player of the day went to five year old mini-Neckshot, bush bashing in gummies and not phased by the hills! We had no luck at our late evening spot but I got a good idea of what the Ruahines have to offer. And screw being a pig hunter and doing that sh*t every day! ;)
Home for some kai and bed. We were up at sparrow’s fart and met 7mmsaum at the end of the drive by 0445. By the time we parked the car at our spot the sun was well and truly on its way into the sky. We smiled as only a short walk had us swimming in deer sign.
We glassed, walked, talked, walked some more and glassed some more throughout the day. We all enjoyed the sunshine and the plentiful spots we kept looking at. At one particular position we watched a group of 20 Reds enjoy the sunshine and feed on a neighbouring property. It was interesting to see Fallow and Reds living happily so close together. The feed over the fence was great and we glassed some pretty close interactions between the two flavours.
Towards the end of our time in one particular bowl of the block our itchy trigger fingers saw us setting up the beautiful weapon that was 7mmsaum’s 338LM. After some technical conversation and the boys having their turns, I finished off the 20L Jerry can at 661 yards. What fun! I really enjoyed the experience of a perfectly set up long range machine. I really appreciated the tips and instruction from 7mmsaum and the newly learned techniques paid off with a perfect shot if I do say so myself...
Back at the car later in the day, it was time for plan Z. We powered over to another block. We battled the wind up a sign filled muddy track, our fresh sun burns feeling the sting of the sharp breeze. When ordered up a jump through I must have sighed a little too convincingly but Neckshot had me pushing through the scrub to a high vantage point with a bit of encouragement. No luck up there so we descended back to the main track to meet up with 7mmsaum.
The summit proved views of a bambi wonderland. Apart from the gale, what animal wouldn’t want to live there?! 7mmsaum and I hit our guts and rested as low as we could while glassing over the edge. It wasn’t long until we heard a whistle from Neckshot – he’d spotted a hind a few hundred meters below us. After a bit of deliberation and more glassing we moved position and started to dial up the powerful 338. The hind hopped into the bush and we waited for her to return……but then noticed that her yearling was parked on the grass the whole time! CRACK went the 338 and the spiker was up for a couple of jumps then into the bush. Some young (handsome, cough!) hunters were napping not far away and appeared to investigate what and who’s cannon had boomed across the valley. Neckshot and I started off on our long retrieve.
The wee grunt steamed ahead of me and down a steep slip and disappeared into the bush after we had sidled the grassy basin. A few games of Marco Polo had us reunited not long after and then waving back up the 200 odd yards to the boys above, asking for directions. Finally we found the devastated ground thanks to the 338 and a small splash of blood from young bambi. Unfortunately the spiker was only winged and had trotted daintally through the bush not even turning a leaf. The blood we tracked was bright and minimal. A short bush bash away was a steep bluff and we figured bambi had met his end over the side. So no meat for us and the sun was quickly going behind the hill. Short but frequent breaks allowed us to push through the scrub and back onto the grassy hills before we lost all light. With dreams of cold beers we made it back to the car still smiling despite testing our tight sun and wind burnt cheeks.
Back at the Neckshot family digs it was a quick goodbye in the dark driveway we had started the day off at. We made tracks our separate ways into the night. The pie I ate on the drive home was hardly chewed and despite my arms and face being on fire and ichy from cutty-grass and nettles, I hit the hay at home around 0100.
I’d like to say a big thanks to everyone involved – Pistol Pete for the great hand loads and delivery of the weapon, ARDave for letting me dirty his sweet little machine (sorry bro I don’t have a cleaning kit! Ha!), Neckshot and family for the fantastic hospitality, great spots and the wheels to get there and of course 7mmsaum for the invaluable shooting tuition and an insight on some great deer chasing information.
Now pass that aloe vera and ice pack………
Dougie's Trip to the Manawatu
