Thread: Sometimes in hunting you fail..

Big time!

But I think it's still interesting to share those, as the internet is full of big stags and great trips. So this is a disaster someone might learn something from.

An early start this morning had my mate and I on a river bank just after dawn. About minus 3 and no sun yet to be seen. We were looking for Chamois or deer and planning on using the packraft to recover anything from the far side. Soon a Chamois Buck was spotted and as the river wasn't that large, a shot rang out and he slumped into a gutter. Great! We made our way down to the river and worked out a recovery plan. The area had a heap of bluffs down stream that would make coming back harder, but there was a pool upstream of a rapid with a good beach. The only issue being that you could not prevent hitting the head of the rapid at some point. We are only talking a 15-20 meter crossing, so our plan was to attach the rope, Dan would cross as fast as possible while I played out the rope, and then he'd load up the Buck and I would assist him back across and back too the beach with the rope.
Shoes off, boat pumped up tight, life jacket on and in he went. And that's right where it first went wrong, as the current was exponentially more powerful than we expected or had come across before. Into the rapid he went and the 45 meters of rope was ripping through my hands so fast I had to let it go. I yelled a warning but before either of us could do much, the rope caught, and came tight. The boat instead of swinging against the bank, went straight under and the back ripped out of it and Dan was now at the mercy of the current. The last I saw of him, he was approaching a log jam.

I bashed my way along the bank, but he had disappeared and My fear was he was under the logs. Turned out he had gone under but had popped up downstream and made it too some rocks out of my sight.
Working through the situation I knew I needed to to check the logs and if I couldnt find him, Id call emergency. So a few minutes later I was relieved to get a call to say he was out of the river.

I went back and retrieved the rifle and boots etc, and hurried back to the carpark, started up the engine and turned the heaters on and sorted some dry clothes. Was no use trying to find him in the bush, So I waited getting shit ready, until he called me again and told me he'd reached the roadside, where I soon picked him up, bare legged, one sock missing and unable to feel his toes.

A really lucky escape and a learning experience for us both.

That’s a very dangerous situation, glad everyone’s ok

I am a real sook about crossing the rivers on the West coast, especially as I'm usually by myself. Had many opportunities, that were so close, but not confident with a crossing to recover it.

That is a very fortunate outcome. It could have been a lot worse. I am sure that you would have both been shitting bricks. Go buy a lotto ticket the both of you as Lady Luck is rolling your way.

One thing Id like to add, We made some mistakes today, But one thing we did right. Ive carried that life jacket through Westland country for two years, its bulky and annoying but every single time I take the raft its there and its worn even when the crossing is simple. We both reckon it was the deciding factor today.

Shit. Reading that I was very happy that it had a happy ending !

There is no substitute for a high flow life jacket mate, good on you for sticking with it.

Bugger all buoyancy in white water. Its something that very few people understand until the have experienced it !

Good on you for posting



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Yikes!

Riverwork can go from OK to crap very quickly. Then throw in freezing water and that compounds things pronto. Well done on the life jacket.

Some good learnings there thanks for sharing! Something thrown into the river before attempting can give some sort of indication of flow.

We had a callout recently for a person who fell in to swift water, it's amazing the power of water and how it can strip you of your clothing and your life.

Excellent turnout in the end, one reason I try Not to cross rivers when out solo hunting.

Drowning was known as "the New Zealand death" for quite some time.... You both lived and have learned. The chammies horns will still be there in week or months time. Be careful bud. Not worth dieing over.

I'm watching this thread with interest, because on the Coast you can only be crossing a river less than 10m wide with shallow edges and a dodgy bit of only 3m in the middle and by yourself. Life flashes before your eyes very quickly. There are so many places I want to go but have seen and read of the consequences. You don' want to be squealing like a girl down here. It's not considered manlly

Shit you guys were lucky, at least we can read about a happy ending, dangerous things happen around water if your not careful, good on ya for sticking with the life jacket.

Yes, a failed hunt, sort of Whanahuia, but much better reading that than of Dan suffering the worst.
You remind us that backcountry NZ rivers are deadly killers if incorrectly read. Glad you guys lived to tell the story.

That was a fortunate result and I'm glad ya both came out of it in one piece, the older we get, the more we learn and sometimes it's luck as to wether we get to be around to learn the lesson we've just been served. On the plus plus side, you now have another great yarn, which is where most great yarns come from

Shooting the chamois with a harpoon gun would be the solution :-) .
Good to know that you are both safe back home.