Hunts course 2004

First the Course – than the experience - HUNTS COURSE 2004

By Carl Fransen Hunts Course Graduate and Member NZDA Hutt Valley Branch

I’ve been doing regular small game hunting (or is that shooting) for a number of years and it’s only been the last 5 odd years that I’ve been keen on moving up to larger game and what I’d call ‘Real Hunting’.

Having been out a bit here and there without much luck was getting to be a bit disappointing and needless to say I was starting to become the butt of a few jokes being a ‘Try hard hunter’ or the good old ‘Tramper with a heavy walking stick’ so was keen to rectify this situation. A good beating was out of the question, so the HUNTS Course looked like the best option!

I had read and heard about the HUNTS Course and although the ages were listed as 13 – 80+ most articles seemed to be full of teenagers and I wasn’t too sure about attending. It wasn’t until I read an article written by skiwi Gibson on Phil Maxey that I seriously thought about taking part in a course. I managed to convince my brother Tim that we should do this and promptly rang Harley O’Hagan (HVNZDA HUNTS Co-ordinator) and managed to secure the last 2 spots. Excellent!

The course had 12 students and ranged from 14 upwards and I was pleasantly surprised to see I was not the oldest (At 31 I still consider myself a spring chicken – you’re only as young as you feel). The experience in the group also varies from some never having shot a gun in their life, to some hunters who wanted to learn more skills.

We started the course in February. The content of the course was great ranging from species identification to Navigation, route selection and gun cleaning to name a few. Each night was well structured and although some of the more experienced already knew some of the material – we were able to add to the discussions and, using the experience of the instructors, build on the course content.

One of the best sections for me was the navigation. I’d always had a basic understanding of a compass and somehow managed to do the ‘add/subtract thing’ with magnetic north generally OK to survive (Although I’ve never REALLY had to use it…). The way we were taught was very easy to remember and works a treat. A few weeks later my brother and I went out for a days walk and as taught on the HUNTS course we took a bearing before we started and knew the direction we were traveling. We had been walking a few hours and were in some really dense bush. After seeing some sign we checked the area out but saw nothing so we decided to continue, but we were not sure which way to go. We both were adamant that we knew the correct way, but we were pointing in 2 different directions. As we had taken a bearing before heading off we just whipped out the compass and we were away laughing!!

The knowledge that the instructors passed on was very useful and we were able to put most of that to use straight away. After the gun cleaning night – most of the guys went home and cleaned their gun ‘properly’, probably for the first time ever! Even the navigation and ‘location awareness’ was something that could be practiced at any time.

My brother and I were lucky enough to get a block in the Wainui waterboard over Easter and although the deer numbers aren’t high we were keen to put some of the learned skills into practice. As luck would have it we managed to get the best roaring week, and this being my first roar (Where we actually heard roaring) was a real buzz and a confirmation of things learnt.

Onto the actual HUNTS hunt – after organising ourselves into groups for food, tents and transport we were headed up to Hawkes Bay on Friday 7 May. The weather forecast was great and although windy on Friday morning the rest of the weekend was magic. As we travelled up it was a bummer to see Gerry Veugelaers traveling back home, having been called away at the last minute – also because he had some of the .22’s and the only spotlight….!!!!

We all set up the campsites and by early afternoon everyone was changed into their hunting clothes and ready to go for a shoot. We got split into 2 groups and ‘lo and behold’ the group I was in was selected for river crossings and bush craft – what a letdown!

Neil McAlpine led these two sessions (We won’t mention the bit about the ‘salties’ Neil…). After resigning ourselves to the fact we all HAD to get wet there was a lot learnt even with all the bantering and joking going on. For the bushcraft we had to build our own bivvie and set out a fire – ready to light but as we were in the middle of a dry pine forest for some reason they didn’t want us to prove our fires would actually start – which by the look of some of them may have been difficult…!!

Our group of 5 students finished early, and we had spotted two goats on the hill opposite us, we got our guns and headed up to deal to them. Neil worked the radio, which helped out heaps and from where we were it was really hard to see. We crept up the forest side of the fence and after crossing it, crept across the hill where the pines were only a few metres high, but the grass was waist high in some spots. There were two goats and the decision had been made that my brother and I would be the shooters. After getting the hurry-up from Neil we finally spotted them and my brother shot – a great neck shot and down it went. Both goats weren’t moving – so I wasn’t sure which one he had shot. Finally one moved and I nailed it (Took a few but the end result was the same). We dragged our goats down to a flat (ish) area and after waiting for Neil to climb up the hill he proceeded to tell us what to do next. This was the first time I had totally skinned, gutted and cut up an animal and it was a great learning experience.

The next day we all headed out for more hunting and came across a mob of about 8, as my brother and I had already shot we were at the back and the guys managed to deal to 6 of them and everyone had a goat to do the business on. A few of the guys got some magic shots in even though they had only little experience with big calibre rifles. As I had already done my goat previously the instructors (Neil and Rex) got us to help the others out, so this way we learned even more ourselves, this helped cement the process as you only know what to tell someone else if you know what you’re doing yourself.

The rest of the day was more of the same – some good shots, some not so good, but plenty of dead goats. We all had turns shooting and we spotted for each other to ensure we all got our first 3 goats. I had a few bum shots, but managed to nail this goat as it showed itself about 150 metres away through the chest – needless to say I was pleased as I had earlier missed some at 15 metres..!! There was plenty learnt about what to do once you’ve shot it, Rex de Rooy showed us a really easy and quick way to get the legs and backsteaks off if you’re in a hurry and it works a treat! After literally having a blast it was time to head back and have some dinner and time for everyone to share the days stories. Some of the other teams had also seen some good goat numbers and managed to make a real dent in the population. It was really good to hear that some of the guys new to the sport were having so much fun – and also doing a great job of shooting, by all accounts some of the best shots were with the club .223’s by a few of the guys who had previously never fired a rifle. After dinner it was time for spotlighting, oh er well maybe not, the spotlight was in Gerry’s truck and that was in….Upper Hutt. OK, so let’s just sit around the gas lights and have a few drinks instead….

The next morning, Sunday 9 May, we all got up, had brekky and were eager to shoot some more goats. After seeing one first thing (which I managed to miss) the rest of the morning was slow with nothing seen – we even split up to try and double our chances – and the other group got onto a huge mob and ran out of ammo, we saw nothing. A bit disappointed we returned to camp to pack up and head for home. On the way out there seemed to be large numbers of goats in the farmlands seemingly laughing at us and rubbing in the fact they got away – just wait till the next HUNTS Course we yelled back!

We are trying to convince the instructors that we need to have a ‘graduation’ shoot back in Hawkes Bay around August and this time we hope to do some spotlighting….!!

To finish I’d like to extend a huge thanks from the whole group to the instructors who gave up a lot of their time to make this all possible. The HUNTS Course is definitely a success in my book. Now armed with some experience and a lot more knowledge, this course has definitely helped me become a better hunter and be more confident in the bush.