Thread: A Grand Day out with a new friend.

Beautifull deer and an unforgettable experience!

As Mooseman said, this adventure started with him offering me to take me on a hunt. And after a few message exchanges we met up at december 7th. Now it's a little bit strange to be arriving at someones house, who you don't know, and they're going to take you out on a trip and even make you stay at their place. What unbelievable hospitality! But luckily Mooseman and his wife are very nice people and a pleasure to be around with.

We started of by preparing our kit on the friday evening. After that, have a chat with the four of us. The wives had a lady's program planned for the next day! After a short night, in which i didn't get a lot of sleep, possible in part by the anticipation, we got up early to join up with Beeman. Together we drove down to the forest where we would first check the trail cams. Now already this was a unique experience for me. Not only do i seldom shoot centerfire rifles, i also never was on a big game hunt, and now i'm sitting here with these two guys in a truck, driving through the early morning light, to go do exactly that. Mind you, in The netherlands we do not have the space and an overload of rules that prevent most people of having this pleasure. These are the main reasons i almost only shoot PCP airrifles (which are free at >18) in The Netherlands.

Walking around to the trail cams was an adventure in itself. The terrain can be really demanding for an office boy like me. But it was very enjoyable in the early morning cool. We even got to spot a deer closeby running away from us as we approached.
After having lunch at Beeman's place and checking the trail cam footage we set out to determine a suitable hunting spot. Now i was very lucky to meet up with probably two of the most authentic hunting guys in NZ. Together they have almost one century of hunting experience and they read the forest, tracks and marks like a book. After a short chat they determined the most promising ambush locations and i was to go out with Mooseman sitting on a hilltop overlooking a stretck where, around us, the trees were cut some time ago, and there was new pine growing to approximately 1-1,5m high.

The climbs up and down those hills was pretty tiring. Not only the incline, but also the stuff on the ground that will make you trip, slip and slide and spray your ankles. Blackberry thorns riping your flesh and your clothes. So after coming to breath, sitting on the hill side was almost a spriritual experience. It is completely relaxing and down to basics there. You're thinking about: wind, light, sound, silence movement, temperature, hunter, prey, food, live, death, blood, all the basic stuff since humankind. I had to pich myself to remember i was on a holiday trip in NZ.

So after Mooseman spotted the deer with his trained eyes we sat out to close the distance. You have to know i was determined to take the shot when i'm confident of being able of hitting the right spot. Unfortunately, in our approach we alerted the deer and he moved some distance from where he first was. When i finally got settled i couldn't surely make out the deer, because from my vantage point most of it was hidden by brush. I saw only it's head stick through the bush. The light was fading and my heart rate was still up from the climb. To not let the opportunity go to waste by waiting much longer - the deer was already staring in our direction - i told Mooseman to take the shot, which he did expertly. The deer dropped on the spot. After climbing up to the deer and shooting some pictures of Mooseman and the deer, the light started to fade rapidly and i stumbled back to the truck while Mooseman started prepraring the deer. We then went to pick up Beeman to help with getting the deer down. Both guys fixed that though these steep and treacherous hill sides in almost complete darkness with only a torch to light their way. While the shot fell at around 8PM, we finally got to drive home and arrive at Mooseman's place at around 1AM.

I still feel like being run over by a truck the next day. Muscles are stiff and my head is full of racing images and memories.

What an epic experience this was. So, another big, big thanks to Mooseman and Beeman for making this possible!

How did you get that big stag on the truck? good effort in the hunt.Enjoy the veni.

Originally Posted by Trout

How did you get that big stag on the truck? good effort in the hunt.Enjoy the veni.

It was a big effort from the three of us but we got him up there, I have since stripped the velvet and he was hard right to the tips even on the top tines. I will color them up with some condies crystals shortly. I re scored them after stripping and he scores out at 232 DS after a 15 point deduction penalty for over spread.