Big Game Hunting New Zealand Jul/Aug 2015 | Page 44

No record breaker but first deer
with the bow, Ben was pretty
happy!

I waited a moment to steady then squeezed to
release a muzzy 100g mx3. At contact the stag
jumped, signaling a good hit then he crashed
off into the leatherwood and tussock out of site.
I took several minutes to take it all in but I was
very confident that he was clean hit, the shot
felt and looked good so surely the deer couldn’t
have gone far.
After 10 minutes I quietly picked my way
down to where he was last seen. Immediately
I spotted blood and lots of it, I looked for my
arrow but no joy then continued to track the
blood trail for 15 meters and there it was. My
first deer shot with a bow; a Ruahine red stag in
possibly the most remote part of the park, I was
absolutely stoked! The arrow had passed clean
through both shoulders leaving a paint trail
of blood that you could see in the dark. After
getting a few photos I set about butchering the
stag up for the slog back to camp. I arrived at
camp well after dark finding Mark a little worried
about my safety as we’d planned to meet back
at 7.30 and I was now a few hours late. That

Once my decisions were made I rushed into
gear and covered the first 400m in about
10mins flat. I was running, as I knew it was a
race against time due to the evening light about
to peter out and also the wind would be starting
to drop into the valleys making an approach
from above impossible. Once I reached the
ridge that led to the bench the stag was on I
slowed right down to creeping mode. The stag
should still have been about 50m below me
but I was hesitant to peer over, worried the
wind would be dropping and taking my scent
with it. Luckily the last of the evening sun light
was hitting the face and the air was still rising
so I was in with a chance. I cautiously looked
over but couldn’t see the stag, he must have
been lower down so I had to drop further onto
the bench where I’d first spotted him and peek
over the lip. I edged down very slowly and as
quietly as possible. My heart was fair pumping;
it seemed so loud I was worried that the stag
might hear it and spook. I picked a spot on the
edge of the bench that I wanted to reach, the
plan was to draw back, stand up, locate and
shoot him at hopefully about 20 yards.
As I crouched down in the tussock I took a
couple of relaxing deep breaths then pulled
the bow onto full draw and stood up ready
44 BGHNZ Issue 7 Jul/Aug 2015

“As I took aim it felt like I
was shaking like hell”

night sleep came easily and we were up at the
crack of dawn for the final leg down into the
Tukituki River then out to the car. It was a real
hard slog with a pack full of venison but I was
very grateful to finally have secured my first
deer with the bow and very happy it was from
a stomping ground that means so much to me.
It was late in the day when two very tired and
hungry hunters finally made it to the car park
and dropped the packs.

It was a big journey from the west side to
the east over 3 days and we’d seen more
than 30 deer and some fantastic country.
I’d recommend to every hunter to pick
up a bow one day and test your stalking
skills, it really has opened my eyes to
the patience required to shoot animals at
very close ranges.
I consider myself an absolute beginner
that got lucky this time and I still have a
lot to learn, but fingers crossed this was
the first deer of many to come.

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to find the target. Bugger me, the stag wasn’t
there! What had happened? I was bloody quiet
and the wind was good, maybe he’d bedded
down? I looked hard but could see nothing.
Boy was I disappointed! I basically succumbed
to the fact that I’d lost my chance again, when
out the corner of my eye I noticed a slight
movement further to the right of where I was
expecting. I fo