Mum's in Camp

It's not often you get to show your Mum what you do as a hunting guide.

The last time I can remember was back in 2013 on a 4x4 access / cabin based tahr hunt in the Southern Alps, with a large group of hunters from Poland, my mother (Yev) and father (Bill) both came in on that hunt to help with the meals and looking after the clients.

Dad has since passed on, but what a thrill it was to have Mum in camp with us this year on an Otago stag hunt.

The border had just reopened with Australia on April 18th, on the 20th I had 3 Australian hunters arrive, all keen to catch the end of the red stag roar and the opportunity to hunt a genuine wild Otago stag.

We already had 3 kiwi hunters in camp, so for some of the nights ahead including guides, assistant guides, helpers etc, we had 14 people around the dinner table - we needed help, a full time cook.

Mum used to cook a lot for our clients when she lived out on the farm, now that she lives in town it doesn't work logistically. But to come out and stay at our Otago stag camp and cook and entertain hunters appealed to her, so out she came.

We'd been watching and hunting one particular stag for 5 weeks, all our previous clients had taken exceptional free range trophies, but we never could quite get the drop on a beautiful 14 point Imperial stag we'd nicknamed ' Pretty Boy".

On the evening of day one we used 4x4's and drove the half hour out to a major bush clad valley where 'Pretty Boy' was rutting, along with a number of other stags.

A large group of hunters, guides and Mum sat perched up high at a well used glassing point, evaluating different Otago stags, listening to a roaring chorus fill the valley.

An hour before dark we'd located a number of good stags, but not the stag we wanted. He tended to stay high on the bush edge of the far side of the valley, although once or twice we'd seen him drop to the valley floor to wallow in a series of mud holes beside the river.

Pretty Boy appeared, and the tempo through the whole group went up. Mum had a good look at him through binoculars from 1000 yards. The stag looked as though he would continue his pattern of staying high, one particular hind was cycling and piquing his interest, she didn't look like she was moving anywhere.

It was nearly past the point of commencing any stalk when the hind started to walk down a ridgeline game trail towards the direction of the river. I told Dave and Mark (2 of the Australian Hunters) to get their gear together, we had half a chance. We set off down hill aiming to close the gap with the hope of a shot across the valley from around 350-400 yards right on dark.

I pushed the pace, David and Mark did well to keep up (almost keep up, this was a balancing act) we were going to need every second of daylight. A little, tussock filled bowl lay below with a lip that dropped away to the valley floor, we could shoot from there.

The stag and his harem were still moving down, we peered over the lip all puffing, regaining our breath, Our quarry had disappeared into the bottom of a beech filled side valley, I had a good idea of where they would pop out again with their rough line of travel heading to the wallows below us.

David was just getting a steady breathing pattern when the stag stepped out into the clearing on the valley floor, we were ahead of time, perhaps 3 minutes of daylight left, my 7mm Rem Mag looked steady over a pack with bipod.

'250 straight at him' was all I said and Dave did the rest, 2 shots into the killing zone and the stag was down, the first shot was enough, the second for insurance, I didn't want us floundering around in the dark.

Mum was able to witness most of the hunt from the crows' nest up high until the light became too bad. She nicknamed David ‘ bang bang’ for the rest of the hunt after his 2 quick shots.

The first vehicle departed for the cabin, the hunt group arrived a couple of hours later to a warm welcome and a fantastic meal.

Mark and Greg secured fine Otago stags in the following days, the kiwi group shot stag and fallow, it was a brilliant week in the Otago high country.

Hopefully we can do it all again next year Mum!

Just for the record, glassing means using your binoculars to locate game - not drinking white wine from a plastic glass on the mountainside!

You are an inspiration to me, Ross, the Wanaka / Hawea region and almost everyone you meet.

# As for your current battle with those simple minded school kids at the QLDC (Queenstown Lakes District Council.

Your project - The Wanaka Community Hub (Currently Wanaka’s main Covid vaccination centre) a $4 million? building for the community which has been largely funded by private money! It's absurd that the QLDC will not contribute $500,000 when they’re willing to build a Community Hub in Queenstown at a cost of $22 million.

You are the brains, tenacity and strength behind the Wanaka Community Hub, we know you will win, 42 years you have given this community reflected in your Queen Services medal. You’ve built Schools / Community buildings and helped this area in hundreds of ways, the list is literally longer than your arm.

Don’t let a couple of “TRANSPLANT’ councillors worry you I know you’ll beat them.