First time sika

About a month ago a mate of mine invited me to hunt the kaimanawas for sika with him and a couple of mate. I've only recently moved up from Canterbury and have been hoping to go for my first elusive sika hunt so I jumped on the opportunity.
Friday 29th April came round fast and I was up at 5am for a 4 hour drive north to the carpark I was meeting Cam, Charlie and Scott. We set off up the track a little after 9am and made our way up to the tops. On our way up we met a group of hunters camping near the track who mentioned they had heard a bit of heehawing but hadn't seen any animals yet. We continued up over the tops and were planning on camping on the tops except after 4 hours we had seen no fresh sign or animal so decided to head down to the hut in the valley.
The four of us split up in the evening to glass different areas but when we all met at the hut on dark none of us had seen anything. It wasn't looking very promising but we had a couple of clear days ahead and we hoped we would find something down lower in the morning.
We got up at 6 to a hard frost and Cam set off up valley to glass the bush edges while Scott and Charlie headed downstream and I waited until nearly sunrise to head up a different branch into the bush. As the others left camp I made a call that I want to hear shots before 8 as a bit of encouragement. It didn't take long before my hopes rose a little as there was plenty of fresh sign just inside the bush edge. I stalked along the deer trails heading upstream until I hit a steep gut so I followed some fresh prints down through tight bush to the creek. As I reached the creek there was some fresh scrapings from the night before so I started moving slowly upstream until the fresh tracks led up a side stream. I got about 50m up the side stream before I broke onto the edge of a clearing and stopped to check for animals and a few seconds later heard movement down in the stream heading up to a clearing on the opposite side of the creek. I rushed about 20m along the track to get a clear view of the mall clearing opposite just in time to see a sika stag appear moving quickly uphill. I raised the trusty 222 and tried to shoot between the shoulders as he ran straight up the hill. The shot dropped him and a second shot to the base of the neck finished him off.
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I dropped straight down through the creek and up the other side to find he was a nice old 8 point stag, not bad I thought for the first sika I'd even seen in person. Absolutely rapt I sat down for a moment to take it in when I noticed a hind about 100m away up the creek heading for the bush. I quickly picked up the 222 and a moment later a solid thump echoed back and the hind dropped down into the bush. I decided then to check the time and saw it was only 7:50am, I was right on schedule.
I took the back legs, backsteaks and head from the stag down to the mainstream before heading back up to find the hind. By 8:30 I had the hinds back legs and shoulders boned out and in my pack and I was headed back to the hut with the stags head and legs over my shoulders. By the time I got back to the hut at 9:30 I still hadn't heard any shots from the others so I had a cuppa at the hut while I waited for their return.
As Cam came back up the track and asked how I got on I told him I'd shot an 8 point stag and I'm pretty sure it wasn't until he saw the head that he believed me. He had only heard a couple of heehaws and the other two hadn't seen or heard anything. Looks like I had a bit of south islander or beginners luck.
We had a few leisurely hours at the hut and I put a stew on the fire for dinner using the meat from the shoulder on the hind. Fair to say everyone was keen to get into it for the evening hunt now we knew they were out there and we made fresh plans. Cam and Charlie went to a couple of different lookouts up the valley and Scott and I headed up the ridge behind the hut to glass the bush line.
As Scott and I got to where we planned to glass from there was plenty of fresh sign and the country in front of us looked great but after an hour we had seen and heard nothing so we went over the other side of the ridge to glass the other gully. Around this time we heard a shot from over the hill so hoped one of the other boys was on the board now. Not long after we heard a heehaw from close to where we had just come from so we headed back. Unfortunately nothing it went quiet after that so about half an hour before sunset I decided to head back to the hut while Scott was going to head to the top of the ridge to look at some new country. I only walked about 250m down the ridge when I heard a whistle to my left and a sika ran towards the bush. It stopped about 5m from the bush edge and looked at me, just enough time for the 222 to do its job and I now had a sika spiker added to the tally for the day. I was back at the hut about 30min later to find a few trampers had turned up and that I was the first of the group back from the evening hunt.
When the boys all got back the couldn't believe my luck as they had certainly had less. Cam was the only one to have seen deer and he had shot one but had spent an hour trying to find it before dark and in the process managed to lose his binos pushing through thick scrub. We had the stew for dinner which was super tender as I mentioned to the other boys that they need a 222 rather than the 7mm-08 and two 7mm rem mags they were carrying. The Rem mag shells certainly make a 222 look small.
The next morning only Cam and Charlie went out but were both back shortly after 8 as nothing was seen. We spent a couple of hours having breakfast of bacon and pancakes and enjoying the surroundings before packing up. I was headed out that day while the others were going to spend a night on the tops for a change of scenery. The others didn't seem too keen to carry much meat up and over the hill so I took about 2/3 with me and the head and left some back steaks with the boys for dinner on the tops and bid the farewell.
4.5hours and 14km later I had survived the walk up and over the hill and I was back at the car very warn out with a decent drive ahead. The cloud came in heavy unfortunately and the others didn't see any other deer for the trip. This trip definitely has me hooked on sika hunting and plans are already being made for next year. Thanks Cam for inviting me along and Charlie and Scott for the company.

Shit hot!

fantastic!

Wow. What a great way to start your sika career. Nice stag too.

Good read [emoji106] well done [emoji41]

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Top effort. Great write up.

Slayed them, and a 222 no less. Good one.

Well Done, you sure did slay them. They can be hard to hunt so you must have been doing everything right.

you need to change your forum name to TIN ARSE...... bloody good on you...go the mighty trebly..you obviously know how to use it and place your shots....

Oh no poor Cam losing his binos. It is always awful when gear gets lost when pushing through shit. Sounds like an amazing time besides that wee detail.

Not bad for a first:cool:\Good job

Nice read and well done on the sika.

Excellent result, first day trifecta, unheard-of in sika country.

Congratulations!
Always cool to see hunters with 222 and 223 drop animals, puts the whole thing to a very different perspective compared to home where those cartridges aren't legal for that.

lucky bugger i spent many moons chasin sika before i got lucky(many hard lessons learn't),you know hunting sika is very addictive aye,:D

Great stuff mate - I'm sure you'll be hooked on them now!! Enjoyed the write up, cheers :thumbsup:

Great first Sika, well done.

Great first sika hunt. I bumbled around this year without finding an 8.
My old man carries his vixen .222 everywhere we hunt. When I eventually get that rifle I'll probably carry it everywhere too.

well done and Micky Duck is right you should change your forum name to TIN ARSE I only got a hind and my mate I went with got 2 spikers

Bloody nailed it and a very good first sika stag. Good stuff

Thanks everyone. I definitely realise there was a good portion of luck but I’m definitely keen to go look for some more. Shame there’s not a few more closer to the Hutt valley. Surprised how different the meat was to reds as well.

oohh a 788 !