Branch hunt by helicopter to the Urewera National Park, October 2007

My heart sunk as we circled the hut I planned on staying at. On the landing area was one of the locals on a horse and other horses could be seen and the hut seemed well occupied. The pilot was not expecting this situation and told us there were other hunters at the huts on both sides so it was over the hill to where I did not want to be. I should have worked out a better alternative earlier. Any way we were soon down and Rob, Billy and myself had to make the best of it. We had plenty of provisions and clothing and we were well prepared, but the weather turned out fine the whole time.

There was a tramper that joined us at the hut soon after we had landed, Ali- who had been tramping around for 29 days and had not seen many others but he did see some deer in the valley where I intended to hunt.
The first afternoon we all went down to the stream where there was a walkable stream running past the hut. Rob and I went off up the ridge to the top. I was keen for Rob to shoot his first deer so I hunted behind him. We had done this for a few hunts but on the previous hunt I ended up shooting the deer. Maybe this time it will be Rob’s turn!!!!
Rob had a pig grunt at him and we caught up with the pig as it disappeared up the ridge above us. We also spooked two deer before picking a ridge to return to the hut. It was dark before we found the track back to the hut and we were pleased to see Billy had shot a deer on his return, not far from the hut. Billy and I carried it back in the morning. We thought it may have been a Rusa deer as Billy had described a small animal but it turned out to be a young Red hind. There were a few deer around and pig sign everywhere. Not much real food - broad leaf, sticks, crown fern but very coarse ground in the river beds mostly with stinging nettle.

The next day Rob had a deer jump up from the crown fern 20 metres away and 2 jumps down the gully and out of sight before he could get a bead down. DAMN!!!!

We arrived back at the hut late afternoon and Billy appeared at the door. “Any luck laddies?” in his Irish accent. He had a pig hanging at his side. (I was able to record his story on video). Billy had hunted up the stream and the pig was walking parallel to him on the other side of the stream . So he waited and when it was clear, rooting the ground, he shot it. WELL DONE BILLY. Rob then wanted to hunt with Billy!!

Anyway the next day Rob and I hunted up stream and there were places of good fresh sign. Where a side stream flowed from the left, suddenly a big deer jumped 20 metres in front of Rob. So he had a quick shot. It turned around and ran towards us and up the ridge on our left charging past us and out of sight. Rob felt he had shot over its back and I didn’t have a bullet up as I was behind Rob. “TOO SLOW KEITH”
Billy’s stories of hunting in Ireland and Scotland kept us entertained in the evenings. A good hunt, lots of laughs, great company. The best way to be successful in this sort of country is to hunt 2 hours from first light and 1 hour before dark when the deer are moving around. Next time I go to the UREWERA , I will be ready to camp out as I normally do. Hopefully more members will join the next Branch Hunts.

Keith

A Real Manbag