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Hunting with Sam - Forum to the fore!
Well it took a long time but I finally got to take young Sam hunting. His mum has bought him up by herself to be a really fine young fellow of just 12 (I think).
Some time ago i got started on this project and the "Forum" was great, with several people providing bits of gear, the most special of which (to Sam) was a knife provided by @Tahr, its one of Sam's treasures.
The trip I had in mind was complicated by a busy life, I'd planned to go up to Tekapo and stay with Headcase, and follow his guidance to get onto some rabbits and maybe a wallaby or two, but then some lucerne had to be collected from Hawea Flat for a cobber, and that meant towing a trailer. Forum to the fore and @Padox kindly invited me to leave it at his place so I din't have to tow it all the way. I'm always keen to poke into a "new" valley, so that was an offer accepted with alacrity! We had a great yarn and its always great to link up the forumites that you know in common @Joe_90 and @viper
Onto Tekapo and it wasn't really a nice afternoon, a very cold wind coming down off the hills, but dang, when you're young and keen whats a cold wind. HC sent us up a riverbed, he'd told us the rabbits would be spooky and he wasn't wrong. It quickly became obvious getting in range with a 22 not practical. So we took a different approach, I got Sam set up with the Contender in 17 HMR on a bipod, we worked to vantage points above the riverbed and waited till something moved. First bunny was a good 140M away, I made a wind call and explained to Sam how to make the shot - WOP, first shot hit and a very dead bunny. That set a pattern and although it was "slow" it was steady and deadly. After an hour it was getting even windier and quite cold so we called it quits, he'd shot 9 rabbits, all over 80M with 11 shots. I shot another two that he couldn't see. I call that a bloody good effort in difficult conditions, and we headed back to the truck with a spring in our step.
Next day dawned fine and NO wind, HC showed us up to the Tekapo range. We had a fantastic plink, with Sam shooting the Contender 17 HMR, the Ruger American Target 22 and the Contender with its 6.8 barrel fitted. Soon we are going to a 22 long range match at Te Anau, so it was great for him to get shooting the 22 out to 200M plus and starting to learn about dialling, Strelok etc. Several packets of ammo went downrange, we finished up shooting rocks with the 6.8 - man its easy to have fun when you're a 12 year old. We finished off with the 22 as he was a bit worried about shooting the 6.8 at game with no earmuffs and suppressor (the 6.8 isn't suppressed)
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I don't remember much from when I was 12 but I guess things have not changed and that for a 12 year old, waiting several hours till the late afternoon to go hunting passes slowly . . . we went up the hill at 3.00 but it was pretty obvious (to me) that nothing would be moving for at least a couple of hours . . . . we tried sightseeing
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This is a fantastic place, I think this "Mackenzie Country" is a key part of our national identity . . . but that only kept him interested long enough to take a picture.
The wind was coming in (again cold and off the hill) and it I figured we would have a hard time picking up animals. This area has been hammered, by day, by night, by helicopter, by those experienced @Tahr, @Brian etc) and most likely by heaps of passers by. So I knew we'd \have to be on our top game (pun intended) to get shootable animals. So we sat down and glassed. Then we walked and glassed, then we repeated both. We did see Wallabies, but they were spooky and weren't in any mood to pause long enough for a 12 year old to get a bead on them (or me either). Sam was lugging the 6.8 Contender (a compact and reasonably light rifle) without any grumbling, so we headed uphill to position ourselves down wind but overlooking the heavy matagouri cover wallabies favour.
Finally about 6.00 pm (two hours before dark) they started to move about. Soon after that Sam spotted one (without any guiding) about 80M away. He got down behind the 6.8 and smack - smoked it. There was another one just below it and he hit that one too, although it got back into cover. So this is what it looks like when you've just shot your first wallaby . . . .
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The trip home the next morning took forever, but we chatted and joshed happily all the way home. Calling in on @Padox again to drop of the projectiles @Tahr had left with HC for him and collect the trailer, calling in on rodeo Legend Patrick McCarthy to collect the lucerne and finally meeting up with mum to be taken home, scrubbed clean and prepared for a reluctant return to school . . . . but hopefully with the goals of winning a job in the airforce, and getting his firearms licence helping to provide motivation during the hard bits!
Thanks Forumites!
