I will try to condense a 3 day hunt into a few words. I was guided by a young, strong, very knowledgeable Dane, Morton,who has hunted all his life. He was my best asset.
The hunt was on the west shore of Lake Hawea in a part of the country near Wanaka. We hunted on one of the five high country sheep stations that surround the lake. Wanaka and the home of Gerald and Sue Telford were less than 30 minutes away. The Telfords home served as my base and it was from there that the hunt began.
Morton and I spent many hours glassing the mountains. On our first stop and over the course of a couple of hours three strong candidate stags were identified. Morton felt that we would have better opportunities and we relocated to a second glassing point near the base of the mountain. The Roar was beginning and the Stags were moving but were still in small groups. It is difficult to be sure how many shooters were seen in the scouting process but the total number of stags and females was impressive. My best recollection is more than 10 shooters were identified in the 2 1/2 days that preceded the kill.
On the afternoon of day one we made a long stalk on the best animal I saw over the entire hunt. I am 40 years older than my guide but it is important to remember that it was I who carried the bow. We had a very good wind until the last 50 yards and you probably can guess the rest. I have some good photos but the stag rose from his bed and left for high country. We scouted the wallows and made a decision to install a Double Bull blind in a location that would give me a 20 to 30 yard shot window. This set up was very convenient and we were actually able to take the truck to within 400 yards of the blind.
The blind was a good idea because the second day it rained for the morning hours and the wind was not our friend. While in the blind we observed a large movement of animals that were disturbed by something. Morton was convinced that we needed to move and see where the animals would settle. We found them over the next pass about half mile away. We sat up to glass and observed for the second time the use of a high pass by several stags. We counted 7 that took the same route and as the day came to an end we knew where our day would begin on the next morning.
Day three was a blue bird day with just a breeze filtering down the mountain early in the morning. Soon the roars were frequent and the stags began their trip over the familiar ground, exactly as they had done on two previous days. Morton decided to have a closer look to determine if a reasonable location could be identified for an afternoon hunt. The decision was made and early afternoon we started the climb to find a shooting spot. That turned into a no-brainer. A couple of cedars and some branches tied to rocks to create a back drop and it was 4PM. Morton took a position where he could view the flat meadow that stretched for 4-500 yards just out of my line of vision. He kept me informed on the activity with hand signals. His last message before I made the kill was to inform me that two stags were bedded at 76 yards and one was a shooter. Within the next 60 seconds a third stag bounced those from the rest and my stag on his route through the pass took my arrow.
Thanks Rod. We all appreciate you putting forward this report. I'd like to have you take a little more credit for the hunt outcome yourself, Morten is a very good guide and a competent archer which helps alot BUT to have a traditional hunter in camp that is proficient out to 35yds is brilliant for us. It was a pleasure to have you hunt with us.
Light rain one/half day. Temperatures 40 to 65 F Blue Bird skys on other days.
