Big Game Hunting New Zealand Sep/Oct 2015 | Page 8

Mark’s bull had great length
and pulled the tape past the
magical 13” mark. 9yr old

noticed big slide marks of a bull out of control
heading down the slope. There no more than
a 100yrds further on was marks bull piled up
in some low scrub. Mark was first to reach the
bull and as he pulled him onto a small clearing
it was immediately evident that this was a very
good bull with plenty of age and character.
Running the tape over showed 13.5” on one
side and just under 13” on the other side,
this made for two very happy hunters. Mark
was keen to have the full skin so we set to work
and with two knives in action and it didn’t take
long to have it off and into his pack.
For the rest of the afternoon we checked over
new country picking up a few more bulls down
in the scrub, but there was nothing better than
what we already had taken so they were left for
another trip. That night at camp we powered
through a big feed of nacho’s to celebrate the
successful hunt with a couple of quiets to wash
it all down. Waking to rain halfway through the
night signalled the end to the fantastic weather

We moved him into position for photos and
the normal butchery before retracing our
steps back to the backpacks. It was a relief to
get back to the safe zone and it was only now
that we could really soak up the whole hunt and
reflect on what a successful day it had been.
Making our way back down to the scrub edge
we stopped for a break and got the spotting
scope back out as it was getting on in the
afternoon and the bulls wer