Showing two mates what the hunting is all about

**jpurdon** · 09-03-2024, 04:18 PM

Had an awesome trip last weekend with a few good mates of mine, thought I would share.

For a long time, I have been wanting to share my enjoyment of hunting and the backcountry with my school mates who have never experienced this. Growing up in Central Auckland, I was fortunate to exposed to it by some uni mates when I moved down to Canterbury to study.

We picked a date and the boys arrived, one from Welly and one from Auckland. The next morning, we loaded up the car and headed to the spot. I hadn't been to this spot/hut in 2.5 years. It was where I went for my first public land overnight hunting trip where I first truly fell in love with hunting. So it seemed only fitting to take my mates here for their first experience.

Was about 2.5 hr drive and 5 hr walk in so the boys were relieved when we finally sighted the hut. Fair to say their mountain fitness wasn't quite up to par but we took it slow and steady. We dumped our overnight stuff in the hut and headed for another 30 min walk to the area I wanted to hunt for the evening. We parked up in a nice position with plenty of area to glass and nice varying terrain. I had seen plenty of deer here last time so was optimistic. Sure enough, as soon as the shade his the faces, the deer came out of the woodwork. Firstly, 5 came from the bush line but then disappeared into the scrub. While we waited for them to reappear, two other deer must've read the script for the weekend and came wandering up our ridge, 300m away. After quickly repositioning, my mate setup, lined up and bowled one from 200 yds. His first time firing a rifle and we had a deer down on the first evening! Quick butchery before it got dark and walked back to the hut under head torch.

Feeling in the camp was awesome and the boys were frothing. Now it was over to the other one to get one in the morning. After a shoddy sleep, boys were up well before sunrise. The area I wanted to hut was a bit further away from the hut this time so boys were losing some gravy early doors with no deer spotted yet. Well on the tops now, I was at the front of our pack when I saw a stag wandering down a wee terrace below me. I hurried the others up and we managed to get him in the scope. Just before we shot, the deer randomly starts running off round the corner. We had been quiet and had the wind right so I was confused. We quickly repositioned round the other side of the ridge hoping to see them again.

Sure enough, he had run over to catch up with his other mate who was an even bigger stag. Neither were donkeys and we weren't being picky so he lined up on the nearest one and let it fly. Didn't sack it but clearly hit it and the stag headed toward the bush line. It went round the corner and out of site so we quickly dropped down to see if we could see a blood trail. After a quick grid search, I saw some beautifully red stained antler poking through the scrub.

Both boys with their first deer, and one with some antler to boot. Head wasn't going to make it on the plane back to Wellington so we skinned it and left it as a memory at the hut. I look forward to my next trip there to see it leaning up against the hut.

With a front due the next day and two deer on the deck, we decided to call it a day and walk back a day early. Boys were digging deep for the last part of the walk with meat loaded up and boots sodden.

What a trip! Boys both got their first deer and many lasting memories were made.