MUTTON HUNTING

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 58, Issue 4167, 1 August 1949, Page 10

MUTTON HUNTING

ON CAMPBELL ISLAND

LETTER FROM REX PEARSON

One of the chief occupations of some of the members of the New Zealand party on Campbell Island in the Antarctic was the hunting for mutton, wrote Rex Pearson, son of Mr and Mrs AV. Pearson of Paeroa, in a recent letter to his folk in Paeroa.

In a previous letter, written fiom the island, Rex stated that there were about 1500 sheep upon the island. In a more recent letter he described some of the hunts for mutton.

One party which went sheep hunting came back with an old ram and a lamb about the size of a rabbit. The writer described how he and his friend Terry caught sight of some sheep on the top of a ridge but the sheep immediately fled. “We waited until they went out of sight behind a small ridge and then charged. When next we saw them they were just as far away so we let them have their freedom. The next bunch sighted was on the northwestern slope so we blazed away at them from a long range. A lucky shot bowled a lamb over but he regained his feet and made off with Terry and I charging down the hill in hot pursuit. “ He could not have been badly hurt for he succeeded in evading us, but we had him trapped between us and the cliff. Rather than be caught the lamb edged his way out on to a point of land like a diving board about a foot wide and stood quaking from head to foot. All we could do was to gaze, which we did for about a minute when the lamb gave a bigger shake than usual, lost his balance and fell over the cliff. I clambered down so I could see where it had fallen. It had f&Hen on to a ledge about 40 feet below and was quite dead and well out of our reach, a feast for the skuas which were already hovering around.

“ We were not at all pleased,” continued the letter. “By this time clouds were all around us, making things rather unpleasant. On the return journey while skirting a rocky summit we ran into another small flock of sheep. We used our last two shots and charged down on one that was hit. This time we made no mistake. I bowled him over with one of my best rugger tackles and Terry sat on him.

“ Terry had been out before so with his little knowledge we managed to get the sheep skinned and cleaned. We decided to climb out of the valley to the north ridge where the going is comparatively easy. “ This climb out of the valley with the sheep is the toughest I’ve struck so far. Every few yards we had to have a rest until the top of the ridge was reached. I was sure glad to get back as I had my doubts about getting back before night.”