Since I got into Hunting I had always heard of How Hunters enjoyed hunting and endured the frustration of hunting Sika especially bush stalking them.So finally after quite a few months of planning Myself and 5 other really good blokes went Bush hunting Sika.My first task was to pick up Veitnamcam and kiwi Greg from Palmy Airport and put them up for the night then early next morning head up to East Kaweka Helicopters.Our base was Otutu Hut and It was a great little hut well kept and fitted us Big boys nicely.We intended to get flown in by Chris Cross in the 500 for about three days Hunting.This was my First trip into the Kawekas and I had looked over to the kawekas many times from Waioru before and never gave it a second thought but right now its all I think about.
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We wasted no time settling in with a quick cuppa then off..... VC and KG however didn't even let the dust settle they were geard up and gone:D pretty soon we had all moved out to familiarise ourselves with the area.Ill sum up the hunting trip briefly as im no good at this type of thing as im struggling to put this hunting trip into words
The bush was everything I had expected! the Company was Outstanding as were the hut meals I dont think you would find two nicer guys in VC and KG.
So now to the Sika!...........I knew they were tough to hunt in the bush and they promptly gave me a good lesson one which will be with me for a long time to come and one lesson im happy to have been given.Slow! slower! slower Still and find a way to see through the trees they were hiding behind before they squeal in jest before departing left at Mark 5 ,i swung onto a small creature but the shot was marginal so didn't take it incase I shut down my whole area I intended to hunt for the day.So there I was legs of jelly realizing I had just been taught my first Sika lesson,not fazed we headed up onto a nice flat ridge and stalked it like pro's 5 steps stop watch listen wait more clear the area 5 steps stop and so on and so on for about an hr and a half this was our plan and we were working well as a team we were making our way into a north facing bench as the bush started to light up with some sunshine I had stopped and thought to myself as I was scanning the area in front that this was the place to be while my hunting mate had flanked to my left and instantly all hell broke loose and three sika shrieked from behind some tree's 40yds in front of me and bolted down hill
there was no chance of a shot as there were two many tree's.............we kneeled down almost back to back incase they swung around to check us out all the while I was mentaly uppercutting ,we both blamed ourselves to late the moment had gone lesson learnt.We hunted our way back to the hut a little bummed out but I was happy with my encounters as we were in the right elevation for them.
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We should have gone back there the next day but for some reason we didn't.Sundays weather was postcard perfect to say the least we stalked our asses of only to be schooled up by one more Sika:angry: but the day was so beautiful that I wasn't to fazed.
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All the boys hunted hard all day from Friday to sunday we ate like kings laughed like good mates and told some ripper stories and a couple of us cut down the forests at night:D.Monday weather was terrible and we had resigned ourselves to another night thinking Chris wouldn't fly in this shit!!!! how wrong we were, ive posted the vid of the lift off those who have flown in choppers around moutains in rough cloudy windy wet wether will know what its like but Chris Is a great operator and we got home in one piece. A deer would have gone down a treat but if asked to do the same again with no deer allowed I wouldn't hesitate, the trip was well worth it and has lit a flame called Sika!.
All that was left was to get home one last night at the Neckshot residence for the Nelson boys and then drop them at the airport the next night it was nice to have the boys over and look forward to the next trip one day in the future.
Jasen
