Recent hunts in NZ (1 of 2)

User00033

Well-Known Member
Here's a varierty of photos from recent hunting trips in NZ. A bit of everything, pretty much how it rolls here, never quite sure what you'll end up with on the day. The .243 is rapidly becoming my favourite calibre if there's only one rifle to hand, as it does pretty much everything bar red stags, which we go after in April with .308s only. Other calibres used regularly are .223 and .308. Faces of blokes are blurred cos I haven't asked them about posting.

Hunting hares up the Rakaia. Tikka T3 Supervarmint .223 shooting Sierra Blitzkings 55gn.


Hunting hares up the Ahuriri - they hang out on the scree near the bushline, giving great sport at 300m+. Tikka T3 Supervarmint .223 shooting Sierra Blitzkings 55gn.


Perfect East Cape Raukumara river country for reds. Find the fresh deer tracks coming down to the river, then select a pozzie with a wide field of view downwind at ~200m and wait for dusk.


Couple of Raukumara meat hinds taken at 200m when they come out of the bush right on dusk. Tikka T3 .308 shooting Nosler Ballistic Tips 150gn.


A Whanganui River pig taken when it turned on my mate's young vizsla which was still in training. Dog learnt a big lesson. Tikka T3 .308 shooting Nosler Ballistic Tips 150gn.


Some small Matemateaonga goats taken in one of the frequent goat culls we do down there. Trick is to find a high pozzie with wide field of view and shoot across the gulleys at about 200-300m with a suppressed rifle. Take the billy and largest doe first and the younger animals generally won't run away and you can clean up most or all of the mob. Tikka T3 Supervarmint .223 shooting Sierra Blitzkings 55gn (now replaced for this job by the Howa M1500 .243 shooting Hornady VMax 75gn).


We eat the peacocks we cull at our place - there's always enough every year as long as we leave at least one cock and half a dozen hens. Very good curried in the slow cooker after hanging for 5 days.



A very tasty Ruatiti fallow hind taken at 356m with the Howa M1500 .243 shooting Sierra Prohunter 100gn on 40gn AR2209. This rifle has taken over from the .308 for lighter meat deer due to its exceptional accuracy and proven terminal performance, with less forequarter damage. It's taken a dozen or so deer now and all have tumbled downhill to within ~20m of where they were shot. Red star indicates shooting position.



Another Ruatiti meat deer, this time a good hind taken with the T3 .308 shooting 150gn Nosler BT at 320m. The young fella's carrying technique isn't recommended but he's a strong lad and it was one hell of a long way to the top and then all the way round the spur to the vehicle.



More Ruatiti meat hind, this one shot from above and behind at 155m, quartering away, with the Howa M1500 .243 shooting Sierra Prohunter 100gn. In through the rear of the ribs and out through the opposite side chest, she dropped on the spot having been hammered through the liver, lungs and the top of the heart. This one was boned out in the bush, each of us carry out a backpack full of meat plus one hind quarter whole.


Butcher shop back at the cabin up the Ruatiti. Useful Hilux winch application.
 
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Enjoyed that too! Looks like a good time is had with your mates and plenty of meat in the freezer. Really looking forward to coming over myself to visit my sister next year. They moved over 2 years ago and absolutely love it. Keep on telling me how much it would suit me, and winding me up with tales of their trips out.
Any suggestions on good places to get out for a hunt would be greatly appreciated. Happy hunting.
 
Thanks for posting some great photos. Beautiful countryside too, albeit a bit tough on the old knees. Not sure about eating Peacocks though!
 
Love it , thanks for sharing !

Some day maybe .......
Watch a lot of josh James kiwi bushman stuff & been listening to to hunting show podcast ....you kiwis like the long range stuff .

Would love to experience it

Paul
 
Enjoyed that too! Looks like a good time is had with your mates and plenty of meat in the freezer. Really looking forward to coming over myself to visit my sister next year. They moved over 2 years ago and absolutely love it. Keep on telling me how much it would suit me, and winding me up with tales of their trips out.
Any suggestions on good places to get out for a hunt would be greatly appreciated. Happy hunting.

Which island will you be visiting ?
 
Love it , thanks for sharing !

Some day maybe .......
Watch a lot of josh James kiwi bushman stuff & been listening to to hunting show podcast ....you kiwis like the long range stuff .

Would love to experience it

Paul

Glad you like the photos, it's a special country and only rivalled by parts of North America and Argentina in my experience.

I'm not really into 'long' range, more 'mid' range. Long range to me is 700m+ and magnum territory and I haven't really gotten into magnums over the years because there's never been a consistent use for one. I'm happy hunting out to 500m with the .308, 400m with the .243, 400m with the .223 assuming it's not too windy, and 125m with the .22LR using CCI Stingers and a BDC reticle.

The T3 .223 has a Vortex Viper 6-24PST FFP which is brilliant for 300m+ varmint shooting, but I am seriously considering putting it on the .308 which is scope limited at present. Just to see what accuracy I can achieve with the T3 using heavier bullets, e.g. the box of Hornady 178gr ELD-X sitting on the shelf... Will probably have to get a new mag to fit the longer c.o.a.l. and that will be the start of who knows what mods... anyway that's a discussion for another day.
 
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Which island will you be visiting ?
Hi Dodgyknees. My sister lives on the North Island and runs a dairy farm. Since I've not been to NZ before I hope to take a month out there and have a bit of a look around. So I will also get down onto the south so I can see the mountains, glaciers etc while there.
 
Hi Dodgyknees. My sister lives on the North Island and runs a dairy farm. Since I've not been to NZ before I hope to take a month out there and have a bit of a look around. So I will also get down onto the south so I can see the mountains, glaciers etc while there.

I drove past Fox and Franz Joseph glaciers last month. Popped in for a look to see how far they've retreated. They are pretty much gone....
 
Enjoyed that,
Would love to take a trip down some day, Fantastic scenery and the hunting, well that just looks like something special.
Almost as nice as the Highlands of Scotland. :stir:
 
Almost as nice as the Highlands of Scotland. :stir:

There is much evidence of Jockery down south. Otago and Southland were settled by the Scots. Dunedin is of course a mini Edinburgh. If you go into a rural pub on a Friday night at 7pm and call out "Jock!" or "Mac!" you will get seven or eight simultaneous responses, none of which will be an offer to shout the next round!
 
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"My sister lives on the North Island and runs a dairy farm. Since I've not been to NZ before I hope to take a month out there and have a bit of a look around." Woodmaster that has just accounted for your month.

"So I will also get down onto the south so I can see the mountains, glaciers etc while there"
This will need another month. I found that everything seems to be so far apart,especially with a strictly enforced 100Km speed limit. But you do see a heck of a lot of stunning countryside. Also if farmer Kiwi decides to move 3000 sheep two miles down the road -using 7 collies- you appreciate the views even more. I had to buy more memory cards as they filled up rather quickly. I had six weeks and still did not see all that I wanted to, so plan your trip carefully, then save up to go again in two years time. Stunning place and people.
I loved the place and wished that I had gone years ago, but then I probably wouldn't have come back!
 
Thanks Davee. I realize it's a fair bit of ground, and like you would normally not try and fit too much in in a month. I've been to Oz a few times for a month at a time and still only looked around Victoria and a little bit of NSW. Plenty folks jet around the place and miss all the other great bits in between. I might not manage to fit half of the place in and will most likely have a rough plan with plenty of scope to stay somewhere if I'm enjoying it.
I would like to get a few days hunting though.
 
Getting a bit off topic here but as a visitor from overseas, how are you planning to do a few days hunting in terms of carrying / travelling with a firearm?

Agree with the davee that a month is a very short time in New Zealand. What time of year are you planning to come? You will no doubt be aware that tourism is massively oversubscribed in the tourist hotspots during the summer months, particularly in the South Island. This has become a real problem in terms of traffic both on the roads and on the popular walking tracks. So much so that conversation about tourist levies and maybe even some kind of restrictions is starting at government level. We avoid lots of New Zealand during the busy months and have learnt to be very selective as to where we go to avoid the camper vans, motorhomes and backpackers in junkie station wagons.
 
Thanks Davee. I realize it's a fair bit of ground, and like you would normally not try and fit too much in in a month. I've been to Oz a few times for a month at a time and still only looked around Victoria and a little bit of NSW. Plenty folks jet around the place and miss all the other great bits in between.

We left on our tour of Australia on 3 January 2015 and got back on 29 December, 67,000 km later...
 
I found that everything seems to be so far apart,especially with a strictly enforced 100Km speed limit.

If you try and drive at 100kmh on most Kiwi roads you will probably go home in a casket. It is not easy to describe the roads in a way that forms an accurate picture in the mind of the reader. Rubbish road surfaces. Too narrow, blind hairpins, single lane bridges, twisty as hell, off camber, airbourne inducing Finnish style yumps, a guaranteed vomit for those suffering from travel sickness, washed out, corrugated (even sealed roads), potholed, covered in stones, home to wandering stock, usually wet, flooded, iced up or covered in snow.... and last but definitely not least, full of inexperienced tourists driving large motorhomes on the wrong side of the road around blind bends. I recommend hiring a helicopter.
 
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