Been a bit of a bad few months for me lately but putting that aside I need to shout some good news.
At long last I have a hunt arranged. Well not exactly a hunt more a cull.
Phone call tonight from a mate asking if I would like to help hm out.
A farmer has just got in touch with him and he needs his farm cleaned out of wild goats. The farmer raises bobby calves for a living and has 90 stock comming in this week. Unfortunately for him his farm has been overrun lately by wild goats. He told us that in one mob he stopped counting when he got to 48 and there are a few mobs. The farmer wants us to come down over the weekend and get rid of them. There are three of us going. Taking the .22 bolt action and the M1 carbine myself. Both are good enough on this farm as there is a lot of native bush which means we will be able to get within 30 yards of the animals. The other two are taking their cowboy rifles (Uberti 73's) and a .22 each. These are feral goats. Descendants of domestic goats that were brought over by the original settlers to New Zealand. The country is crowded with the damm stinkies. Not a hard shoot but after 25 years in the UK where I couldnt hunt and the last 4 years getting fit enough to go back to the bush, it feels good to be able to do so.
We should be able to cut the numbers down quite considerably for the farmer. In return for doing this for him he will allow us to hunt the bush on his farm at a later date for deer and wild boar, both of which are there in reasonable numbers. I have another farmer getting back to me next week. He has a major problem with rabbits and possums as does his neihbours and they want some people to come and cull the numbers of these down as well. Again the same payback, we cull and get the right to hunt their properties for boar and deer.
I would love to be able to take my revolvers down for the goats but unfortunately here in NZ pistol hunting is not allowed. YET.
So I have a very eventful weekend planned. The farm is about 2 hours away from my home so we should be there by 8am. We will get straight down to the hunt.
I know that everybody that shoots cowboy isnt neccesarily a hunter and the thought of it actually turns some people off but these animals are a real pest here in NZ. They are feral. On farms they cause damage that costs the farmer his livelyhood. Even our government here encourages us to hunt. There is no "season on any of the animals mentioned. All you need is a rifle, the right equipment to survive the area you intend to go to and permission to take a firearm into the area and you can hunt anytime of the year.
Anyway I waffle. Signing off now.
Dai.