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Philipo hits the Westcoast with “Songhurst hunting safaris & guiding Inc”
Ryan & I had been talking about catching up for a Chammie hunt for a while, but with him job hunting & both of us having full workloads things were just to tight in April, finally we found a couple of days that worked for both of us, it would be a quick trip but hopefully we get a good weather window & then will decide which side of the Island to hunt. I booked a flight to Christchurch & on the last Sunday of the month he picks me up from the airport & the adventure begins.
Just leaving the airport turned into a mission as we load the Hilux Ryan starts doing the “pocket Haka” & can’t find the gate ticket he had in his hand 30 seconds before, we then proceed to look high & low for it - in the ute - under the ute & all over, eventually I find it down the side of his drivers seat lol
A quick stop for supplies at the supermarket then Westcoast here we come.
Was a nice trip over Arthurs Pass, talking about alsorts of shit from online idiots on hunting forums ( you know who you are lol ) to stories about trips we’ve been on & South America women, Ryan let slip that he’s not very photogenic so I made it my mission to take crap loads of photo’s of him hahahaha lucky prick
Dinner in Hoki and then a romantic cabin in Whataroa, wWe start the day with a cup of joe from the two grumpy old girls at the Whataroa general store then off to the chopper pad, Was a bwety day to fly & soon we’re on the mountain setting up camp then off for a hunt to find some beasties.
I’d be carrying Mr Songhust’s 270wsm ( Sako 85 sitting in a Ken Henderson stock & Swaro Z5 ) it’s a nice setup but to be honest I’ve never shot an animal with a 270 as I’m a bit scared of their immense power, Ryan must of also been a little nervous also about me using his bang stick and my high shooting standards as he sent me a number of photo’s showing what good groups it shot on his repeated trips to the range making sure it was a hundy percent hahaha
I stuck the rifle in my Eberlestocks scabbard & Ryan slung one of his other 270’s over his shoulder ( I’m sure he has at least 8 or 10 of em ) & off we go up the ridge from our base only to find that every hunters favourite wankers “WARO” had paid the place a visit & left a pile of gut bags for us, we continue our march up the hill towards a saddle that leads into the adjacent catchment, talk about a prick of a place for fast travel. It was a minefield of tussock covered holes, ankle breakers & spike pits of all sizes, throw in oodles of spear grass & it was slow complicated going, not only physically but mentally draining, Ryan even starts doing stretching exercises lol.
It starts getting pretty steep towards the top & the wind really picks up as we crest the saddle, we glass the area from different spots but things aren’t looking to good, only spotting one hind & one Chammy friggen miles off in the distance. The wind was blowin straight off the Mountains & bitterly cold so we decide to head back for a brew & then will check out below camp for the last couple of hours of daylight.
We find a nice spot to chill out, take photo’s but still no animals are seen, the farken choppers have taken their toll on Red skins & seem to have driven off the Chamois, we head back from a decent feed of Steak & mash spud washed down with a Radler, Greg & Willie are in da house lol. Ryan seems a bit down though as he’s seen a lot of animals here on past trips, but tomorrow is another day so fingers crossed. On my last SI hunt Adam ( aka Dorkus ) shot a lovely 14 pointer off a face we had glassed for two days & not seen a sausage, so you just never know aye.
Next morning dawns as a beauty, we load up & head back up the hill into the adjacent valley again, just as we crest the saddle & start glassing I spot a Doe only 150 odd yards away looking at us, I get all excited seeing something close, she’s in good nick & has a lovely coat but she’s only got one horn, bugger lol
She’s by herself & eventually trots off, so we do as well, after a bit more glassing Ryan spots a buck sitting down a ridge about 800 yards away, we hightail it to close the gap, at 400 we find a nice spot to shoot off, I pull the rifle outa the bag & start wrestling with Ryans friggen over complicated bipod, fuk me it must have been designed by the same dudes that made the space shuttle, finally all set up, dialled, plugs in and ready to go but we’ve been spotted there’s a small mob & they’re on the move, my Buck is at the rear & stops briefly to look around booomfaaa farken straight through the shoulder, he rears up on his back legs & over he rolls.
We pack up & go claim my prize & what a prize it is, he’s a bwety buck with a lovely coat, I put the tape measure on him - over 10” woowee minta
10.25 & 9.75 bloody awesome, pop his head off ( to euro mount ) & we start to skin him, I wasn’t really interested in mounting him ( as it doesn’t really do much for me ) but thinking of it now I probably should of. My skinning is a bit slow so I talk Ryan into doing it for me lol, he’s a GC
We go for a walk to have a look round for Ryan to shoot something, I end up falling in a big friggen crack ( must be an earthquake opening ) luckily only one leg went in the hole but fuk me she was super deep.
The mist / cloud is starting to come in up the valley, so we load up and start the long climb back, we get to the saddle & she’s really turning to soup, visibility was down to twenty yards so we gap it down the other side, through some steep shit & nearly tripping over a dead Cham laying in the long grass, it’s a tiny little thing that some cunt had gut shot, I wonder how long it took for the poor little fulla to die. Why would you even bother taking a shot at it, some people are just fuk wits I surpose.
I was certainly glad to get back to camp after carrying my near 20kg pack for three hours across all that shitty ground, time for a beer with my two new mates, Ryan & Cory Chamois. Mr Songhurst offers to head skin me old mate while we’re relaxing, using his pack as a foot cozie hahaha and I start cooking dinner.
Next morning and another grouse day dawns, we’re packing up getting ready for pick up when we hear a chopper approaching, next thing a red - old model 500 buzzes the faces we were on the previous day, no wonder these no Deer around, why do these pricks have to hammer the easy stuff, they should fuk off to remote spots that people don’t usually hunt.
While waiting for the bird, we do some glassing a watch a few Cham, but yeah disappointing that the numbers were down & would have been nice for RS to bowl something. We have a nice trip back & I’m home in Palmy by 8pm.
Was a great trip, plenty of laughs & bloody nice to have something decent to take home, Cheers Ryan & Songhurst hunting safaris & guiding Inc
Chur
