Sorry guys, not a roar report! ;D
Last month I had an awesome couple of days hunting with a fellow hunter hailing from Wales. He contacted me through the other forum and asked if I could fit in a hunt with him at some stage, so I managed to cram as much as I could into the only two days I was going to have free while he was here.
On the first evening we met up and headed home where we packed up some gear and headed up to a block of mine. After a panic session over finding Adams "lucky hat" we were on our way for our first hunt. Within an hour of arriving and stalking we came across two stags in velvet. I managed only one decent photo of this one before they boosted it for the scrub.
http://i829.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps003084a6.jpg
We carried on hunting and saw a couple of hinds with yearlings at tow. Too far for a shot and not enough time for a stalk. On dark we managed to catch a spiker out in the open, but he wasn't stupid and hit the ground running before Welshy could shoot. We ended up heading home empty handed for a beer and bullsh*t session.
The next morning we got up at sparrows fart and headed to a favourite area of mine for a spot of chamois hunting. Welshy had never seen one, let alone shoot one. Within minutes of leaving the truck I spotted one in some bluffs a few hundred metres away.
http://i829.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps842d8661.jpg
We planned a stalk and after a hour or so were in a position to drop down on top of the Chamois' last known position. I set Adam up with the 280 and we stalked down a steep ridge. Luckily I saw the young buck before he saw us and we nestled in the scrub waiting for a shot opportunity. Eventually he saw us and stood checking us out.
http://i829.photobucket.com/albums/z...psa2a5484a.jpg
Worried he would break for cover, even though we had him pretty buggered, I told Adam to send a shot. First one went high, as he overestimated the range and aimed top shoulder instead of dead on (an easy mistake for inexperience tops hunters). The buck turned broadside and the second shot was true. Some impressive aerobatics off the bluff had the Welshman posing with his first ever Chamois. Stoked he was too!
http://i829.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps75efc7cf.jpg
Seeing as though we had a fair bit of time left up our sleeves we opted to continue hunting the head basin. Plenty of glassing in this type of country seemed to be the order of the day...Adam was amazed by the scenery.
http://i829.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps1c47ea60.jpg
We picked up a few animals here and there, probably seeing half a dozen Chamois and a red deer or two. A couple of mature chamois were seen within comfortable walking distance so we snuck in and had a closer look. Neither were trophy size and as we had one on the deck we spent a while just watching them until they moved on.
http://i829.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps82bb0076.jpg
As the fog rolled up the valley, our day out tops hunting was cut short. Visibility was reduced to 20 metres so we bailed and headed off the hill before we got stuck up there.
http://i829.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps25b5eb2e.jpg
Breaking through the fog we still had a few hours of daylight left so I called a mate and sussed out some fallow hunting for us in the evening. Adam had never hunted fallow, so was keen to get one in his sights if possible.
Arriving at the block we soon spotted the odd fallow mooching about the scrub. Most were does with young ones, so they weren't the target of the day.
http://i829.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps48112acf.jpg
We had to find a spiker or young buck we could shoot for the freezer so kept walking. The old legs were starting to feel it as we'd covered some gound over the last day and a half. Finally after grunting it up a shitty gut we came to a grass slip that screamed deer.
We sat for a while and glassed it, not seeing anything. As we got up to move on a young buck appeared from nowhere, trotting across the slip. He was perfect for the freezer so we got into position and hoped for him to stop before he hit cover.
Fortunately the buck stopped for a split second and shooting prone the Welshman dropped the buck cleanly with a neck shot from my 280...a brilliant piece of shooting.
http://i829.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps5d0f4a3e.jpg
The buck was an awesome animal, probably too good to shoot not being in hard antler, but Adam was absolutely stoked and I was even more stoked getting him onto animals that are quite difficult (and impossible in respect to the chamois) to gain access to, let alone shoot back in his home land
All Adam wanted to do now, was pack the buck out Kiwi style, so after a bit of knife work we had the fat as buck on his back and plodded back to the truck for a cold well earnt beer.
http://i829.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps983c7c2e.jpg
We saved the bucks skin and because he was mud fat we used every scrap of meat off him. It is probably the best venison I've had for a very long time.
Now hopefully I can get over the Wales soon where Adam can return the favour and get me onto some deers over there ;)
Happy and safe hunting this roar guys.
Cheers,
Josh :)
