well its been pouring with rain lately so the young fella and I headed up for another look to see if we can redeem ourselves after my dismal failure last week .
well the bush was certainly quiet underfoot waterlogged is probably a better word. we cleared a little track on the way up to our lookout. heaps of fresh sign kept me on my toes with all senses alert. nothing in the big clearings nothing on the little clearings either, just heaps of jelly bean piles to keep us interested. man that bush was wet, jellyfern clearing drew a blank as well, just more fresh sign. over the top and down the other side to the main creek nothing doing down there either just more sign that they were around somewhere. up the other side in good going up n up some more nearly up to the bushline and talk about finding the thickest/dirtiest/most prickle infested patch of crap to try to push through. nah stuff this we said and sidled around a bit further and dropped all that hard earned altitude more fresh sign but no animals even in the creek heads n slips. down through the bush we go stop for a break and I try the GPS again. nothing nought not a single satalite could she see today???? never had that before down further we head into the crappy, noisy, obsticle hiding crown fern we go and hello here are the dreaded wasps aswell just aswell they are all waterlogged and dozy stuck on to trees drying out. down we go a little more and over another creek just to make sure we are far enough round. the cloud was down low and I couldnt get oreintated at all. never mind I knew approxamately where I was on the mountain on this side down lowish never mind mate she'll be right onward and down we head aghh that bit looks familiar down the creek we go and through some more crown fern. ???did I mention how much I hate that crap??? down we head more animal sign but nothing moving . down some more and hello whats this clearing I see? I turn to the lad and ask if he knows where he is. no idea he replies. I laugh and confess that I havent known for the last 2 hours. but now I know eggzachary where we are cause we where here last week. 20 minutes later we are back at the car. we talked to another hunter on the way, he looked sideways at my poor bedraggled pooch walking along on the lead beside my leg."its my packhorse"says I as dogs are a no no on DOC land. back to the car drop off the bags and back up the track to retrieve our slasher, back down to the car trimming a few more pesky branches on the way down and then home to a roast of spuds,pumpkin,peas and lovely mutton smothered in gravy
Life is good.

What a brilliant day mate...although it's a shame about there being no game. Maybe you could have cut sick at the wasps with the .410 for a bit of "get even". Maybe you should carry a decent pair of secateurs when you go out mate...cut a track through the horrible prickle stuff and the deer will love you for it...and you will also know exactly where they will be passing through and can set an ambush.

Oh well, there is always another day. Oh yeah...and get a pack saddle made for your mutley mate...will make your argument a little more believable.

Cheers, Vince

Why not a barrel of brandy like the old st bernards carry???
it would be plurry small on the wee cocker but would be nice.
as for secateurs I carry a machete in my day bag for the worst of the gorsey crap. just had an add up 7 hrs on our feet, the young fella is doing ok. from the furtherest point he knew which way the car was and had a feasible plan of how to get there, did me right proud it did.

That is great mate...teaching the young fella the bush and how to navigate around is bloody good info. Do you have a map of the area, and a compass? Be great to teach him how to navigate by compass, and "map to ground"...more importantly, he will be able to see the ground all around where he wants to travel and also be able to plan his hunt before stepping out into the bush.

The GPS is a great labour saving device in that it will tell you exactly where you are, assuming you can talk to the satellites...but a map and compass is the real way to navigate in my mind...you can "aim" for a particular feature...even a clump of trees if the map is an aerial photo map and it isn't too old.

Secateurs are far more useful than a machete...and much more quiet. Some of the guys I served with in the Army would carry both...the machete for the heavier work and the secateurs when a little finesse, silence and a neater job was required. Not only that mate...but it's bloody hard work hacking away at thin branches etc even with a very sharp machete.

Cheers, Vince

Google maps or Google Earth and print out the maps in satellite view or terrain view.

Sounds like a memorable hunt Elvis. I'm sure them vittles tasted might good.

well we went back out today, 3 weeks ago the stags had just started to rub the trees to shed velvet and the wallows hadnt been touched, today we went to another spot just 14kms from home and headed in a different way soo much easier the deer sign started about 500 mtrs from the road end on a loopy track so the morning looked hopefull. the stags are supposed to be roaring their silly little heads off at this time but none would answer my lovesick bellowing!!! we got to a grouse looking spot and started to stalk down through some lovely open manuka scrub, we had up to 75 yrd of good clear view at times and fresh sign to keep me keen. well the deer werent there or at the next ridge or the next or the next heaps of sign the wierd thing was that the 5 wallows we came across had been opened alright heaps of mud around them and churned up ground for 150ish yrds them but they looked to have been vacant for a week or more???? almost like the roar is already over??? well it was nice to head down the hill and end up on a loopy track to take us back to the car. we might just have to head back up in a couple of weeks and see if anything has changed it sure has me puzzled?

If the moon is bright they're crusin at night, or maybe they've run out of feed in that area. You may have missed the rut, but I wonder how long do they rut anyway? Might be in higher country by now.


top-o-my head
Suz

half moon at this time, rut is about 3 weeks with 1 of highest activeness. the stags may well have gone to the tops and the hinds into the bush, thanks for the suggestion Iwill check that out soon as I can.