Always expect the unexpected!
This day started off like any other day when I go hunting, but we had one hell of an event ahead of us.
After failing our mission to get amongst some roaring stags the day before, I gave up on them and decided to chase some pigs in a forest near Taupo. This day started off like any other day when I go hunting, but we had one hell of an event ahead of us. We collared up the dogs, put them on the bonnet and away we went. We checked a few areas that were known for pigs, but we were unsuccessful. Unfortunately, It started getting late in the day, and I was losing faith in the dogs to produce the goods so on our last stretch of the forest I decided to get my mate to walk the dogs around the block while I walked to where I thought the pigs would cross in front of me. On my way to the crossing, I stopped and let my holder out to relieve himself and ran him down the road to let him stretch.
While Boss (the holder) was doing his business, I looked at the GPS and noticed the dogs were moving faster than usual towards the crossing I was heading to. Instead of putting Boss back in the box like I usually do, I made him get on the bonnet, and we headed to the crossing fast. On the way to the crossing, my GPS beeped which meant it was 20 barks per minute. Still 700 metres away I looked at the GPS to see them cornered on the road.
Thinking it was the big boar I had been after, I was feeling pretty amped but when we came around the corner, I was blown away to see a stag on the road trying to fight my dogs. Boss was still on the bonnet, and he flew off to help his mates, only for him to run straight into the stag’s antlers which gave him a solid jab to the shoulder. My other bitch flew in to help, but before she could bite it, the stag turned his head while low to the ground and he drove his antler through my bitches gut and out the other side, then raising his head and waving my dog around like a rag doll.
The stag broke and was pulled up again on the edge of the cliff. My mates snuck down the gully thinking that was where he was bailed, only to find the stag looking down at my friends on the edge of the cliff. One of the guys closed the bolt on the faithful 303, squeezed the trigger and dropped him right on the edge. The team went up to the stag to get closer and were blown away at the effort the team went through to get this stag. Being close to the road it made for an easy carry. We checked the dogs and were surprised they were not as bad as we first thought. It wasn’t that big black boar I had been trying to catch but we got the kai, and that was the main thing. My bitch is doing well considering what we had witnessed, but that goes to show hunting is not for the faint-hearted and always expect the unexpected.
