As an independent traveller he was travelling by bus around New Zealand so we picked him up in Turangi – heading for the King country for the week to come.  It was clear the client was a great guy and soon to become a mate from Day One.

He had never caught a pig, was keen for hunting red deer, stalking fallow, had never shot a goat and was wanting to upskill his fly fishing skills – so our hunting location north of National Park was ideal. We set up camp at Owhango Hotel – our “Hunt Central” location used for staging our Safari hunts.  This place boasts great people, good food, excellent rates and is a classic example of a cool Kiwi country pub.

Day one was hot as – slim chance of a pig,  but we had a good spot we had been saving and by mid morning the dogs were away.  Our lead dog can find up to 3 km, so we were happy to hear him start barking only 1km away.  The pack soon got there and made short work of a fat young sow – and Eski was real pleased it was not a monster.

(“You stick it you carry it” was the rule in play here.)

Back at the pub all the locals wanted to know the details – especially where we got it !!!  Eski enjoyed bragging rights over a beer.

On day two we did a goat hunt (to see if this young man could shoot).  Not a problem there.  200 to 250 metre shots were a breeze for this guy and we had a great morning cleaning up a few “smellies’ in the back blocks.  We then scoped out a mob of fallow deer.  The exercise here was to see how close Eski could get to the lead hind (always on guard)  He closed to within 30 metres of the deer and captured some excellent pics.

That afternoon we changed location to seek out the reds.  This proved to be excellent hunting.  Spotting a hind on bush edge 2 hours before dark, we spent the next 60 to 80 minutes “Indian style” crawling into a good shooting position.  This took us across 500 metres of rough broken country, through a gully and up the other side to a spur overlooking the hind.  Even with the breeze in our face, on a clear and warm evening, the hind knew something was up.  She alerted her mates and stood winding the air, ready to bark and bolt.

Eski is a good shot.  The 7mm 08 took her out with a clean kill shot and she lay where she dropped.  This one was a very big hind.  “You shot it , you carry it” applied again,,,, but only for a short carry.

Bragging rights were once again extended at the pub that night.  Eski was getting a bit of a reputation here !!!

On Day Three we hit the river.  Exclusive access to a nice stretch of the Whakapapa, with Whio duck and good fish evident.  Eski needed a bit of the rust knocked off his fly fishing skills, but by mid morning he was away.  Catch and release only on this water, and by mid afternoon he had landed numerous rainbow trout and the best Brown trout caught on that  stretch of water in a long while.

Bragging again????
The reputation continued to grow.

Day 4 was a rest day… sort of.  We threw Eski on an inflatable  2 man kayak and hit the rapids down the Whakapapa.  A great day, full of fun and a chance to see a large section of a pristine river – full of good rainbow trout.  Eski advised that in Denmark almost all the native eels were gone.  He wanted to catch an eel if he could.  Not a problem – we just happen to have a whole catchment that has been kept free from the commercial fishermen.  By midday on Day
5 he had enough eel to keep him happy for the rest of his stay in NZ.  Nice 2 to 3 kg fish that went straight into the smoker the next day.

On the last day we took a tally of the FOOD  we had in the chiller.  Talk about protein overload !!!

Eski had become a good mate over the time of his tour and it was decided that he just had to come back to East Cape with us, to our Homestead.  The next few days were spent shooting and fishing the remote coast, and taking in some of the best remote locations in Aotearoa, New Zealand.

When we asked him just prior to his departure how he summed the trip up he said simply – “Just good buggers having heaps of fun!!!”  Clearly he had become a Kiwi in the 10 days he spent with us.

He’s booked to return next year – for a Sika, and for that 200lb Boar.

Sweet as – “you stick it mate – you carry it.”

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So at 5am, John was picked up by Chris and the trip to the hunt location began.  At 6am they were on the run – 3 men, 14 dogs and on the search for the big boar.

Our client John had arrived in Rotorua from Canada and was keen to experience “real kiwi pig hunting”.  Chris & the boys had been out a day earlier and had run into a really big boar, which our pack of experienced dogs hadn’t quite managed to catch up with.  Their scheme was to surprise this boar before he “got out of bed” in the morning to give the dogs a good chance of catching him.

It wasn’t long until they heard the pack light up – and it was full steam ahead to catch up with them.  The dogs had got on to something alright – but it wasn’t the big boar.  By the time the guys caught up, the dogs had already looked after this pig.

So a short time later, the search was on again.  This time when the pack lit up, the guys were convinced it was the wily boar from yesterday.  The chase went on for an hour or so, before once again the boar gave the guys the slip.

John was disappointed to have missed the big boar but agreed with the guys to keep going.  And it was a good call too as it was third time lucky.  The dogs bailed up a 70 pound pig and John was in for the kill.  It was the first time he had ever hunted a pig and although it wasn’t the big trophy boar he had ended up with, he was still stoked.  John couldn’t believe it when Chris refused to let him carry the pig out, and put it on his own back instead.

Back out of the bush, the guys celebrated their success with a meal & a beer at the local pub.  But the day was not over yet.  Back on the road, Chris took John to a special location for an evening’s pheasant hunt, flushing and bringing down two pheasants before night fall.

John was driven back to Rotorua at 6pm, a very happy punter.  When we rang to see how he was feeling after the day’s hunt, he was already heading to the thermal pools to relax and recuperate after a huge day out.  He had reported to his wife, he “couldn’t believe how thick the forest in NZ is”.  John had enjoyed a real NZ pig hunt and was thrilled with his Basic Instincts experience.