Thread: Game bird diary for all

Originally Posted by Pointer

Had to head over to the BOP today, what better excuse for a hunt?

I had a place in mind, that I had previously only been to hunt deer. The inland river flats of the Motu area make for great deer hunting, but also hold reasonable bird numbers. I had promised myself one day I would run a dog up there, today I got my chance...

After a ball-deep river crossing, and upstream another hour so I could hunt back into the wind, I popped up onto the terraces. These river terraces are upwards of a kilometer long each, and up to 300m wide, perfect country for a young dog to stretch his legs. And stretch he did - plenty of open country to run, but just enough cover to slow him:

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First off the bat two hens got up away from the dog and myself, maybe 200m out. Flushed no doubt by my battles with the weeds. Always encouraging, where there's hens there's cocks... Next bird I saw was a cock bird, gliding from a tree back into the native. I find it fascinating to see a bird that often ground roosts adapted to its environment like this. Even more so to see them in native! The next bird I saw was Enzos' - he found this one right out in the open, miles from any tall cover, tucked up in long grass. Certainly uneducated birds up here - in fact I would say they had never been hunted. Here is Enzos' find of the day:

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After this find, our mate Enzo had a full head of steam, at full speed, ears turned off, the works. So I sat him down for bit while I had a drink, gave him 10 minutes to bring him back into the quiet. When he had settled, I cast him off again, and we had a find on a covey of 4 brownies, again out in the open. Well that was enough for Enzo, he was off! Chased them to oblivion. Time to call it a day it seems, so on the leash, walked out. On the way out, saw another hen and a cock gliding amongst the rewarewa. Always a sight to see!

Great write up & photos Pointer, I've never hunted with dogs, looks/sounds cool......