A month in the south.

Duck shooting got off to a slow start this season with very few ducks coming in early on.  The weather was very fine with no wind and a lot of ducks were flying high,probably straight out to the sea away from hunters.   As the day wore on the ducks started to come in a bit more so we ended up with 54 for the day.  It was the usual team of myself, Rod.Dane,James,  and this year Mick had come down as well.
 Jocelyn elected to leave the duck shooting to us so she was going to go over Arthurs Pass and see her  aunty Barbara for a couple of days then catch a flight to invercargill to Joel and Julies.

  We were shooting on Brian and Ingrids farm at Geraldine again.  We were looking through a photo album the other day and there was a photo there of us shooting on their farm in the year 2002 so we have been shooting there for at least 14 years.  So it's becoming a bit of a tradition.  Brian takes all four of their kids shooting with him and their friend Russell was also there this year.  I had known Russell when I was farming at Reporoa about 35 years ago.
  On the Sunday we had a shoot in the morning and then we packed up all the gear and headed back to the house.  James was going back to Kaikoura on his motorbike as he had school on Monday, and we were heading further south between Oamaru and Dunedin to a place called Flag Swamp for a shoot  on an estuary there.  We said our goodbyes to Ingrid and the kids for another year.  Thanking her for putting up with a house full of rough hunters and cooking us some great meals while we were there.
 

Flag Swamp. Tide coming in.

 At flag swamp we have to carry quite a bit of gear out on to the estuary including layout blinds and decoys.  Unusually there wasn't a lot of goose or duck sign around so we weren't expecting a lot of action.  We had a few birds come in and for some reason our shooting was very poor.  Then the tide started coming in right up around our blinds.  The last time we had been here at high tide we stayed high and dry.  But these must have been much bigger tides as water was right over the flats where we had the layout blinds sited.  As it started to get dark the ducks started to fly, so for about half an hour the shooting was full on.  Unfortunately my layout blind also started to take on water so in the end I had to abandon ship.  Luckily by then it was nearly full dark so we packed up and sloshed our way back to the truck with all our gear and loaded it onto the trailer.
   We then headed to a high country station for a couple of days hunting deer.   We travelled up through the station to a hut where we were to stay.  Brian and Russell had already arrived and had the fire going so we moved our sleeping bags in then cooked up a good feed of sausages, spuds, and peas.
   Dane wasn't that impressed with the accommodation being from Auckland.  Just because there was no electricity, no running water, and quite a good sprinkle of mouse droppings over the dining table and the mattresses.  I think he needs to get out more.

The Red Hut.

Hungry lads. 

 The next morning we were into the utes and working our way up into the high country.  We stopped at a high point and went for a walk to where we could glass from and see a lot of open ridges and valleys.  We spotted a few animals off in the distance but except for a few wild merino sheep nothing very close.  Brian and Russell decided to hunt from here so we left them and got back into the ute and headed further out the back.  We checked out another spot and were glassing when we spotted 3 tahr heading around a spur.  Then while looking for more Rod spotted some antlers in a clump of tussock quite a way down towards the bottom.  With this station you drive in and end up on top of the mountain, then you have to hunt down over the sides.  Unfortunately you find that when you get an animal you have to carry it uphill back to the top of the mountain.
  So while I watched through the binos for a while Rod, Dane and Mick headed over the side to try and stalk in on the stag in the tussock.  After a while I got up and followed them down. It is very steep country and it took awhile to get close enough.  Even then the stag was very hard to spot as it was virtually hidden with just part of it's head and antlers showing.  Rod had done well to spot it from way up the top.  It was Danes shot so he got a good rest but didn't allow for the steep downhill angle so his first shot went over it's head.  The stag seemed almost unconcerned and just sat still for awhile then it got to it's feet and started to move off.  At this time two more deer appeared out of the tussock.  Dane shot the stag and Rod swung onto a hind and dropped that.  So we now had a fair amount of venison to get back to the top of the hill.
  Danes stag was a good size animal and he was stoked.  There is a lot of feed for the deer here so they are in good nick.  After a few photos we got into the butchering and then we had to let the meat cool before it goes into the packs.  I had a pretty easy climb out as when I grabbed a stag hind quarter and slung it over my shoulder I received a very stern telling off and was told I wasn't carrying any meat out.  I think they all thought if I loaded up too much they might get the job of carrying me out.  I tried to tell them I was healthy again now but I still ended up just carrying the rifle.  It was a bit of a coincidence that the ridge we climbed out on we had previously nicknamed heart attack hill.  Rod and I a few years before had carried  meat from a very large stag from way down the bottom all the way to the top. It was a very steep drag to the top.
 

Very happy hunters.

Harvesting the meat.

  Russell shot a nice bull tahr on the steep country him and Brian hunted so it was a successful day all round.  The rain came in a bit that afternoon and we had a reasonably late start the next morning.  Once we got up high we got into some glassing and it wasn't long and we had numerous deer spotted.  Russell and Brian headed off again for a hunt and the rest of us worked out a plan to approach a number of deer we had sited.  We covered a bit of ground but by the time we got to where the deer were they had moved off.  We spotted two good sized pigs but we we decided to leave them in peace.
  After we got back to the hut we packed up and headed to Otematata where we had the use of a holiday bach or crib as they are known in the south.  We spent the next day on pest control hunting the wallabies up the Hakataramea Valley.  As always the ratio of shots fired to animals bagged was very poor as they are so agile on the steep tussock covered hill sides.
    After Dane and Mick left for the north Island and back to work I loaded a trailer and took some of Rods household stuff north to Kaikoura.  I stayed two nights with Catherine and James and Gracie,  then back to Oxford to drop off the trailer and then hit the road for Invercargill.  I stopped overnight in Clinton at grand daughter Monique and partner Gregs place.  Was great to catch up with them and see where they were living. Then the next morning I left for Invercargill.  Was good to see Joel and Julie also to meet up with Jocelyn again.  Julies parents Marg and John also arrived and we all headed off to the Bluff Oyster Festival.
 

Jocelyn likes them cooked.

Look at those Stan.

The festival was very crowded as tickets had been sold out.  The queues were long for anything being cooked but the raw oysters were easily accessible.  We all partook of these tasty treats either in their natural form or cooked in golden batter.  Available also were seafood platters, mussels, kinas, mutton birds and chowders. I tried mutton bird for the first time.  It was roasted and served on its own on a dish and sold as half a mutton bird.  I found it very tasty but rather oily so I think half a bird was enough in one sitting. All in all we all enjoyed the day.
  Joel and Julie left for Dunedin on Tuesday as Joel was having an operation on his nasal passage and tonsils etc.  Jocelyn and I moved to Monique and Gregs for one night  and enjoyed their company.  Next morning saw us in Dunedin visiting Joel at the hospital.  He was just being discharged after his operation.  He seemed to be reasonably comfortable but as it turned out this was the best he would be for a number of days.  While at the hospital Julie and Tia arrived.  So Joel and Julie  left to go back to Invercargill and we took Tia to a cafe as we hadn't seen her for months.  After a coffee we dropped her back to Knox House where she was living then it was back on the road to Oxford to help Rod with his shift to Kaikoura.
   Rod had done a fair bit of the cleaning but bathrooms, lounge, dining and  kitchen still had to be covered.  Then it was loading the trailers and we were on the road to Kaikoura.  While Rod and family had moved to Kaikoura, Sean, Michele  and Troy were leaving and going down country to the area around Methven and Mount Hutt to a new farming job.  John and Margot came down to help with the shift and I helped out with taking a load down to the new house.
  I went for a pig hunt with Rod and James one evening at Kaikoura.  We walked up the river bed a ways then climbed up a gut by a small stream. It was starting to get late so I left them to carry on and went off on my own and not long after they got onto a good boar with the dogs.  James snuck in on it and put in a good shot to the head, killing it instantly.  James was very pleased Dad was there as it weighed in at 130lbs, so Rod got the job of carrying it out.
 

James boar.

Sunset on the water.

Good to go fishing back home.

 Well we had some great family time down south but now it was time we headed north again as we had agreed to look after Ken and Vicki's dogs for them as they were off on holiday for a couple of weeks. But Joel had been having a hard time of it after his op. So Jocelyn headed back to Invercargill to help out while I crossed the straight and took the truck on to Tauranga.
  Joel came right after a few days so Jocelyn flew to Tauranga and now we are keen to get back in the rig and head to the Coromandel.  We also celebrated granddaughter Luca's first birthday while in Tauranga so another family gathering was had.