With my plans set for 4 weeks in New Zealand’s beautiful south island all organised for me by kev and his mates I was going to be busy, on the menu was red deer stags in the roar, maybe a fallow, bunnies, hares and pigeons around the farm and the opening weekend of the duck season. We landed on the Sunday evening at Invercargill and moved in with the rellies in Otautau. I was travelling with my wife and the 3 kids 7, 6 and 1½ so Darwin was a long way to come from.

We got quickly unpacked and settled in. I needed to get myself organised we were set to fly into fjord land on Friday for the red deer roar, my first and I was getting very excited.

I had arranged to pick up my newly acquired rifle, a savage weather master in 7 Remington magnum from foster, he had arranged for it to be delivered to him so I could get it ASAP. I mounted the leupold 4x12 on it and bore sighted it that nite.

Whilst in town I dropped in to the local gun shop to pick up a box of ammo for the 7RM, there were 2 choices, the Winchester supreme 150g or some no name stuff, bugger it I will get the good stuff and at $80 a box it had better be good!! It shot well and I was confident it would do the job. (Turns out the stuff was crap but it did kill every thing it hit)

We drove up to Milford sound to catch the chartered flight and met up with the boys Aussie Bob, Peter, Richard Kev and myself. We would be staying in Aussie Bobs hut; he had built the thing over many years by flying in bit-by-bit and using whatever was available. The flight was spectacular and was well worth doing even if not to transport you to a hunting spot.



We landed and went had a good look around, everything was done for us accommodation wise so kev and I went had a little hunt around to see if there was anything about. Aside from spooking a hind we saw nothing else.

Aussie bob cooked the best roast wild pork for dinner that Richard had shot the week previous; we all had too much to drink then went to bed.

The next morning Richard and peter set off and kev and I followed down the track we walked in some way then split up into 2 pairs and hunted around, kev and I walked all day, saw nothing and then returned to camp late afternoon. Not disappointed as the bush was spectacular but I suppose it was a bit daunting, the bush is SO dense and the hills SO steep, we wondered if there was any deer and if so how we would ever get onto them. When we returned there was a nice 8-point stag head sitting proudly on the trailer for us to see, we noticed a gunshot earlier and figured the others had got one, oh well our turn tomorrow?

Over dinner and too many beers we decided that Richard and Peter being far more experienced than us newbys would each take us out and show us what to do. Sounded good because I was the first to admit I have no idea.

The next morning we all got up early had a quick breakfast and set off with Richard, Kev partnering up with Peter. I quickly found the error in our ways. Richard showed me how to “roar†up the stags, I had been wandering aimlessly around all this time! After a bit we had 3 stags going off all around us, deciding to go after the most promising one up wind, we set off up the hill.

Richard showed me about the wind and how to keep ahead of the stag as he will try to “wind†us to see what or who we are, to tell the truth I was just excited that we were in the vicinity of a deer at all! He roared and as we got close all I could do was scan the bush for the deer, we moved around and as we done so the deer appeared around a thick shrub only showing it head to Richard, I did not see it at all as it was behind a large tree trunk from my point of view. He let rip with his .270 and I heard the deer run off to my right then I saw it trotting off rather slowly and thought I must have been hit.

I found the trail and scanned the area, no blood. I followed the trail as far as I could and it went cold. To say we were disappointed was an understatement, Richard was spewing, but we sat down had a biscuit and a drink and chatted for a while hoping to hear another deer.

Just as we were starting to head down the hill and back to the track Richard let out a bellowing roar and bugger me the deer we had just shot at roared right back!!!! We quickly but quietly charged down below it so it could not wind us and moved in again. He moved down and Richard caught a glimpse of his head as he moved over a little knob, all I could hear was the fern being brushed aside as he charged down towards us, he approached us and I could see 2 antlers then more antlers then a head then a neck that was enough for me I pulled the trigger and simultaneously so did Richard, we both hit it in the neck about 1 inch apart. Needless to say he went down like a sack of spuds. My first red deer and a 6 pointer, not huge by any means but I was happy all the same.



Lots of photos later and as much meat as 2 packs could take we head back to the hut. Kev had got his first deer too an 8 pointer I was happy for him especially as he is a local and had not shot a deer after many attempts previous.

Well the pressure was off now and we both had learnt heaps, all these tricks we could now try to emulate ourselves.

The next day kev and I had to get up early as we were flying back out at lunchtime, just enough time for a hunt! We roared as we had been shown and soon enough a stag roared back! We moved in, following the instructions given by our instructors the day previously, and soon enough he appeared again he was blocked from my line of sight by a big tree but kev saw the opportunity and placed a 150g cor loct from his Remington 700 in .308 into the chest, the deer jumped into my view and I stepped forward to get kev out of the line of fire and hit him with the 7RM, turns out it did not need it as all I did was smashed the front half of the stags already mortally wounded chest. Stag number 2 and we did it all by our selves, that was a special moment that both of us will long remember.



Just in time to get back, pack up and jump on a plane back to civilisation.



I got to spend the ANZAC day morning with Foster. (And can I just say the kiwi’s put on a great dawn service) we got to meet up and plan an assault on some more deer in the high country, we were to get choppered into some real back country for the weekend and it would be an excellent opportunity to get onto some good deer. The weekend approached and the weather moved in, I was sitting at home, watching the rain turn to sleet then snow then hail and all the time foster was ringing me and saying “nah it will be ok, we mite get a little wet but it should clear up†I was getting a knot in my stomach. I recon im pretty game for most things but I was getting worried that I couldn’t handle this southern weather at its worst.

Turns out Foster was sitting in his heated office thinking it was all good when it was getting real rough, the chopper pilot ended up cancelling on us and there was 2 feet of snow overnight, I slept well in my own bed. But was disappointed we missed the trip.



Kev owns a sheep farm, he also runs a few bulls on it and has a beaut veggie patch, we ate like kings. Home killed lamb, pork and beef, trout from the river, deer and ducks what a life! But we decided to add bunnies to the menu, we drove around with the spotlight using all the kids, my 3 and kev’s 2 as spotters and I got to shoot the Ruger 1022 a semi auto .22, offcourse totally legal in NZ. I was like a kid again, whacking bunnies with gay abandon, and fell in love with the 1022 all over again.





I whipped up some tasty marinades for the hare’s and along with the red deer we got in fjord land took them off to the Mai Mai. That’s NZ for a hide you use when hunting ducks.

Now for those who have never experienced the opening weekend in new Zealand, I will fill you in. it is UNBELEAVEABLE, firstly there is full page adds in every newspaper advertising (shock, horror) guns! Then there’s the TV shows with (shock horror) hunting on them. Then there’s the people who you don’t know from a bar of soap just casually ask “have got all organised for the hunting this weekend?†and where will you be going etc. its socially acceptable to discuss hunting, shooting and guns in public. A very foreign experience, for an aussie.

The entire south island shuts down for 3 days. All the women who aren’t into hunting go off and have a “do†at the beauty salon whilst the boys head down to there lovingly prepared Mai Mai’s. The one I was staying in was on kev’s mate, Stuart’s block. It has flush toilet, gas heating, beds for 8, bar, gas cooker, double roller doors leading out onto the shooting gallery. On the shooting gallery are racks to place your shotgun so they all face out away from the Mai Mai. A very flash set up!

I was given a Mosberg 5 shot pump 12 gauge and kev used his Beretta 4 shot semi auto, both offcourse legal in NZ. Infact only 1 shot gun used at the mai mai over the weekend, would be legal in Australia. Nirvana.

It was a beautiful clear day on the Saturday, not the best for ducks but the shooting was full on, Stuart had 2 retrievers who were kept busy all weekend fetching all the downed ducks. I described the scene as similar to Darwin in 1942 with Japanese zeros flying in formation at all different heights and directions. There were at times 30 and 40 ducks overhead.

The pond we were shooting over was custom made for ducks; it was surrounded by willows and had a clearing for the ducks to drop into. There must have been 200 decoys; Stuart had a sound system playing duck sounds. There was spinning decoys ones that flapped ones that dived down and splashed he had it all.



I had a ball trying to empty the pump before all the ducks all fled the scene.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. We had booked our return flights on the Wednesday after the opening weekend. I came home from the Mai Mai to find the two older girls, coming out in spots! Chicken pox!!!!! I had to delay our return, as we couldn’t travel with kids covered in chicken pox. 2 more weeks!!! Yipeeeeee

Thought the best thing we could do was send the girls off to Queenstown for a girly weekend, as they had looked after all the kids whilst we were whacking ducks. Then we could get in another deer and duck trip! Turns out I got to shoot a red and a fallow yearling on separate trips and got another duck shoot in before retuning to Darwin. God I love New Zealand.

greg

Great report and nice pictures of your hunting adventure! And all that travelling with little kids!

Great report! It's hard to beat Kiwi hospitality.

Gidday Greg,

Glad you had a good time. It really is Gods Own country if you are into the outdoor life.

Y'all come back now ya hear!

Happy Hunting

Hamish

Greg,
That is the best hunting/family story I have read in a very long time.
Pete

quote:

Originally posted by Foxhunter223:
Greg,
That is the best hunting/family story I have read in a very long time.
Pete

thanks the kids had as much fun as i did, they were always pestering us to take them out to shoot some rabbits.
the were also enthusiastic to help with the preperations when we cut up the meat.

greg

Looks like a fun trip.

Great choice of caliber for your new rifle