just too close

[kiwi hunter]

my first tahr hunt for this spring, on sat i dumped some gear up in the mountains and then back to town n a warm motel for the nite.next day went right in to where i was going to camp, set that up and did some glassing for the bachelor groups that normally wonder thru in the spring. they were there up high.
next morn went back about an hour and collected my dump, one of the things i brought along was a felted blanked, a double purpose thing i could use for a target as it wont let a an arrow thru to be destroyed by rocks in the ground. on this trip i had a recurve ifl takedown of fifty lb draw, very easy to travel with. back along the road i had assembled and tried out on the blanket and all good, ready for the kill.
monday was rain and then wind, i went for a wonder upstream in the afternoon and a glass. tuesday morn upstream and climbed up a hill but the wind was ferocious and something made me go back to camp to find three corner eyelets had been torn out, pulled out the camp and relocated. with the wind playing havoc i spend the rest of the day around the camp just glassing.
now to wed,up very early to get close to a couple of young bulls by the bluffs at the forks, there was a nanny as well as her yrlg and younger kid. the nanny climbed away which left the young bulls,i just watched them and waited because things can happen unexpectedly, they wondered off around the face and lo and behold two more mature bulls popped up, they joined forces, now one of the two new bulls was a damn good candidate for a bow hunt. they dissapeared into a gutter and as time was getting on i decided that perhaps they were going into hiding for the time being, i scuttled up to a good position but lo and behold they had wondered down to the bottom terraces, a bit of lateral thinking sent me upstream to set up an ambush on the other side of the valley. unfortunately patience is not one of my strong point so back into the ck to stalk amongst the matagouri, got to 42 yrds with a clear shot but im only a 20 yrd man. one of them did spot my movement and hid in the scrub for a while then disappeared. i crossed the ck and crawled thru the matagouri. unfortunately the sound of water did not cover my noisy approach, as i come out of the cover on my knees a head was staring at me at around 4 yrds but in behind a large clump of tussock, i drew the bow at the same time as standing up but they took flight as my presence was just too close.
back at camp a pesky wallaby annoyed me and for his persistence i decided to skewer him, on release the arrow buried itself into the ground, hmm must have hit a branch as he was in the matagouri{this at 5 yrds}he hopped a few yrds and i got into position again and buried the arrow into the ground again just under his legs.
ok, back to the drawing board, out with my felted blanked, measured at 17 yrds with the loopy rangefinder kindly sent to me by one of the usmc guys.
low by 12 inches and six to the right. of course id left the allen keys at the car, four hrs walk away. bit of brutal thinking and with my knife i managed to tap the into shape my sights with the last arrow dead on at 17.
so it woulndnt have mattered if id gotten close to the bulls.

 

[Salmonchaser]

No wallaby stew, no Allen wrenches at least the country is beautiful.

 

[BAKPAKR]

That is some big country. The one stag looks like a good one for free range.

 

[kiwi hunter]

that nite i made a plan to glass in the morning and then hunt up high on the right side of the range in the evening as id seen a nice bull there by himself feeding in amongst the scattered flax bushes, great stuff for using as cover and it would be one on one. on the first glass i spotted a mature bull on a mission, normally they feed a bit at first light then lay down but this guy was pretty determined, coming from the direction that i would sit up on that evening.
on my third or fourth glass straight across from camp at the top of a steep gutter i spied this bull looking down on my camp, without too much time wasting he jogged his way down this gutter to drop two thousand feet in a couple of minutes and straight into the matagouri refuge.
after watching bits and pieces of him for an hour i decided that this guy was pretty switched on, he could have crossed the valley downstream to continue his journey to the early season feeding ground but he was determined to use the topography to his advantage to get there in stealth, just below camp was a gutter full of matagouri, great for cover.
i managed to get a full minute of film which im pleased with but itll take a few days to upload as me and the ex lack the necessary skills so watch out for that, her daughter will do that just not for a few days.
now i had a dilemma, stay with the plan or do battle with this cunning bull, for a trad bow bull he would be a great trophy. i decided to match skills as im sure he was send there especially to try me. i thought that sitting at the top of the matagouri gutter was a good plan, being sure that that was his route, up the hill and as i started the sidle to the head i spied him on the terrace back on the other side. looking at me of course, bah.
to salvage my pride i went downstream to see into the spot where i should have been and yes the previously mentioned bull was there 150 mtrs from where i would have been sitting waiting.
back by the camp mr smarty pants was just up the hill sitting down watching, im sure he would cross over after dark, mumble mumble as im walking into camp to look up and across the valley to spy around a couple of dozen bulls slowly feeding their way uphill, i took a picture with the tarp on the bottom left hand corner. certainly an action packed day.