Back from New Zealand

[fredouille]

Hello to all of you

Here’s a short resume of my trip to New Zealand.
I’ve left there to hunt red deer in the roar.

The hunt divided in two trips, one was a short week ( 3 nights ) to get the feel of the “bush “ with all the comfort of a hut.
After this we should return and prepare us for a 10 day “fly camp “ hunt.

[wingnut]

Now come on Fred, let's not Charlie this story.  LOL

I've seen one of the pics.  COOL!!

Mike

[fredouille]

Well, here we start.
Hope I can post some pictures ….

[fredouille]

Here’s a picture of our transportation to and back from the hut and pick up points.
 

[fredouille]

Once we arrived, we rushed in the bush..
Temperature was way too hot and the absence of  wind made me wonder if it was possible to hunt these bushes. The ground was very dry, dry leaves on the ground made even breathing noisy. How would we be able to hunt here?
Some area’s looked very promising, but we didn’t see or here any animals …

[fredouille]

Here's an aerial view from where we would be hunting
 

[fredouille]

Here's another one
 

[fredouille]

Some nice spots
 

[fredouille]

Next day we were up early, we hit the hills to try to locate some roaring reds.
After a hell of a climb we arrived on the ridge of the hill  and took a pause to get back our breath en hydrated our self. We started walking the ridgeline following the animal tracks. We did a bit a calling, walking, ….  No much later we heard a roaring stag. Man, what a sound. It was my first, but what a first … . I’ve read about this, but in real, it’s a thousand times better .

First stag that responded, was a big bull. I’ll skip this part fast, cause it was a rifle kill.

After the first bull, we tried to spot and stalk a few others, but the wind was swirling from all directions. It was just to hot and dry. The stag’s weren’t vocal due to the “too” nice weather.

Just before leaving for the second trip, we started to hear red’s roaring 15 miles away from where we were. So, it looked very promising for the next 10 days.

[fredouille]

Here is a view of the second hunting area
 

[fredouille]

After a short trip (one night) to civilization, we were back in the bush.

This time no hut to sleep, and all our gear was on our back. I must say this was my first hunting trip while fly camping so I was very, very excited.

The first days we didn’t hear any stag .
Then, we had a little drop in temperature, and it started in the middle of the night . Stags were getting vocal. What a sound, especially at night.

The next day, with full enthusiasm, we started our first approach. We had locate a bull, that was very vocal, and we were closing in. He was walking away from us, and I must say, they move fast. We almost had to run to keep up with them.
Suddenly, Dave (my guide ), get response to his calling, and now it was the stag who was coming to us. He moved so fast that we barely had time to get a right setup.

And there he was, 20 yards away, looking straight in my direction. He was getting more and more vocal, like I wasn’t emotional enough … . At a time he was so close I started to smell him, but he was still moving to fast to gave me a shot.

In his attempt of getting our wind he moved around us, still very vocal. Suddenly when I thought  he would smell us he stopped and gave me a perfect broadside shot at 20 yards.

[rastaman]

Beautiful pictures!  

[fredouille]

And …I missed. AAAAAAAAAH
My arrow went just above him. I couldn’t understand, after all the practice I did before…

Well, only getting that close of such an animal made my day, what a trill, but still I missed.
Even my guide Dave was impressed of how close we were of the stag. He never guided for bow hunting purpose.

Then, the day before last, we started closing in on another stag.
It was a bit the same scenario like the first one, first he was walking away from us, and after good calling he came to us.
This time he started to response the calls from further away, so we had more chance with our set up.

Suddenly, we didn’t hear him anymore. Looking confused to one and each other, we thought he smelled us and went away.

But no, there was the smell and noise again.
The stag came out of a dense bush a bit on my left side, and he was looking very angry, ready for a fight. The wind was good but the stag was already very close ( 20 yards top) and still moving in. He was still a bit covered by the bush so he didn’t give me any opportunity of a shot. By miracle he past me at 10 yards and turned between Dave and me.

At 10 yards or so he gave me a perfect broadside shot.
I anchored and let go without thinking.

Because he was so close he saw/heard  my movement, and rushed away …
I didn’t know if I hit him or not, cause everything went so fast.

[bkupris]

and....    :D

[fredouille]

Here's my funny face when i looked at my arrow.
It couldn't figure were i hit him, it felt good but ...
 

[fredouille]

The arrow was full of blood ... a full pass through. Thanks Dr Asby for the heavy arrows  
 

[cacciatore]

C'mon

[fredouille]

There was a good blood trail

 

[fredouille]

And finally, my first stag


 

[fredouille]