A first stag and stolen gear.

A couple of weeks ago I set off from home pre dawn with a younger mate who’s getting into hunting.
We arrived at Peel Forest and set off up deer spur just before sunrise. Several animals were spotted on the way up but nothing of interest. As we crested the main ridge before the hut I glassed down to the creek on the opposite side and spotted some tahr, one of which looked to be a reasonable bull. I put the spotter on him and could see he was a lot darker than the others and showing rutting behaviour as he shadowed and harassed one particular nanny. Only one thing for it, dump some gear and drop down for a closer look.
We proceeded to stash our camping gear and the bulk of our food under some short scrub and made our way down the ridge to within 400 yards of the tahr. With the closer distance and better angle it was obvious now this bull was not a shooter, perhaps 11-12” and 3-4 years old. By now the clag and drizzle was rolling in and it was very cold, rain jackets and gloves were donned. After about an hour of watching we decided to make our way further around the ridge to look into the next creek. Again several animals were spotted but those that were in range for the day were not what we were looking for. By now we were freezing and decided to give it 20 more minutes before heading back up the hill. While taking a break from glassing I picked up a creamy reddish colour on the opposite face, deer! I lifted the binos too find a large body and some antlers which appeared to have some length but lacking points and poor tines. Perfect, a cull stag. A range put him at 443m. We had a nice flat shooting platform so I set the rifle up on the bipod and pack under the rear. My mate got into position and I dialed required 6.2 MOA. Now the waiting game.
This stag was in no hurry to go anywhere. Slowly feeding his way down the face front on to us. A good 15 minutes passed with no opportunity to shoot, then people yelling up on the main ridge made him turn his head and look up. Still as a statue for another 15mins. Then the clag rolls in properly and he’s out of sight. By now we are both shivering, noting for it but to drop behind the ridge for a dance party/pushups/hill sprints to get some blood flowing again.
30 minutes later the clag begins to clear but is still patchy. Time to get back behind the rifle finally it clears but our friend is intent on living today as he’s still front on with no shot available for longer than a few seconds as he feeds in the scrub. Finally he walks in to an open patch and i re range to make sure. He turns and is very slightly quartered towards us and is standing downhill. I instruct my mate to use the base of the neck as his aim point rather than the shoulder to allow for the angle and reassure him there’s no rush but to gently squeeze of at the bottom of his breath when he’s ready. After an eternity (probably 20 seconds) boom, the 7mm rem mag rings out and or stag drops on the spot. I tell my mate to reload and stay on him for a minute. No movement.
After some congratulations and well done on the excellent shooting it’s time to make a move as the day is getting on. We quickly drop down the steep face below us and into the creek. We end up and fork in the creek with a waterfall below us and 2 above. We decided to climb up the smaller of the two above and off the side onto a small scrub covers bluff. Using the vegetation for hand grips we climbed about 40m up on to the main face and then sidle a cross a few hundred meters into the general vicinity of our stag. After only a short time I hear a shout, “found him”. The ground assessment found some length missing but we were stoked all the same. Quick photo session, back steaks and head off. Time to hit the road as there’s a big climb ahead. Around 2 hours later we get back to the main ridge and our stash of gear. Fuck! I’ve left my puffer jacket out of the dry bag….. dry bags not here…. All my warm clothes are wet. On further inspection my sleeping bag is also missing along with my jet boil, my mates jet boil and 5 freeze dried meals.back to the hut for some salami and a pack up then navigate the clag by headlight while descending the first 300m. Back into the bush a welcome relief from the bitter cold. A disappointing end to a great day but the better memories of the day will prevail.

Warning I did not edit this so expect some mistakes ��

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Nice write up mate, shitty about the theft, weird they were so picky

Yeah very strange, left my kuiu tent and wear on earth puffer. Was another hunter in the area but I found out who he was and went round to his house for a chat, don’t think it was him. Could’ve been dangerous in that weather.

I'm gutted to read you got stuff stolen up there. Could have turned nasty and we would have been called out to come get you.... I really do hope the lowlife scum get constipated from the dehy and can't shit for a week before giving birth to a brick.... Good you got some venison. Head is pretty typical for up there.... Some great farm escape genetics close by but yeah nah short n uneven seems more normal.

I’ve shot and seen some decent ones but usually shit bey tines and low to mid 30s in length Could’ve been a different story if it was two young fellas that weren’t confident to get down in the clag. As for the dehy they were real meals not backcountry so probably not too bad on their guts.

I still hope it turns to concrete in Thier greedy pukus. Real lowlife thing to do.

Thanks for the story. Yeah, he was a good one to take - think I’d have taken the hindquarter steaks and left the head 😆 Still, it’s the story that makes the trophy. Sorry about the pricks that spoilt it for you.

It is really poor that you can’t leave your gear stashed for a short period even out in the mountains without some thieving prick helping themselves.

Unfortunately theft seems to be becoming more and more accepted as a fact of life in this country in recent years.

We arrived back at my mates Hilux about an hour after dark one evening in a spot close to where you were. The vehicle was covered in heavy dew so you could see where someone had wiped all four side windows to have a look inside.

Theres some arsholes about! I really do hope karma catches up with them. That kind of thing can have life and death consequences if in the wrong place.
Imagine needing your gear.

Thanks for sharing & well done on the stag. It sounds like a bit of a mission in far from pleasant conditions. Makes me spew to hear about the thieving fuktards stealing several hundred $ worth of gear & potentially putting you at risk. Karma can’t come fast enough for shitheads like that.

I would’ve boned out hind quarters under different circumstances, too wet and cold with darkness approaching just wanted to get out of there and on to main ridge. As for the head it was his first stag so definitely had to be taken.Yip theft all too commo, there’s no consequences so they don’t even care about being caught. Not the the police would even try.

Congrats on the deer. Good story to read apart from the theft bit. There’s some lowlife pricks about for sure. Used to be able to leave gear in huts, tents etc no worries. Not these days. Rough justice still has it’s place if you catch the cnuts though if you’re capable enough.

good trip report. Sounds like a big mission. Thieving bastards!