Thread: Public land deer - 53 years ago.

These are the first 2 deer that I shot and sold. I was 21 It was in the head waters of the Mangahao in the Tararuas. About 5 hour walk to where I shot them.

The rifle is a Brno .222. I shoulder shot the little one at about 100 yards and neck shot the velvety in his bed at about 15 yards. We saw 23 deer that day. The cheque I received for the 2 sets of HQ with back steaks attached and the velvet was bigger than my one weeks shepherding wage at the time. A while later I chucked shepherding for casual farm work and meat hunting.

The Brno was a neat little gun. It had a 4x Tasco 'scope on it and I used Hertenberger and Sako 50 grn ammo. Eventually sold it for a 308.

Shooting these 2 deer was life changing. I can remember it like it was yesterday. Small things can make big differences.





When I got into selling it a bit more seriously I mainly hunted the Ruahines.
Still just a young bloke here.





Great times. I stopped selling it when you had to bring the whole deer out and heart lungs and liver. Had my own farm by then and was farming them instead of killing them anyway.

Were you using 80gr Targex. LOL . Nice history.

@Tahr if the Brno trebly you were referring to was the Fox model,I know why you had a soft spot for the mini Mauser with set trigger to touch off a head/neck shot to maximize coin return .Honey of a gat

Originally Posted by bluebaiter222

@Tahr if the Brno trebly you were referring to was the Fox model,I know why you had a soft spot for the mini Mauser with set trigger to touch off a head/neck shot to maximize coin return .Honey of a gat

it was a Brno 601 with a rosewood forend and a barrel band sling attachment. It had been stolen from a sportshop in Wanganui and recovered so I got it a bit cheaper. It was a honey. It had the the straight push forward set trigger which I didn't like so got the standard set trigger put in. That rifle sure taught me how and where to shoot and Ive sorta done the full circle and come back to the .223 in my dotage.

That is a nice little bit of NZ history right there.

Originally Posted by ROKTOY

That is a nice little bit of NZ history right there.

I get a few jibes on here about hunting private land mainly now. I can understand why 'cos its what they hear and see of me - but I really busted my arse on public land for longer than the nay-sayers have probably been alive

Originally Posted by Tahr

I get a few jibes on here about hunting private land mainly now. I can understand why 'cos its what they hear and see of me - but I really busted my arse on public land for longer than the nay-sayers have probably been alive

Hunting is done with the heart not a gun or care about what other people think.

Originally Posted by Tahr

I get a few jibes on here about hunting private land mainly now. I can understand why 'cos its what they hear and see of me - but I really busted my arse on public land for longer than the nay-sayers have probably been alive

yup Tahr the good old days of being able to sell ya deer - we used to hunt the Ruakituri and on way home the Tiniroto Pub was also a Bergs game chiller - the cunning bugger would pay half cash half cheque naturally we had to have a couple of beers -well sometimes that meant staying - the cunning sod would even offer to cash cheque once we had used up the cash we had - ahh the good old days

Originally Posted by Tahr

I get a few jibes on here about hunting private land mainly now. I can understand why 'cos its what they hear and see of me - but I really busted my arse on public land for longer than the nay-sayers have probably been alive

Fuck those members Bruce. You're an inspiration to many here.

Originally Posted by ANTSMAN

Fuck those members Bruce. You're an inspiration to many here.

Yup 100% Fuck them!

Originally Posted by Tahr

I get a few jibes on here about hunting private land mainly now. I can understand why 'cos its what they hear and see of me - but I really busted my arse on public land for longer than the nay-sayers have probably been alive

Probably a bit of envy there - I wouldn't mind a private block I could hunt on.

Those 601's were nice, a mate I hunted with got one, the .223 I think - the old police model. I had the 600 with a bigger hole in the barrel and I liked that well enough - still got it.

Nice to see those old photos ..............

You sound like someone I knew ................ ?

Forgot - the longest 'carry' I ever did was 8 hours, just got stubborn with that one and it did require some recuperation.

I shot a 130 pounder (dressed) a couple of years ago and couldn't get it off the ground. Thought - "Shit, that's a heavy bugger."
Got it out whole with a bit of help and got a shock when it only went that heavy ..............
"I swear, I used to be able to carry one of those."
"In your last life ............. was it ?"
"Yeah."

Nother thing - if you got known as a 'meat hunter' people would trash your car - and I even got bailed up on a river flat while carrying .........
"You selling that ?"
"Nope."
"I think you're selling."
"Well, fuck you then."

It could get a bit hostile back then - depending on where you were. It was also hard yakka and really only romantic in retrospect ...........
I don't shoot much these days - I still carry a gun in the bush because being 'out there' never wore off, but the last 7 deer I saw in the bush I just never pulled the trigger on ............ I think those earlier days fucked me for that ........... something did.

Originally Posted by SF90

Forgot - the longest 'carry' I ever did was 8 hours, just got stubborn with that one and it did require some recuperation.

I shot a 130 pounder (dressed) a couple of years ago and couldn't get it off the ground. Thought - "Shit, that's a heavy bugger."
Got it out whole with a bit of help and got a shock when it only went that heavy ..............
"I swear, I used to be able to carry one of those."
"In your last life ............. was it ?"
"Yeah."

Nother thing - if you got known as a 'meat hunter' people would trash your car - and I even got bailed up on a river flat while carrying .........
"You selling that ?"
"Nope."
"I think you're selling."
"Well, fuck you then."

It could get a bit hostile back then - depending on where you were. It was also hard yakka and really only romantic in retrospect ...........
I don't shoot much these days - I still carry a gun in the bush because being 'out there' never wore off, but the last 7 deer I saw in the bush I just never pulled the trigger on ............ I think those earlier days fucked me for that ........... something did.

Yes. The local NZDA branch were agin it and I got a cold shoulder from the older blokes.

Before my time, but what an age to be around hunting.

The Brno 223 I have is very sentimental having been passed on from my grandfather and been the first rifle I shot deer with. Every deer I have shot has been accounted for.

I was born 20yrs too late I reakon..great writeup thanks.