Innehållsförteckning för Issue 54 - August/September 2016 från NZ Hunter

I was able to get a helicopter ride into an area that I’d always wanted to check out, as I’d heard a few good heads had been seen there. As the chopper departed, I wondered what the hell I was going to do for four days and how I was going to get along the ridge above me, as it had looked impassable from the air. After a quick brew and a glass, I decided to drop down the valley and head up the other side to get to a basin where I wanted to hunt and camp. There was a fair bit of cursing and rock climbing before I reached the top of the ridge. I got to play around with a juvenile chamois on the way and it…

The next morning, it’s all over but for the cleanup - and what are you left with? Photos and a hangover. Not for me. With a significant birthday approaching last year, I decided to celebrate the milestone by going hunting for plains game in Africa, in a location that I had never visited before: Namibia. I had read a lot and seen a few videos on hunting in that part of the world and it looked appealing, even for a non-hunting wife to come along for a holiday. After some research, I selected an outfitter with great references from past hunters who had an attractive website, showing comfortable, even luxurious lodges, many species of game and beautiful landscapes of Southern Africa. First I had to submit my plans for approval…

This has largely stemmed from the fact Kimber have used a very well designed strong and lightweight Kevlar/carbon fibre composite stock on the Montana, and fairly slim contour barrels. Their actions have also been designed specifically around the different cartridge groups, so that there’s no unnecessary weight over what is required to contain the specific chambering. This has meant that Kimber’s have never been cheap, with a Montana currently retailing for around $2700. Now Kimber have decided to release a version more competitive with the mass produced competition, enter the polymer stocked Kimber Hunter. KIMBER HUNTER Firstly, we’ll talk about what’s the same. The Hunter still uses the trim 84M action, with its long Mauser style non rotating extractor renown for the most reliable feeding and extraction. It also has…

An easterly breeze lifted the tops of the waves as they rolled in, thundering and crashing onto the black iron sand. The west coast of the North Island is a rugged environment and the twisted landscape and stunted scrub are telltale signs of the abuse it endures. Not much flourishes in this environment and anything that does live there has to be very adaptable. Gorse and kikuyu grass are plentiful and so is the humble goat with his outstanding ability to survive in difficult conditions. The peak of summer is not ideal hunting weather but it is very effective for hunting rutting billy goats, which were our target species for the day. My dad had a great hunting spot halfway between Raglan and Port Waikato – the perfect area for…

You hunted on calm days and generally used dogs that did not go too far on the find. Holding teams often ran a soft bailing dog as well so the hunter could home in on its noise. A dog’s finding distance was judged on the time it spent away and hunters spent a lot of time looking for dogs and listening hopefully into gullies. It is fair to say that the advent of tracking gear changed pig hunting for the better and within a short space of time, nearly every hunter had it. The older ‘bleep, bleep’ gear came in a variety of brands. Some was legal and some was not. When I say ‘legal’, I’m talking about the frequency the gear operates on. Much of the early gear coming…

This issue we’ve got an updated version of an old favourite – the Ranger Pro 10x42s. The upgrade is called the Xtreme, and has several improvements over the old model, so let’s start by having a look at those now. RANGER XTREME This is Steiner’s newest model. It is said to have powerful high contrast optics coupled with even higher light transmission and an enlarged field of view. The Xtremes have a new and improved grip and slightly lower weight. They have integral objective lenses covers like the Cobras, and the eyepieces have very useful, foldable and rotatable corner stray light eye shields. The neck strap has the Clicloc quick detachable system. They come with a carry bag and strap, and are waterproof and dustproof, and have a 10 year…

This dish is a classic warming meal, or as some would say, ‘comfort food. What could be better than a slow cooked, full flavoured wild meat dish with smoky bacon in red wine gravy? Traditionally, beef is used to make this dish but any game meat such as venison, chamois or tahr (as I have done here) works very well too. Following on from the previous issue of ‘NZ Hunter’ when I made schnitzel, this recipe uses the same thin slices of meat, but rolled and stuffed this time to make the shape of an olive – hence the name. There are no real olives in the dish – this technique was developed simply to impress guests. When my youngest son and I snaffled a nice young nanny tahr, it…

We were tucked in close against the side of the stream bed to make us less obvious to any cautious animal eyes. The alpine faces stretching above us held plenty of promising scrub-filled gullies that were punctuated by gravel slips and rocky crests. Because of the sun shining directly in our faces though, it was difficult to get a glare-free image, although we had managed to spot a handful of younger bulls beginning their daily descent already. My partner for this trip, Dave Keen, is a highly experienced tahr hunter and he had been aiming for a while to get out on the hill to help me find my first mature bull. With other projects on the go and my health being in poor shape, it hadn’t come to pass…

Some of what I have seen has been the writer’s individual bias without providing all the facts. Here I will attempt to cut to the chase, so to speak, on factory versus custom rifles and ammo, with no bias one way or the other. I will let the facts speak for themselves and hopefully this will help anyone considering any of these options to make a more informed decision. LET’S START WITH THE RIFLES: FACTORY Firstly, let’s define just what it is we’re talking about. A factory rifle is pretty self-explanatory: this is a rifle mass-produced for sale in retail outlets and designed to be used with mass-produced factory ammunition. You can of course hand load for any rifle, factory rifles included. There are a number of higher-class factory rifles…

In mountaineering parlance, the ‘death zone’ refers to the altitude zone above 8000 metres, where the margin of error between life and death rests on a knife edge. In Aotearoa New Zealand, we have our own death zone at a much more modest altitude, but equally as treacherous – the subalpine zone – that occurs between about 1200-1500 metres, depending on the latitude. This semi-vegetated zone exists in a band above the bushline, but below the permanent snowline, and is variously referred to as the transalpine, subalpine, snowgrass or alpine zone, monkey-scrub belt, leatherwood leisure park, or carpet grass alley. A significant number of backcountry accidents, fatalities and injuries occur in this subalpine environment, and many of them are preventable. Backcountry Accidents has formed a technical sub-group to suggest strategies…

I hit it with the first throw – woohoo! Throwing again, I missed by a gnat’s whisker but the next missile connected again. Three super-accurate throws in a row – impressive! Well, I thought so anyway – my grandson was too busy throwing his own stones to notice Poppa’s little miracle. Here’s the thing: I have lately experienced some sort of quantum leap in my throwing. I am way more accurate now at projecting stones than I ever was before. How come? And so what?! Bowhunting is behind all this and I think there’s a real lesson to be learned from the ‘stick ‘n’ string’ fraternity about how to increase your accuracy and focus. I’ve been trying to get better at hunting with a traditional bow. Using a recurve –…

Anyone who really knows me understands that I’d rather hunt geese over ducks any time of the day. By the time you read this, the duck season will be over and you will be looking for some new challenges. Geese will present that for sure; but don’t buy into the argument that they’re just too hard for you. You’re not scared of a challenge, are you? Whether you’re a veteran goose hunter or a ‘newbie’, there is a very good chance these birds have kicked your ar*e before. No matter what you do or what you try, they won’t have it, and refuse to come your way over the decoys. Just remember; the smallest details or adjustments can make a huge difference between a good day and a great day’s…

 Conrad, who is 9 now, has been trudging the hills with me ever since his first Ruahine tops trip up over the Wooden Peg, at 5 years old. I WORK OFFSHORE HALF THE YEAR SO ANY TIME WITH MY KIDS IS PRECIOUS. Already, he has three Kaweka Sika roars and his first deer under his belt. I have never seen a mindset like it in such a young boy; both his passion for the outdoors and his ability to cover such big country on foot were evident from a very early age. Jack, now 6, used to be the opposite. I thought he’d never be that interested in hunting, unless it involved a motorbike or a Fallow deer close to home. But when he was five, we couldn’t turn him…

Fly trotted out in front, keenly working the steady downstream breeze but as hard as she tried, she couldn’t pick up anything that required serious attention. The river flats had been very quiet indeed. Long, ungrazed grass and an unusual lack of fresh sign made our initial walk up the creek uninspiring. Our priority for the day was to shoot a deer, and we had good reason for it. It was day two of a week-long trip; we had brought only one meal of meat with us, and we had eaten that the night before. Half an hour later, we were still walking up the creek, and still nothing exciting had happened. I pointed out some old sign to Nick and said it was from before the rain we’d had…

 “Are we flying in this?” I asked the helicopter pilot. THEN I THOUGHT, OF COURSE IT’S MY BROTHER ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE GUT, TAKING THE PISS. “Yes” he said. I didn’t see that coming. Like a cork on the ocean, we bobbed our way to a ‘new’ hunting block, courtesy of an administrative blunder by the ’copter company. As the gusts hit hard, the pilot leaned the Hughes 500 into the wind and didn’t appear at all concerned. As for us... we died on every gust...hugging the earth, the mountain passes, anything solid on the way, at least we didn’t have far to go to land. The more ‘firma’, the less terror. Greg Brennan, my brother Shane and I had a total of seven days to learn the…

It weighs in at an impressively light 1.6kg and is listed at $349.98 USD. Kuiu produces two lines of packs: the Icon Pro and the Ultra. The Ultra series is based on the minimalist lightweight approach. The mainstay of the Kuiu packs is their carbon fibre frame system. This a single sheet of moulded carbon fibre that creates a very stable and strong platform for the harness without the bulk and weight of traditional external frame packs. The frame is available in ‘tall’ and ‘regular’ sizes and there are two sizes of waist belt, making it easy to find one that fits you. I am 178cm tall and I use the long frame and small waist belt, which works well for me. The first thing I noticed about this pack…

At Opotiki Primary School, we have started a boys’ (for now) club, which aims to help children explore what’s out there in our area, as well as do some extra learning (but we don’t tell them that). Our first activity was hunting in a forest and on a private farm block I have access to. The boys were all very excited and asked 101 questions as the day drew nearer. We met straight after school on the Friday and had a quick debrief about what we expected from the boys, and about guns and how to properly use one. When we got to the forest, we stopped and had a quick feed - thanks to Leeanne for the beautiful homemade pizza. The boys were shown a rifle (some hadn’t seen…