Got back yesterday at 5.30pm having left Masterton at 8.30, a slowish drive punctuated with stops here and there - I even got a couple of casts into the TT River as we stopped and hooked up with a couple of AJ's mates. Reflecting now on what a good bunch of people kiwi's generally are, and how lucky we are too with the range of outdoor opportunities still open to us.
Backing up a little, picked up AJ quite early on Weds morning, timing the run to avoid traffic. We made Hamilton in good time, arriving early to grab Andy from Tamahere. Piling his stuff into the boot I was glad that only 3 of us were going, we couldn't have got any more stuff aboard. Included was 3 shotguns, boxes of ammo, 2 chilly bins, AJ's layout blind, bags of gear, waders, gummies.. well she was chocka. Onwards to Taupo for gas, lunch and to pick up some .22 ammo, and see AJ's life size photo on the outside of one window. Porn star. Then onwards, turning off at Vinegar Hill (seeing very few Rathmoy pheasants), across to Ashurst, through Manuwatu Gorge, Magatainoka (Hail! To the Tui Brewery) Paihiatua, Ekatahuna, and finally into Masterton. We found Tim's place alive with kids and visitors, were made very welcome, and then unpacked our stuff. We set off to find our bearings and gather grass for the layouts. Tim showed us Peter Jackson's place and we were soon gathering handfuls of the greenest grass possible. Tim explained that he'd tracked down a population of birds using a paddock by the sea, and that we'd have to be there and set up well before daylight in order to meet them as they arrived. Up at 3.20, had a munch of weetbix and packed the Toyota with guns, food, shell dekes etc. Tim's ute was stacked out with full body dekes and the blinds and quad bike were on the trailer. We shipped out and drove for an hour or so out of town. Arriving at a paddock gate after a number of twists and turns we loaded the quad and trailer and somehow got ourselves out to the spot. Checking a lagoon out Tim conveyed that the only thing that could have gone wrong just had - the birds were already sitting on the lagoon. He was gutted, seriously gutted. Even in the dark I could sense his head dropping. But press on we did, 4 hands making the blind setting up and decoy laying out a simplistic task. Tim took the quad back under cover and we were hunting.
Backing up a little, picked up AJ quite early on Weds morning, timing the run to avoid traffic. We made Hamilton in good time, arriving early to grab Andy from Tamahere. Piling his stuff into the boot I was glad that only 3 of us were going, we couldn't have got any more stuff aboard. Included was 3 shotguns, boxes of ammo, 2 chilly bins, AJ's layout blind, bags of gear, waders, gummies.. well she was chocka. Onwards to Taupo for gas, lunch and to pick up some .22 ammo, and see AJ's life size photo on the outside of one window. Porn star. Then onwards, turning off at Vinegar Hill (seeing very few Rathmoy pheasants), across to Ashurst, through Manuwatu Gorge, Magatainoka (Hail! To the Tui Brewery) Paihiatua, Ekatahuna, and finally into Masterton. We found Tim's place alive with kids and visitors, were made very welcome, and then unpacked our stuff. We set off to find our bearings and gather grass for the layouts. Tim showed us Peter Jackson's place and we were soon gathering handfuls of the greenest grass possible. Tim explained that he'd tracked down a population of birds using a paddock by the sea, and that we'd have to be there and set up well before daylight in order to meet them as they arrived. Up at 3.20, had a munch of weetbix and packed the Toyota with guns, food, shell dekes etc. Tim's ute was stacked out with full body dekes and the blinds and quad bike were on the trailer. We shipped out and drove for an hour or so out of town. Arriving at a paddock gate after a number of twists and turns we loaded the quad and trailer and somehow got ourselves out to the spot. Checking a lagoon out Tim conveyed that the only thing that could have gone wrong just had - the birds were already sitting on the lagoon. He was gutted, seriously gutted. Even in the dark I could sense his head dropping. But press on we did, 4 hands making the blind setting up and decoy laying out a simplistic task. Tim took the quad back under cover and we were hunting.
Layouts all set (Andy & AJ there somewhere)
After a couple of hours with the occasional honk heard in the distance, Tim was definitely unhappy. Then lying back and looking out I suddenly saw a pair of birds 500m away and locked up - they were coming straight in! All of us were back in our blinds under cover and just waiting. Tim called for Andy to take the birds and take the shot, and we launched ourselves out of the blinds.... waiting for Andy to shoot. Locked in as they were, the geese landed out by the furthest dekes set 25m away. They were mowed down as they took to the air and we had birds on the ground!
Tim's actually smiling!
Andy was stoked with his first goose/geese and gave it up for a quick photo.
Then it went quiet for quite some time. Tim and AJ went for a walk to a lagoon to put some birds off, there were between 50-70 just hooning around and we wanted birds in the air. While they were away a mob came into view. They circled us twice in range but never commited, and on the second pass I saw one flinch badly - straight away I knew he'd seen something amiss. The full beverage bottles we'd placed on the ground beside our blinds had been spotted. I took that one pretty hard to be honest, all the reading I'd done told me that's exactly what would happen. Silly beginner's error. So we whipped around making the place tidy, picking up some empty shells from the first shots and waited for the lads to come back. They'd got quite close to the geese which had all taken off and flown out to see. The wind was pretty mild so they were safe out there.
After another couple of hours, 4 birds came in from the North. With AJ calling they committed early, and all 4 stayed with us. Then a pair joined us so we had 8 in the bag - things were shaping up nicely. The time had just turned 12; and a Northerly front was approaching.
Tim meantime made several trips to the lagoon to put up birds. He was working hard for us and it began to pay off. The weather steadily worsened for the birds, with the wind turning and steadying there were now white caps on the sea and birds were moving. We had some good trial and error moments - with one flock approaching on a pass AJ asked if we were getting stuck in and given they were only 20m up I said
"Oh goodness me yes!" And me and AJ started peeling them as Tim was saying "NO!". We put down 3 of the 8 odd and knocked the crap out of another (I put down 2 and wounded the third) but Tim told us if we had let them come around again there was a real chance of all 8 staying. Lesson learned. (gulp). By mid afternoon we had a good bag down on the deck.
We got better and better as the day went on, not missing too many Chances. Tim grabbed a chance of his own when 2 birds charged in unseen after a lull and he cleaned them up beautifully. After a while we got out to take photos... doh!
I say "doh" because I was pushing to get photos while the light was good. (Shots in the field beat photos in the back yard). But also because birds were in the air. Leaving bodies lined up belly upwards while birds approach is not a good look, however in they came! Charging back into the blinds we claimed a couple of flocks, one which included AJ's "snow goose"
AJ & The Snow Goose (Bluddy Feral!)
The domestic bird had been seen hanging with geese offshore, so here was the evidence that birds would move back to where they'd been before.
Great Dekes make a difference
We packed it in at 5 or so, with dark coming we wanted to have the gear sorted (24 full bodies, 24 shells, 4 blinds, rubbish etc) before dark. Andy, AJ and I walked back to the vehicles talking about the day we'd just had. I was elated and I'm sure the lads were too. 35 birds on the deck, 33 of them since just before 12. Those early hours without much action just had to be gutsed out.
We packed the vehicles and got back to Masterton for a late dinner, showeer, drinks and hit the hay happy as pigs in shit. 
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