New Zealands "ugly goats"
"Jesus, a bit chilly for late April afternoon!"
My inner clock still hasn't quite yet adapted to the New Zealand conditions, so I occasionally catch myself wondering about the climate,
which is the exact opposite to my European home,that I left about 7 months ago.
The fog has lifted and one can now make out the beautiful, rich green of Kiwi-bush.
I'm standing on the small porch of "Punga Hut", which isn't the newest shelter around, but still more than you need to feel at home!
We are not here to rest a lot anyway. What draws us here is the red deer roar, which is about to reach its climax in the next couple of days.
4 months earlier I was fortunate enough to be invited on a weekend hunt by the President of the "NZ Bowhunters Society", Mr. Allan Metcalfe
and his wonderful wife Dawn.
Dawn and Allan made leaving their house real hard for me and my mate. They were incredible hosts and made us feel at home on the other
side of the globe!
Well, a weekend became two months in which I stayed on the picturesque Metcalfe property, where I did a bit of farmwork, chased turkeys,
Koi-carp and rabbits, and tried to understand the joy of watching a Cricket match.
After 9 weeks though, I finally managed to say goodbye to see more of this unique island.
I worked in orchards, made my way to the south island and found a well paid job in a hotel, in the middle of the southern alps.
Of course I stayed in contact with my bowhunting mentor, and when he suggested to have a go at the "Reds" back on the north island,
I figured that a flight ticket was the best thing I could spend my hard earned money on.
So here I am, on a friends property that seems to be full of deer and goats and I can't believe that this dream of mine has finally come true.
Beeing a bloody beginner, I'm still learning the basics of stalking big game, and failure has been my best teacher so far!
Anyway, the last two days have already been pure excitement, and left me full of new impressions and experiences. We already had some
very close encounters with red stags that left my adrenaline boiling!
One particular stag started moving into our direction pretty fast, after we had let out a roar out of a piece of vacuum cleaner pipe.
(There is not much vacuuming done during the roar)
He was not more than 10 yards away from me, obviously not very pleased about the rival's presence, but unfortunately never offered a shot.
A hind's bark finally made him leave rather quickly but my arms and legs did not stop shaking until 10 minutes after the stag had decided
not to play with this German wannabe.
Every now and then we would stalk wild goats ,for practice and dog food, and my confidence in being able to take even bigger animals with
my recurve had grown.
"Come on choir boy! let's get out there and kill something!" Allan shouts.
I stop daydreaming and realize that I'm the only one of us three ,who isn't ready for the evening hunt yet.
Hastely I string my bow, secure the the ripteks and my grizzly tipped goat arrow in the foam of my bow quiver, and jump on the back of the
camo-painted, small suzuki jeep!
10 minutes and a bumpy ride later, we start moving from clearing to clearing, keeping our eyes open for a piece of darkish red hair, an ear or
even better, antlers.
After an hour or so, we spot a group of two hinds and a yearling on a hill 150 yards away, but before we can work out a plan to approach them
, the wind turns, and the deer are gone for good.
It is getting dark now, and Danny, the property's manager tells us to check out a big clearing, just around the corner, while he goes back to
get the jeep.
Having learnt, that Danny knows this piece of land better than most stags in it, we do as we are told, and slowly make our way along the
old logging road towards the promising spot.
As soon as the clearing comes into full view, I can make out a mob of about 8 goats maybe 90 yards away, close to a dead tree, with two very respectable, totally black billies, feeding slowly in our direction.
As Allan had shot a goat this morning he gives me a hand sign to go on and try my luck.
The cover is about as good as it gets with a little gully that will lead me to a point, only 15 yards or so away from the mob without beeing seen.
The wind is blowing in my face and it seems like nothing can go wrong now.
I make my way through the gully, nock my goat arrow and start climbing the little bank that separates me from my prey.
Slowly, I lift my head to check on the situation, my body crouched, so that rising up and getting to full draw won't cause too much movement.
I can now see the top of the dead tree, just a bit left of where my billies should be by now. I'm raising my head a little bit more,
but my goats are gone.
I'm irritated, but since I have no cover from my neck up, I'm turning my head left in slow motion.
There they are, they moved towards the bushline with about 25 yards between us now.
I have no choice but to drop down into the gully again and get closer, before they reach the thick cover.
As I start making my way down, a little movement on the right catches my eye. I turn my head back again and what I see is a goat
with a pretty ugly, brownish coat, feeding with his head behind the dead tree, totally unaware of my presence. This would be an easy shot
,I tell myself. I can clearly see the ribs, there is no way he will see me getting to full draw.
But I decide against it. I'm still after one of the big black billies with those impressive, helix shaped horns.
Half way down the gully I hear "Ahhoouff" and freeze immediately. "Goats dont make bark"! A little voice in my head tells me.
So I take 2 steps up the bank again ,look over the edge and right into the alien like, dark eyes of a big red hind!.......Bugger!!!
Where the §%&$ did she come from?
I look down at my broadhead and see with horror that I still have my goat arrow on the string.
Doesn't matter I tell myself, this grizz may be old but it's sharp enough to bring a goat down, so it will do this job as well.
The ugly goat is now almost totally covered by the dead tree and in contrast to his big friend, has not spottet me yet.
Veerrry slowly I bring my bow up, with the hind standing broadside about 22 yards away. I can almost feel her reading my mind,
but she does not move at all!
I'm coming back to full draw,my middle finger is touching my lips now, PICK A SPOT ! I try to hammer into my brain...
...but my arrow never leaves the string! She's still looking right at me and something in my head has stopped me from taking the shot.
Once again she lets out an "Ahhoouff" and then, in one motion, turns around and runs another 30 yards away from me.
But not alone!!!!
The "ugly" goat takes of with her, and to my admiration not at all looking like an ugly goat, more like a fat, red yearling!
So here I stand, having had the perfect cover, wind and shot opportunity, but simply failed to identify the ugly goat as the beautiful yearling he was!
I can hear the jeep in the distance now, and realize how close I was to take my first big game animal.
In a strange way, I don't feel too disappointed. I make my way to where the hind stood and it's at least 6 additional yards to what I had guessed.
She must have been almost 30 yards away from me, totally alert.
I start feeling very happy about not having released that arrow.
Well, guess I still am a bloody beginner, but next time when I'm close to game I'll have a better look around, and things like "goat arrows" will not be found in my quiver again.
Allan starts laughing when he sees me, I don't know why but I have a big smile on my face.
After I told Danny what happened we all have a bit of a laugh about the german and his ugly goat...I guess there is more to a
sucessfull hunt than just taking game!
Lessons learnt...the next chance might be just around the corner.
Got lucky and was able to get this nice billy the next day!
I didn't get another chance on deer.
But Allan was able to put an arrow through both lungs and the heart of this beautiful 12 point stag on the last day of the hunt.
Topic: * New Zealand's "ugly goats" ( Story&Pics) (Read 2825 times)
