DEER STAT KING IN THE RIBBONWOOD.

Otago Witness, Issue 2527, 20 August 1902, Page 50

DEER STAT KING IN THE RIBBONWOOD.

Bt John M'Naib

On 1 the Ist of April, 1902, I started out for Longslip in company with Mr J. More, of Duntroon. for lho purpose of spending our holidays amongst the deer and ducks, which are very plentiful in that distriot. We reached our camping place about 11 o'clock on the second day of the season, and being very keen for a little sport, I immediately started off up a small gully at the back of our caipp in search of deer. I worked my way vary cautiously up the gully, but only saw a few hinds, and a small stng which was not wortn shooting. As it was only 3 o'e.ock when I reached tUe head of the gully, I made up niy mind to climb over the top and scf» what there was in the head of the Lindis Creek.

After about an hour's hard climbing, I reached tho top of the range, and was delighted to hear a stag roaring in the creek about a mile below me. I proceeded to work my way cautiously down the orcek towards the place where I expecttd - to find lmn. I !'ad not gone very far' down" the creek wheu I came on a few hinds feeding right in i'rbnf'of m* I bael a'fcoo'd deal of trouble" 'in "getting past th&m,'bufc mailaged to ito so| without disturbing' lliein. I r.lso pastecf within 48yds of a small fourpointed M-iy. "I at length" canie on tlie large stag feeding in- a small side gully with about a dozc-n h'/id?.. . \s> Iwas rnojre tli'an 300 yds from him..' 1 dje.Hd-ed'-tb wait for a while, as : they showed sigus of going over a. small ; spur furti\ejr Up th» creek. I" had a., goodj look at him through my field glasses, and thought that ho had about 14 points. When at last they had all disappeared round the- point of the spur. I ran quickly up the creei (for it was by this time getting dark). On looking round the point of the spur I saw il»© stag about 100 yds away. I raised my rifle and prepared to take aim, but found, to my dismay, that it was too dark to see the sights. I fired several shots, however, but ■ did not hit him, and as it was now growing late, I proceeded to go homewards, tired, hungry, and disappointed. I reached the top of the range all right after a good deal of swearing and stumbling (it being by this time very dark, and the rain was falling heavily). Going down the hill was the worst, as the ground was very rocky and steep. I had not gone down hill more than 400vds or 500 yds when I suddenly stepped into space, and dropped over 20ft before I struck the rroitnd. an-. . <'yea when I did 6trike the ground I could not prevent myself from rolling down a very steep incline into the creek. I found trat I had lest my rifle, field glasses, sheathknife, poeke-l book, and hat, and. worse thsn all, I found that I could not bend niy left knee. _ Knowiug that I would most certainly perish if -I lay wbero I was ail nighfc, I crawled down the- bank of the> creek a few yards, and- -was lucky enough to find a patch of dead scrub. T gathered some oX the scrub and lit a- -small fire, which I kept going till morning. That was the longest and most miserable night that I have ever yet experienced. In the morning I found my knee a litt"re better, and pi-weeded to search for my loet property. The first thing I found was- my rifle, which was red with rust, then my hat, and several small pieces of my glasses, and then my sheath-knife, but I could not find my pocket boob, which, luckily, did liot contain a great deal. I went back to my still smouldering fire, and was about to throw on some more wood (for it was very cold), when I heard a stag roar about 300 yds away. Although my knee was still very painful, 1 lost no time in going down tlio creek in the direction of tho step, which waa still roaring loudly. Whilst crawling up a terrace I heard a noise above me, and on looking up saw a nine-pointed stag .standing wit.'iin 30"yds of me. I fired for his foro shoulder and killed him instantly. I had a goed deal of trouble in skinning the head, as he had rolled into the creek, where I could neither turn him over nor pull him out. After skinning the head I carried it down the creek towards the camp, where I was surprised to sec my companion sitting on a box eating his breakfast as if nothing unusual had happened. After having a few hours,' rest I afcbed him if he would take a ride across the Ahuriri River with me to a largo gully known as the Ribbonwoed Gully. Jim willingly assented, and in a few minutes we were- tiding towards the river, which was about half a mile from our camp. When w*« had crossed th» river we tethered our horses, and proceeded to walk towards the mouth of the gully. On reaching the gully I made a sign-to Jim to be quiet, .and looked cautiously -over the edge of a low .terrace. I was ablp, with the help of Jina's -glasses, to see a badly-damaged eight-pomter lying on the opposite side of the crock some 200 yds from us, and as it was now Jim« turn to shoot 'one, I told him to- try- a shot. His first ehot hit somewhere high; so I told him to fire" a little lower next time. He did so, and shot tlie stag through the fore shoulder, killing him instantly. Wo bkinned the head and then went on a little further up the creek, but did not get another shot, as the deer appeared to be disturbed, probably by the two shots which had been fired at the other stag. We were, however, quite satisfied with. our first day's sport. Early the next morning we again crossed the river. As we were approaching the place where Jim had shot the eight-pointer, we were surprised to aeo another eightpointer and several hinds lying near the edge of the creek about 150ydi from us. Jim fired as quickly as possible, and succeeded in bringing him down with his first shot. We found that the bullet bad entered the stag's ribs, and, ranging forward, had lodged in the opposite shoulder blad,e, making an awful mets of him. I skinned the head and covered it up carefully, for it was a warm day, and the flies were very troublesome. As there was another smaller gully about a mile further up, which I thought worth looking into, I told Jim to go up the main Ribbonwood Gully, but to be sure and meet me at the mouth of it at * o'clock. ' I went to the head of the small gully, but did not see any stags worth shooting, and was returning home round a. scrubby-pointed spur when I heard! a noise above mo,' and on looking up saw* large etag and about 20 hinds lying in' the scrub. I lost no time in. filing at tlie stag, and bhot him dead with my first shot. The bullet hit him in the eye, but, luckily, did not injure the skin. He proved to be an 11-polnter, with very heavy horns. I 6kinned the head, and hurried along as quickly as possible^ for it was almost 4 o'clock, and I had still a good mile to go. I reached the appointed plaoe all right at 4, and a few minutes later Jim arrived, tafiJu&t j£UL ikfidv BSLifild fi&ft ihat_hft. bid

seen several stags, but could not get neafe any of them. We shouldered our stags* heads and hurried along towards the horses, as we wished to cross the river before dark if possible. Whilst crossing a small flat in the direction of our horses I chanced to look along a low terrace about half a mile away, ana saw a stag and several hinds standing on the top of the terrace. They had evidently not seen us, for they walked quietly to the bottom of the ten ace and lay down. We then crept quietly back, and came out on the top of the terrace immediately ab-">v« them. I fired first, and hit him in the flank, and as the next cartridge jammed in the> magazine of my rifle, Jim had to take up the shooting. The stag did:'not-ap-pear to know where the shot had b< <-n fired from, for instead of running away, as tho hinds did, he ran towards us. This was one of the advantages of using smokeless powder. Jim had no difficulty in bringing him down, as the stag was now within 80yds of us. This stag proved to be a magnifio nfc 10pointcr. In fact, it was one of the best! 10-pointers that I have ever seen. We skinned the head and hurried along as quickly as possible, for it was by this time getting dark, and we had a very heavy load to carry. \Ye reached our camping place all right before it became very dark, feel* ing well satisfied with our second day's shooting. The- next morning' saw u» again across the river, -this rime both prpcoedinc up the main Ribbonwood Gully. t Wo proceeded cautiously for some,, distance up the' gully before we cam«* upon any deer. " As there was a decent-looking "tag amongst them, we decided to stalk them, if possible. We wero crawling cautiously up the creek in the direction of the deer, and were almost close enough to shoot, when -Jim made a noise.' The stag, which was a 10-pointer, started off up a small side gully, in company -with another smaller stag. They ran to the head of the gully bo-fore they stopped, and stood there locking at us. As they were about 500 yds awa*- we did not care about shooting, but uecided to try them again. As Jim was a very poor hill-climber, I told him to go over to the opposite side of tho gully in order to attract their attention, while I wont back over a small spur for the purposf of climbing round and coming out above them. After about 25 minutes' hard climbing I reached the top of the range, and proceeded to .drop down into the head of the gully where the stags were. I waa surprised to see them sidling out over the opposite spur above Jim-, and about 300 yd« from me. As I had had enough of following them up, I decided to try a shot. I fired, and cut the ground up about 4ft above the large 6tag'e back 1 . They evidently thought that it was Jim who had fired: a« them, for instead of running away, as I expected them to do, they turned and ram straight towards me. I lay flat amongst the long snow grasses until they were within 20yds of me. I had no difficulty in shooting the large stag, aud could have shot the other easily enough, but as he was only a sixpointor,- T allowed him to escape. I skinned the head and carried it down to Jim, and after a short rest we decided to go down country, being quite satisfied with three heads each. Jim was using a- .303 Lee-Metford rifle, and although it was a very accurate shooting rifle, was much too lonjj, heavy, and clumsy for sporting use. My rifle was "a 40-60 Marliu repeating carbine, and when, UEed with mushroom bullets, is as good a deer-stalk-ing rifle as anyone could wish to use. We both used khaki-coloured suits, as they are not easily distinguishable among the tussocks or snow grass. Whilst on our road down country we stopped for a day at Omarama. and secured a very fair bag of ducks and nukaki Although we did not obtain such heavy heads as some other deerstalkers, we were very lucky in obtaining fix heads for three days' shooting.