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Thread: New Zealand hunt report.

  1. #1
    CGN Regular Mr Wolverine's Avatar
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    New Zealand hunt report.

    I had an amazing hunt in New Zealand, here are a few photos. I will post details ASAP including video of culling Wallabies and feral goats from a chopper


    After 9 hours on foot on these hills I was exhausted, the last 200 meters was murder! we must have stalked this bull for close to two hours before I got with in range for a clear shot. I fired one rd uphill, he had stepped into view and stood facing us on a rocky ledge, he fell, bounced off the ledge, rolled and slid all the way down the slope until he stopped level with me just 30 meters to my right. He twitched, so I shot him again, as I didn't have the energy to chase him. I then scrambled over to him and this is when Gordy took this photo, to say I was pleased is an understatement but I didn't have the energy to lift his head up for the photo.


    Very pleased with this super Tahr, he will make a magnificent mount.


    The Chamois was a lot smaller than I expected, the climbing nearly beat me.


    I was not looking forward to a night on the hills due to the low cloud, but Gordy found us a break in the cloud, recognised where we were and called Tim in. This shows Tim coming in to pick us up.


    Flying up the valley under low cloud. We spotting more Chamois so Tim set us down on a “flat spot” and left us.


    Having loaded the Chamois we are now above the cloud heading back up the valley, it was beautiful but I was wondering how we would descend through this cloud.


    A view out my side window, the photo cannot do this justice!


    Tim found a small break in the clouds and brought us expertly down below them, my first sight of Minaret Station.


    The Station from the helipad.


    Inside Minaret Station a view of the lounge.


    Luxury tented accommodation for the guests.


    Our early morning “Taxi”. We flew down the valley to Wanaka lake and then we were dropped on the low land hills to start our Red Stag hunt.



    A fine traditional looking Red Stag, exactly what I was looking for, a great example of the Otago blood line.


    This roadside plaque tells the story of the first Red Deer imported to New Zealand. My fine Stag can trace his blood line back to these first animals, I guess like me they could be called immigrants. The first New Zealand settlers wanted to insure that there were animals that they could all hunt not just restricted to the “Landed Gentry” as in the UK. That is the reason I chose the Stag I did, he is a good example of those first deer rather than the amazing high scoring trophies that have developed from those early animals.


    This is a view of the lowland hills beside Lake Wanaka, these are fenced in paddocks where sheep and Red Deer are farmed. We hunted on the unfenced away from the lake.


    This shows the superb habitat that allows these Red Deer to thrive, no shortage of feed here.



    Preparing to go on a cull Wallaby hunt, this was a lot of fun!


    Very rugged country, one min travelling in the chopper was equal to at least one hour on the ground.

    There were two choppers we flew in. All my flights were in a Robinson 44 apart from my last flight culling goats where we used the larger more powerful Squirrel she was a 7 seater, 3 in front and 4 in back. The 44 was a 2+2. They operate two Squirrels (2.3 million each) and I think it was four 44 and one smaller chopper that I did not see. I believe all of them could be set up with cargo pods on one or both skids, I also saw spray booms, fertilizer and seed hoppers so they could be changed to "Ag work" very quickly. The cargo pods were great for stowing all our bags when moving to camps or retrieving Tahr and Chamois from the mountains.

    When we went Wallaby culling we had a pod on the right skid in which our pilot Tim, had placed an extra 60 liters of fuel. When we reached our hunting area we landed took out the fuel and took off the two left side doors. I sat in the front seat and Gordy handed me shells from the back seat, filmed and passed me the Five Severn when it was time to try her. No gloves, wore my old wind pants and my new jacket that was terrific. Had to land once and take my fleece off, I was working up a sweat and had trouble moving in my harness. Took off my hat, my headset kept my ears warm, dropped my shoulder strap round my waist turned half sideways with my left leg swinging in the breeze and we were good. Tim was really enjoying himself roaring up and down the gullies but I had reached a point when I was just about to ask to land to settle my tum when Gordy warned me only 5 mins left. It was a very fast 60 mins. The Wallabies can hide under the grass tussocks and move fast, if I went again I would take my own shotgun. I was using a Benilli but she was a bit long in the stock and after we had started shooting I realized she was missing the bead, at least that is my excuse! Then I switched to an AR fitted with a Five Severn top half, she was great, I liked the high cap mag and the cartridge worked well, but I found the stock was a bit long for me and I found the "high" magnification and limited field of view of the ACOG a handicap. Personally I could have used a good set of iron sights happily for this shooting.

    Back at the "Hanger" Gordy showed me an ancient AR15, an old battered SP1, she had the front sight tower hacksawed off and an old "no name" red dot sight "bolted" on the carry handle in a home made base, the SP1 also had a shorter stock. I smiled at Gordy, can I use this for the goats tomorrow? We took her and a mass of assorted .223 ammo and a handful of 20 rd mags, I found this to be a deadly combination, although with hindsight I should have taken her to the range to check my zero first, I think she was shooting a touch high for me. I found those old triangle handguns ideal as I did not want the embarrassment of dropping a rifle, I had to hang on tight during some maneuvers, I kept Gordy busy loading mags for me and joked that he must keep filming at the same time. I was very surprised when Gordy told me "that is your last mag we are out of ammo" . I switched to a different Benilli (this one had a front bead) but after one mag we were out of time. I don,t know how much .223 ammo I shot but it was a pile, we swept the empties out of the chopper and brass was still falling out of my pants and shirt the next day.

    I found shooting from a chopper a very different experience, targets were a lot harder to hit than I expected, especially the Wallabies who would try and hide on us. Several time Tim took the chopper down to a few feet of the ground so the rotor wash would flatten the grass and flush them out. Several of the old Billy goats would only ran a few meters and then stood still in the protection of a rock, I took out several of these old boys, others ran up the slopes at an amazing speed.
    >
    > Would I do this again? Certainly. Was it hunting? No not at all, this is a culling operation, a management tool that is required to maintain the habitat.


    If anyone is contemplating an overseas hunt and New Zealand is of interest I highly recommend you contact Matt Wallis of Minaret Station, my hunt there was easily one of the best hunts I have ever been on. Matt can be reached at matt@minaretoutfitters.com or info@minaretstation.com


    This is one of the FN L1A1 rifles as set up and used in the early days of harvesting Red Deer from choppers. The animals were then slung under choppers and airlifted to ships set up as processing houses with refrigeration plants. I saw a BBC documentary in the seventies and always dreamt that that would a great life, I never in my wildest dreams expected to meet the people that pioneered this and fly in choppers over the same countryside. Matt’s father Tim was one of these early pioneers, it was my privilege to meet this fine gentleman, he is now confined to a wheel chair most of the time after suffering terrible injuries when he crashed his Spitfire MK XIV in 96, his life story “Hurricane Tim” is an amazing read.


    Here is an AR fitted with the “Five Severn” conversion kit. Note the “gutted” .223 mag fitted in the mag well, as the conversion ejects the fired brass out of the original mag well this “gutted” mag serves as a brass catcher. She is also fitted with a suppressor, this has proven to be a winning combination for culling goats.



    Blaser K95



    I have been asked about my rifle, I moved my reply here for everyone's convenience, this is the same rifle I have used in Africa with an 8x57R barrel fitted and a smaller scope. For this trip I fitted a 7 x 65R barrel to my K 95 this gave me a super lightweight mountain rifle. I didn’t have time to really work on my reloads but she shot well. I zeroed the Swarovski Z6i 2-12x50 scope at 270 meters and was confident to shooting out to 370 meters if I was prone from a real solid rest. I loaded with 160 grain Speer bullets at 2,735 fps, they did the job but I was not pleased with their weight retention. I recovered the bullet shot in the Tahr, a frontal shot from approx 175 meters, bullet weighed 87 grains, the bullet from the Red Stag was only 102 grains. I am thinking these bullets couldn't take the impact velocity, which is not excessive in my opinion. The Stag took two rds before dropping, both good solid hits from 305 meters. The first rd hit center in his chest and quartered through to his groin, the second shot went straight through both shoulders and exited, I recovered one small piece of lead near the exit hole. This rifle was a delight to carry and fire. I needed and used the red dot for both my shots at the Tahr and Chamios due to the poor light and low cloud and mist. My only error was a miss calculation of my hold due to the reticle been in the second focal plane and shot over the Chamois as I had set my magnification at about 6X to give me a larger field of view.

    With the cull shoots from the Chopper, I used a Benelli shotgun and 00 Buck and an AR15 fitted with a Five Severn conversion kit. For the Feral Goats I selected an old SP1 with a red dot sight with twenty rd mags and only changed to the Benelli when I ran out of ammo
    Last edited by Mr Wolverine; 05-28-2014 at 02:30 PM.

  2. #2
    CGN Ultra frequent flyer Waynetheman's Avatar
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    9 hours lol you're in a lot better shape than I am.

  3. #3
    CGN Regular Tigerbalm's Avatar
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    :D
    That is awesome! Thank you for sharing some of your experience in photos!
    "You may not like guns. That is your right. You may not believe in God. That is your choice. But if someone breaks into your home, the first two things you are going to do are… Call someone with a gun and Pray they get there in time." - Unknown

  4. #4
    CGN Regular David L's Avatar
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    one only word: wow!

  5. #5
    Moderator Steppenwolf's Avatar
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    very nice
    Politicians, they promise you the world and deliver you into poverty.

  6. #6
    CGN Regular GUNMANSHIP's Avatar
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    good show, looks fun

  7. #7
    CGN Regular joenl's Avatar
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    Great Pictures!

  8. #8
    Business Member Grumpy Wolverine's Avatar
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    He was actually hunting on flat prairie, but the guy taking pictures angled it to make it look more impressive
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  9. #9
    CGN Ultra frequent flyer starpuss's Avatar
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    Cool Pic's!

    you Should make some YouTube Vidz of your hunts!

  10. #10
    CGN Regular tar21's Avatar
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    congrats and nice pics

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