Met up with an old mate on Saturday evening who had just bought his first rifle.
After a very wet trip to the lodge via the Honda 4wd we unpacked all the gear, grabbed a feed, poured a few drinks and he proudly showed me his new Tikka T3x 7-08 that had just come back from Albany Hunting and Fishing.
Now, he knows very little about rifles, so when I said "Hey man, nice rig! Are you left handed?" his face dropped.... apparently the rifle had no bolt in it when he shouldered it in the shop and they sent it off to be threaded. He picked it up, scope installed in the new hard case (bolt still out) and drove down pretty excited to get some round through it and learn more.
They also sold him a CZ 455, right handed of course but never asked him if he was left handed... that bad boy is going straight back to the shop to be swapped out! He's a lawyer, so he should no dramas! (we didn't shoot it)
The next morning we sighted in his CZ and my .223 between rain showers. The new Bushnell X-30 scope is much more user friendly and has far nicer glass than the old Nikko-LR I returned a while back.
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Happy that we had everything sorted, we piled the kids in the Honda a set off in search of any small game that we could find.
A few goats and turkeys were taken at varying ranges so we went to a spot that normally yields a few hares. The grass was a bit long to see them clearly but a goat pooped his head out a few hundred yards away so we cut the distance in half and the young fella set up for his shot.
The shot was good, but I was keen to see the goat go down as it ran a few yards out of site and the mob headed for safety over the hill. We jumped into the Honda and set off to make sure the goat was down.
The farm was very wet and I drove straight into a bog. Excellent.
In the photo, it looks very muddy but that is from us trying to dig it out and walking around so I can assure you it wasn't that obvious!!
One and a half hours of digging, laying branches and trying to get some movement and we eventually packed up and headed back to get help... to find the goat very dead only a few metres from where it was shot. An excellent lung shot saw it run about 10 metres.. enough to get out of sight. Bastard.
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If I had managed to stay three feet to the left, we would have sailed through!!
On the walk back the glorious sun gave way to monsoon style down pours.... typical! We got back to the farmer, he just smiled and said "We've all been there mate!" He grabbed the tractor and towed me out with ease.... The hot tub and some rum was calling pretty loudly now!
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The hot tub is filled by a thermal spring....
A few laughs and some dinner was had as we hatched a plan of attack for the morning and we decided to cull the goats that were eyeing up the new pine block. The land owner said there were four fallow spikers in there that may show up and we should shoot a couple if we see them.
The morning hike had up sidling through mud, along the faces of crappy slips and through the mature pines up in the direction of the new block. A 20 min climb up and we found a few goats that no longer reside there.
A few more metres and we settled into a mob that had just bedded down. After a couple of shots, a spiker popped his head up to see what he commotion was and down he went.
A nice 150 yd shot high in the neck and he's now hanging in the chiller.
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We cleaned ourselves up and headed out... only for me to get stuck again in some deep mud... the Rav 4 needed a bit more speed through the sticky stuff, but it was very lumpy and I was trying not to launch the wife and kid off their seats.... a quick tow with the Honda and we were out.
A bloody brilliant weekend catching up with an old mate and creating new memories!!
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