Been trying to jack this up for quite awhile now..like as in over a year,opening day of duckshooting confirmed it forsure...well past time to get @Billbob out for a decent walk and see if could get him a wallaby of two. Today was the day.. the good man arrived at my residence dead on 6am as planned and we set off,stopped at servo for fuel for both his fine automobile and two rather rotund bellies that always seem to scream "feed me" whenever a pie warmer is past,a short drive later saw us arrive at the hunting grounds in perfect timing,20ish minutes before daylight.some rather good shooting stars were spotted"will be a good hunt"says billbob.. bags were shouldered and of we rushed at a sedate plod (did I mention rotund bellies?) running is just not a happening thing.
the bush was awesome in the predawn silence,then the bellbirds started up,a NZ Falcon screamed out his hunting cry to add to the chorus,part way up track the torch got pocketed and we continued up track...a wallaby let me walk past then moved,hopped away a short distance..."ummmm is that it "billbob asks pointing to dark blob all of five yards away...I look through scope just as it bounds away....yip talk about a circus...sitter five yards off track in clear bush,right on first light and its still laughing at the two dopey humans.
We were a lot more careful after that but didnt have anymore encounters untill open country was reached..big crashing away through STEEP undergrowth and a bark over other side..yip right pair of clowns we looked..that circus music was getting louder by the minute,did we care??hell no,a beautiful morning to be out huffing n puffing up a hill.
a lookout point was reached and soon enough the many Australian overstayers were seen soaking up the vibes of a distant hillside,the more we looked the more were seen....450ish yards away..but getting closer is possible,you just have to climb back DOWN hill and loose altitude again and scramble around a bit to a rocky point where barrel is slightly less in danger of stretching.
more big crashing away was heard on way down to said point,but nothing spotted (not surprising as as anything there will nearly need to be roped up) so we continued to the sniping spot.
got there and got shit sorted,I dug around in pouch and found my expendable rounds,all 25 of them...got Billbob in behind rifle in semi comfortable position...oh alright e was hunched up like horn teenager in backseat of a mini,but it was best position available as a sheer drop was not far below us,daybags employed as rest for rifle and prop up for chest...and the barrage began...23 rounds were fired between us at targets from 250-350 yards (yes used a rangefinder) pretty big ask for mainly 50 grn .224 projectiles but there were enough hits to put slight dent in population...if we said between 6 and 10 we wouldnt be telling porkies.
then when all the brass was picked up and my ammunition stash was down to 7 rounds four of which are TTSX for deer....hmmm put the remaining soft points in mag and we RECLIMBED the plurry hill picking up billbobs weapon on the way..wasnt a lot of point lugging it down hill just to cart it back up again so it was carefully placed on clear spot...one of us wasnt to phased about finding it again,its owner got a little flustered but all was good.
Back up to origonal glassing spot and more wallys were seen back in the killing ground except now they were dancing around poking tongues at us...next time you huas,next time.
A light snack was had along with hot cuppa then onwards we strode....carefully as next 7-800 yards gets a bit dodgy in places @Lurch if your reading this,the creek never even got bottom of gaiters damp..bit different from when we waded it just above knee height!!!
a quiet stroll along in real hollywood bush followed with very few hoppers spooking. got along to spots where normally wally is around and nope nothing doing....last throw of dice coming up..a funky wee side gully ,I sent billbob up here alone with instruction to wait just short of boundary ,stay quiet and keep eyes and ears open while I wandered further along and looped back to hopefully spook animals past him...
Well folks its not often a plan works out so well but man did it ever.
I shall let Robin hood/billbob fill in that bit
a plurry great day out,came home with sides sore from laughing and my batteries recharged
thanks mate.

My mates reply/filling in the blanks

Hahahahaha. I'm typing this reply for the hot depths of a bath soaking my tired limbs. Biking yesterday certainly wasn't the best plan before a walk like this!

I had been thinking of a weapon of choice for a hunt like this and decided to bring along my old Bear Super Kodiak recurve bow. 55lb shooting victory carbon Trad arrows and some 2 blade Broadheads. I did a quick shoot yesterday at 15m and got a 6" group which I thought wasn't bad for not shooting Trad for so long!

Fantastic morning, -1° in Ashburton so choose long pants which I very soon regretted within the first 10m of elevation as at location X was a fine warm morning. Chugging up hill with a frame like mine and I'm glad my hunting buddy is of similar stature and not some athletic guy who would of run up the hill!

Micky let me take the lead further up the hill nearing the clearing for me to have first pop should something present itself within bow range.

On nearing the top, and yes spooking what ever the deer were. I couldn't help but think even if we don't shoot something just the walk, scenery, good laughter and banter was going to be worth the while.

The sniper spot was precariously on the edge of a ravine, still have no idea how animals can live in stuff like this! I managed a few direct hits with the .223 before Micky showed me how to do it and even a couple free handed!

Back up the hill, thought my lungs were going to rip out of my chest a few pics to show my good wife I had actually climbed a hill and a recharge and off we go. Micky has a habit of saying we are over the worse and then take you vertically up hil again hahahaha!

Mickys plan worked fantastically. I sidled up to his given spot X and set up for a ambush. Wasn't long and I heard some footsteps coming and started to get very nervous as I thought it was deer and was hoping I wasn't going to stuff it up. Next second 4 wallabies came charging down, the first passing by me by a couple of meters, I let that past as I could see a huge one coming straight at me. It diverted around last me and I let fly with an arrow at 5m and missed clearly straight over its back. A smaller wallaby was bearing down but moving a little slower and I mocked another arrow, let fly also at 5m and collected it's shoulder punching both lungs. It made it barely 20m from where I shot it and was dead in seconds.

First animal with the recurve and I was totally stoked!

Back up the hill for a cuppa and noodles and a slow stalk out with Micky taking a couple more out on the way.

Absolute fantastic day, sore legs, sore chest from laughing and a bloodied bow....

try again

Outstanding yarn mate, and the smile on Billbob’s face says it all. Seems like you hit a home run on all bases mate…critters aplenty, great scenery, great laughs and banter and most importantly, quality time spent with a good mate (not to mention the contents of that pie warmer)

Went out yesterday for pig hunt,did about ten kilometres.today did repeat of the above hunt with another mate . I took the mighty 270w today and gave them a hurry up,the four power scope is awesome up close but hard work on small wallabies at 350yards. Still managed to snot a few.

Did trip again carting my heaviest rifle.shot another four,all at close range. Decided to change scenery so climbed up to South ridge of my peel clearing track as I went.nice to see it in daylight as normally up there in crap weather after dark looking for folks in trouble. Yesterday I headed back for forth circuit and took the mighty 223 again. Had fired ten rounds across gully at wallabies and blow me down a young fellow deer stepped out at closer range inside block boundary....just. a 55grnvmax through his ribs stuffed up his morning stroll.travelled all of fifteen yards before doing the moonwalk. 225yard shot but 1.5kms up,down,up,around n down to get to it.took me another hour n half to get back up,around ,down n up onto track then another hour n half back to truck,tired but happy,my soul recharged n reset.

Country too steep to go across country mate? I remember back in my days in the Army it was pretty much mandatory to go direct, almost line of sight between two points. Shoot a compass bearing, then walk/patrol it. Damn, I had to travel some sh1tful country.

At the end of the day though, you ended up with a goodly supply of nice sweet venison and some good exercise.

oh alright then..I will muck around and downsize some photos for you...steep doesnt begin to discribe it..my shooting platform is fine to the left side,but to right...well lets just way a dropped rock goes 4 seconds before it hits anything!!!

here goes

now if you zoom in,directly left of grassy pinnacle level with bottom of grassy clearing,look at the black blob

this photo taken from that black blob looking back upwards.

closer photos cause I know zooming in not so easy LOL

same spot as top photo..this one taken by my mate..he is standing as clicks shutter...did I mention its steep??

Damn, that’s nasty looking country mate.

This is same place as yesterday's deer...slow learner I am.