Far too long

Haven't seen me ol mate @223nut for way too long, so when he told me he had escaped the island and wanted to go for a hunt of course I jumped at the opportunity....even better another forum member was keen to join us @Happy Jack.
Hopefully Gary will chime in and share some of his pics as well.
So originally me and James had planned to go to the west coast to a property I have permission to shoot goats on....unfortunately that fell over as it clashed with some other work the farmer had on....oh well thats a job for next time.
I did a little homework and found a doc block known to have a few goats and fallow hanging around.
With that we all made plans to meet up Friday, me a and James in the morning Gary would meet up with us later as he had work commitments.
The doc hunting block is land locked by private property but accessible by walking up a river using Queens chain access.
I contacted the neighboring property owner to let him know of our intentions as I know he has had a lot of problems with poachers accessing his land via the river.

Now being completely honest I'm not in peak physical condition and we had a 7km walk with dozens of river crossings ahead of us.....and plenty of fat cunt breaks.
We started seeing animals almost immediately but there is strictly no hunting till we hit the doc block quite a wee way up stream.
At our first fat cunt break James spotted a nice white fallow buck with a few other fallow for company, so of course happy to be sweating my ass off sitting in the shade I took my glasses off and whipped out my binos for a better look.
The fallow were 450ish yards away and feeding in the open....on private property but it was cool to watch them for a bit, unfortunately my glasses fell from where I had put them so me and James spent the next 10 minutes looking for them :oh noes:

On our way up.stresm we saw plenty of goats as the kms slowly notched up, what was surprising was that often the goats where accompanied by fallow.
Man we had some itchy trigger finger moments but it's fair to say the numbers we saw made us confident there would be animals when we hit the doc block.
I haven't had to carry a full pac in a while and man the Tatonka bison felt heavier than a heavy thing but we trudged on, boots well and truly soaked probably 500gms extra on each foot (I wear size 16 so it's entirely probably).
Anyway eventually we found a spot that had enough flat ground to set up camp....the river was pretty gorgey by this point and flat ground not common.

I finished work at 2pm Friday and was on the road by 2.20, raced up the Leader rd to the destination messaged to me by James @223nut. I parked next to Danny's Pajero and set off up river hoping to arrive before dark. I just made it and after rounding a corner found 2 tents set up and then Danny stepped out of the gloom, James was busy cutting up a fallow Danny had shot not long before from the campsite.

I set up my own tent and then settled down by the homely fire to yarn with my new friends who I had only ever spoken to on the phone, turns out James had shot a couple of goats too.

Saturday morning and while enjoying my chocolate porridge (my own secret recipe) I spied a goat high up the slip above camp and then a fallow wandered out, I mentioned this as it was beyond my shooting ability, so Danny stepped up again and took the shot with his 7mm08 at around 300m and 75 degree gradient, a solid hit and James was off to retrieve Danny's second fallow.

Leaving Danny to dress no2 James and I set off up river passing his nicely cut up goat meat still cooling on a rock. Seeing nothing we eventually come across a waterfall Attachment 174522



We managed to sidle past this one but the next one stopped us so we returned to find something possibly the hawk we had seen circling earlier had made of with James goat backstraps Attachment 174523

Returning to camp we decide to strike camp and hightail it out due to the impending snow forecast for Sunday which was our original day to come out. A good trip with great people despite me never even chambering a round. Oh well just have to try again sometime soon.

Thanks for the company @dannyb and @223nut

Yep, bloody good trip thanks lads!

Somehow I ended up doing two trips up the hill to roll the fallow down and then ended up lugging them back down the riverbed to the car.... Always someone young and stupid to play packhorse, nothing an hour or so in a hot spa with a cold beer or 3 didn't fix

Oh and if they say I'm tiny but fit they could be lying or not.

Once camp was set up.we snuck up to a promising slip just inside the DOC boundary and settled in for some glassing, it wasn't far from camp and I was happy to only be carrying my rifle, binos and range finder.
James came too and dumped his pack and continued up stream to look for another slip to watch.
Before James set off we had a quick glass and found a few spots that had that deery look but no deer.
Literally within 5 minutes of James departing I spotted the first deer exactly where me and James thought they would be....it was a fair way off some 430ish yards and in the scrub shadows making it very hard to see.
I was quite happy to watch it knowing a shot would not be ethical in the poor light not to mention it was a long way up an incredibly steep slip I'm not sure we could have got to it.
As I sat watching I saw several more fallow in the scrub and a few goats lower down at about 300ish yards, the goats fed in and out of the scrub but on the open slip there was a good chance 8f shot they would roll a fair way down hill.
I was tempted but with all the fallow around I decided to wait, I ranged a few key spots and checked my drops for quick reference.
Any way time drifted on and goats came and went and came back, when all of a sudden I saw a goat with a longer skinnier neck and legs.
Shit a bloody fallow in amongst the goats. I ranged it at 330 yards and thought that's a wee way with my new 708 but easily inside my self implemented limit.
I'm used to shooting with much higher magnification scopes but the nikon monarch 2.5-10×44 was on the job today and surprisingly seemed pretty good even on a little fallow.
The shot was quite steep up hill and I had to lay flat on the ground with my rifle set up.on a large boulder.
It was really hard to get lined up at such a steep angle and by the time I dialed up and got comfortable enough the fallow had slipped into the scrub....bugger.
I waited and watched more goats when another fallow came out in the same patch where I'd seen the first and inthought bingo !:
I was already dialed up.and scrambled behind the rifle...this time I was able to get on target, I waited to steady my breathing and let loose the muffed crack.of the suppressed model seven reported and I kept watch through the scope for what seemed like an eternity waiting for the familiar thwap ! a solid hit.
I watched the fallow tip over and roll a hundred odd meters down hill thankfully.
I'd only just finished load development and I was keen to see how this load performs, safe to say I was happy.
I was feeling pretty knackered my hips giving me grief from the walk in so I waited for James to return....he showed up about 10 minutes later pleased to report he'd shot a couple goats and left the meat to cool on a large flat rock.....ideal.
I then told James about the fallow and being the good bugger he was he offered to climb up the 200 odd meters of slip to get it....I gratefully accepted.
A short time later we were back at camp fallow hung in tree when Gary showed up.
James skinned and quartered the fallow whilst Gary set up camp and I sorted our firewood.

Geez guys I was in full story mode......oh well you know how it all ends.
We talked shit by the fire, cooked eye fillets on a flat river stone and drank some concoction from James hip flask.
Great times, even if I did put my boots too close to the fire and partially melted them :oh noes:
Just for posterity Gary is really fit and a little short, he was the only one to get his nuts wet I a river that was only ankle deep :D

Here's a few pics.

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More pics.

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Originally Posted by dannyb

Geez guys I was in full story mode......oh well you know how it all ends.
We talked shit by the fire, cooked eye fillets on a flat river stone and drank some concoction from James hip flask.
Great times, even if I did put my boots too close to the fire and partially melted them :oh noes:
Just for posterity Gary is really fit and a little short, he was the only one to get his nuts wet I a river that was only ankle deep :D

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Well I should have taken one of your boots for a kayak

Attachment 174530

Just wanna say how impressed I am with the 150gn eldx pills, unfortunately absolutely destroyed the front shoulders of both the fallow but dropped them on the spot, the first one hit solid bone and by the time it was in the far shoulder it was in a lot of pieces, both shoulders and the heart were a mess of black jelly, the second went through just slightly behind the shoulder blade and slightly lower and passed through leaving an exit wound slightly smaller than a golf ball with an equal amount of black jelly front shoulder meat, unfortunately we lost the front shoulders of both animals but that's OK I imagine these rounds will be just as devastating on reds, both these fallow were quite small possibly yearlings

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Originally Posted by Happy Jack

Oh and if they say I'm tiny but fit they could be lying or not.

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If you are tiny, you'd need to be fit to keep up with those two long legged buggers, even unfit they are both as tall as the BFG and likely have strides as long.
Good guys to have as company on what sounds like a productive getaway.

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Originally Posted by dannyb

Attachment 174530

Just wanna say how impressed I am with the 150gn eldx pills, unfortunately absolutely destroyed the front shoulders of both the fallow but dropped them on the spot, the first one hit solid bone and by the time it was in the far shoulder it was in a lot of pieces, both shoulders and the heart were a mess of black jelly, the second went through just slightly behind the shoulder blade and slightly lower and passed through leaving an exit wound slightly smaller than a golf ball with an equal amount of black jelly front shoulder meat, unfortunately we lost the front shoulders of both animals but that's OK I imagine these rounds will be just as devastating on reds, both these fallow were quite small possibly yearlings

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you cant make an omlet without breaking eggs Mate..... they sound like they are just the ducks nuts....we need to shoot more hinds ,so if front ends get poked in process,so be it.Im sure if range was shorter you will take neck option and retrieve more when its available.

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Originally Posted by Micky Duck

you cant make an omlet without breaking eggs Mate..... they sound like they are just the ducks nuts....we need to shoot more hinds ,so if front ends get poked in process,so be it.Im sure if range was shorter you will take neck option and retrieve more when its available.

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Yup I would. Dead on the spot is still preferred to injured and running away

AMEN to that.......

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Originally Posted by ROKTOY

If you are tiny, you'd need to be fit to keep up with those two long legged buggers, even unfit they are both as tall as the BFG and likely have strides as long.
Good guys to have as company on what sounds like a productive getaway.

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There was some pictures somewhere of Danny and Myself carrying some fallow out when he came down to our place last year .... I looked like a normal person carrying a deer, he looked like he was carrying a possum

Well looking at the 3" of snow outside we made the right decision to come out Saturday and not stay the extra night.

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Originally Posted by Happy Jack

Well looking at the 3" of snow outside we made the right decision to come out Saturday and not stay the extra night.

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Similar story here, I too believe we made the right call

30cm here.... And still coming down

Good read, thanks, from the comfort of my nice warm bed, I was nearly there!,

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Originally Posted by 223nut

30cm here.... And still coming down

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Drive safe if you are still heading South today @223nut

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Originally Posted by Happy Jack

Drive safe if you are still heading South today @223nut

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Inland road is closed.... Not too worried about myself with 4wd and chains it's all the other idiots on the road

Good campnhunting story there.Those fallow steaks look tasty.

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Originally Posted by Trout

Good campnhunting story there.Those fallow steaks look tasty.

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They were some cooked fresh on a hot rock, I mean people pay big money to go to a hot rock restuarant.

Some more cooked at home last night just as tasty.