A Day at Motutapu.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXII, Issue XII, 19 March 1904, Page 22

A Day at Motutapu.

WITH DEERHOI ND AND KI N Di NEW ZEALAND. (Specially written for the “New Zealand Graphic.”) Jt is at all times a pleasure to visit the beautibil island of Motutapu, for as a holiday resort it has gained worldwide fame, and to its owner, Mr Jas. Heid, whose hospitality is unbounded, many thousands of people, young and old, are indebted for outings that have ] roved of the exhilarating character. The writer has expressed his acknowledgment« before to-day. and it was with feeling* of unalloyed satisfaction that 1 received a -hort note inviting me to renew my visit* and spend .1 day there with deerhound and gun. and a few enthusiastic sportsmen friend* of the proprietor. It was to be the opening day of the deer season so far as the level\ * island is concerned, and t here is no nerd tn say that the invite was accepted with most pleasurable anticipation. 1 am not going to attempt to describe this sportsman's paradise with its beautiful views, inlet bays, and surroundings. but a more perfect morning than we were favoured with as we landed at Emu Bay. after a quick run down from Auckland, could not have teen. There we were met by Mi Kei-l and hi* manager. Mr Craig, and received the most hearty greeting, and were shortly under his hospitable root partaking of a wee <) rappie of the best, followed by more solid refreshment, which the ladyfolk of the hmnestead had piovided with characteristic foresight. We had breakfasted earlv. Our party consi-ted of Messrs. W. Buckkind. F. Waller. J. Chadwick. F. L. Armitage. J. Andrews. Bennet J. Wai‘on. Johnstone, and J. Craig, and horses were furnished by Mr Reid for all. in addition tc a three-horse team hitched to a sledge. »n charge cf Mr Keith, and in which the ladies were taken out to get v ie« s fi ing position- overlooking the valleys in which the island abound*. Sheltered spots, affording either bush or scrub cover therein, or narrow raupo swamps in which the deer_hide and suddenly emerge and come into view when being stalked, are to Le found in almost every one of these gullies. A st Art was made at the rear of the homestead, three guns carrying cities, and we had with us two deerhounds, brought in the fund expectation of a course or two. to my mind the most pleasurable part of deer hunting. As will be shortly told. hopes were realised. A lazy old buffalo wallowing in a water hole got up and *tret. bed himself, and surveyed the intruders upon his sHmabers. as we crossed the head of the first gully. Almost immediately afterwards a hare jumped up. anti Blue B*dle sighting puss a rattling course was witnessed for quite two miles, the hare finally being viewed near the homestead making its escape through the emu paddock to a swamp, one of the feathered occupants in full chase at her scent —a novel sight, an emu after a hare. Blr.e Belle, a beautiful deerhound slut, thus early gave us a taste of her running an.l fence jumping qualities, and the gallop only served a* an exercise one for her, as she appeared in excellent fettle. Our other hound, who v.v.< not in such condition, fortunately, we congratulated ourselves, did not get sighted. A long swamp was drawn blank by a Cocker who was used by one • f cur party as a beater, and we crossed over to a nicely wooded gully with a pretty am! snug piece of native bush and li-tree scrub therein. Here we *ightrd. but quite out of range, four young deer on the far side of the valley, with their heads up. ami they quickly decamped, a buik with a good head. unneen by the shooter-, having crossed over one of the lower ridges in view of Mr Andfew*. "We shall find d<*er in the next valley.” *<-! Mr Craig, and you won’t be long before you get a chance to see whether ycur eye is in.” And so it proved, but when one is in a new country. <o to speak, and Las to judge his distance from one %itle of a gully to another, he is lucky IT he can. with his tir-t or second shots, stop the progress of a bounding buck heading over a dividing range at anywhere from 300 to 350 yard- distance. Mr Chadwick’s fir«t attempt failed, and his second shot at a doe that turned ami took a good survey of those with him, was noticed to fall short, and Mr Waller

also sent two shots at lung range without effect from a position on the left. Some half-dozen deer were then judely startled by the reports reverberating lower down the valley, but were all . ut .4 range when they appeared, and almost as quickly disappeared, over the neat hill. Skirting the side of this valley we eame out on some open ground overlooking a swamp, on the outskirts of which we were just in time to notice .Mr Buckland at about one hundred and fifty yards take aim at a small deer which went bounding up the hill, and would have been lost to view a moment later had not a well-direc'ed shot struck her in the neck, causing her t j rear in the air and come rolling down the side of the fern-clad slope more quickly than she had started to go up. "Well stopped, Wally." said one of the party. "Well spoken, - * said Mr Craig, at my elbow. Meanwhile the sledge party, attracted by the reports of our rilles, had eouie m the scene, and deer No. 1 was soon deposited in a straw bed thereon. Mr Buckland continued on along the swamp with his spaniel and a beater, and a buck a few minutes later sped away, accelerating his pace to safety to the "crack, "* ■■crack." accompaniment in his rear from the same quarter. A long beat down a swamp over the mustering pens range, after passing a bevy of wild turkey en route, followed when, as all eyes were directed to the swamp, which was being worked by Mr Armitage who is a thorough sportsman and had generously given his trusty Winchester to one of the party for the day, there suddenly darted from a patch of cover on the right a line fawn buck and a blaek dee. and Mr Chadwick sent a ball after each, the buck being hit as he neared the crest of the hill, and diverged to the left out cf sight. A gallop followed, some of the party over-running the game. Attracted by the ery of the wounded deer, one of the party rode up and dismounted, intending to give him his quietus, but the buck was yet strong, and getting up made off ever a scrub-clad hill, and was lost for quite twenty minutes. Meanwhile the deerhound bitch Blue Belle came on the scene, ami pulled him down as he made another dash for liberty into a swamp, pinning him in her vice-like grip behind the back of the neck, and holding fast until Sir Craig came on the scene an i took possession. A few minutes later a hind at about a hundred and fifty yards started to elimb the opposite hili. A first shot from Mr Chadwick’s rifle fell short, and the hind stopped and turned with hea dup hill, and thus gave time for a second and more effective shot. Now came the carrying of the spoil, for the sledge party were in another direction. On the way towards Home Bay, now our shortest route to the steamer, two fine deer were sighted away to the lift, and now eame Mr Waller’s turn. Dismounting, he took all the cover available, and stalked towards them, and at the second attempt, at a range cf probably not less than 2-V) yards, felled a two-year-old well-grown buck. The day had been wearing on. and there had been quite enough carnage, and we were still in hope that we should see Blue Belle in her element coursing a stag in the open. The chance eame. for away to the eastern side of the island, beyond the sheep yards, five deer were seen at a distance of probably a third of a mile. Blue Belle sighted them, and headed straight away, and got within about a hundred yards when they noticed her, and away they dashed. It was too great a start after her long slip, but a pretty sight was witnessed. One. two. three, four. five, over a wire fence the deer bounded, and Blue Belle was gaining on the rearmost, and over a second fence they went, our deerhound fencing as prettily as the deer. Now in full view, the next moment lost to our sight, only to reappear and disappear again and again in the small ravines on the face cf the mountain, finally with Belle, who had singled out a fawn to all appearances at the distance the biggest of the lot. in even closer pursuit. Unluckily, however, she was to lose her reward by a fall which broken ground, at the critical juncture of a dashing course. brought abruptly to a elose. Poor Belle, she had contributed well her share of the day’s doings. May I be there again and see her doing her work as well and under more advantageous conditions. In concluding, I must express on behalf of myself and our party, thanks for the extreme kindness shown by Mr and Mrs Heid and Mr and Mrs Craig, and their assistants on the island.