NZ Hunter Issue 58 - April/May 2017

As I write this the roar is well and truly underway! Fi and I heard hee-haws and our earliest ever single call on Sunday the 19th of March. There’s been plenty of reports of Reds roaring all over the country, and Willie is in Fiordland filming bugling Wapiti in the first period while I’m stuck in the office getting this magazine to the printers. That’s all about to change very shortly though, I can assure you! The weather has had a bit of a change around in the last month, with the north and east of the N.I. getting lots of rain, and the west and south of the S.I. pretty dry and settled. All this rain has gone a long way towards filling all the duck ponds and wetlands…

Q1 Hi Greg I have recently brought a 22-250 T3 varmint, I believe it was the last one available, unfortunately the 204 was all gone. I am after some advice on bullet selection. I have brought this with the purpose of varminting and have been reading up about it in your early issues. Occasionally I come across a deer or pig when I'm out there, so my consideration is for limited ricochets, high BC - I hope to push out to 400 yards. And also need something tough enough for slightly bigger game if the chance arises. I will be hand loading and I am running a VX3i cds and an RX850i, so running 2-3 loads with the MOA dial on the scope is not a problem. I have a…

You see, I had signed up for the Godzone Adventure Race so when I should have been heading into the hills with my rifle, I was on my way down to the Tasman district with a bag full of Lycra. I was, however, committed, and the hunting had to wait a few days. I was in a team with three other hardy souls and we had a combined age of just over 200 – yes, that’s an average age of 50. We had 517 kilometres to cover, with a total altitude change of 10,650 metres. At least I would be fit by the time I landed in the Ahimanawa. Richie McCaw was entered with a team of rugby mates raising money for the Cure Kids Foundation. This was awesome for…

Our chosen area is a small block of public land in the Awatere Valley that’s usually well stocked with game. The trip got off to a bad start when Pete was delayed for three days by a bereavement. We had planned to spend a week in the block but here I was, alone, on April 3rd. I was looking down from the saddle, full of the anticipation I felt each year, when I suddenly saw something I didn’t expect. I’ve seen goats many times on the flat a kilometre below me and occasionally a deer or two – but five blokes?! My first thought was ‘bugger’ (that’s ‘bugger’ with an ‘f’ actually) and my second thought was that the area was barely big enough for two hunters, let alone five.…

I made it to midday on Wednesday when the paper pile was no smaller and the thought of a rutting Fallow was repeating in my head. Minutes later the printer packed in and as I threw the paper in the air, I declared “Stuff it – I’m going hunting!” I’d barely recovered from the roar and I was looking like a malnourished streak of misery but we all know nothing will stop a keen hunter. Before I had time to explain to the Mrs, I’d thrown the dog in the truck, my gun and day pack in the front seat and hit the road for the Hokonui Hills. I run two hunting dogs at work: Mia is a 6 year old Hungarian Vizsla and Flint is a long haired Collie…

All pictures each issue will go into the draw to win a Buck hunting knife valued at $120 Send your hi-res photos to editor@nzhunter.co.nz…