Southland & Otago Duck Tour: Day 3 - As far south as you can go....

This was an epic day, so probably my memory has failed me somewhat... but anyway, Josh arranged to pick us up at gentleman’s hours, so we had a bit of a sleep in before getting ready. Josh rolled up in his truck, we threw our gear in and off we went. Today we were off to Josh’s family farm which is situated past the Catlins Forest Park. The area is renowned for its remote beauty. We travelled through to the mouth of the Mataura River, a world famous trout stream, stopping for photos of a stunningly beautiful place.

We then headed east, through acres of native bush and finally came to Josh’s stomping ground. We headed up into a pine forested block to jump shoot some hidey holes. There were some beautiful little black water holes, but all bar one were bare; however in one secluded gulley we were able to stalk a pond holding 3 mallards, but as getting near to them without alerting them was tricky we only managed one bird a fine fat drake.

Next stop was a paddock holding a couple of paradise ducks – our stalking attempt was somewhere between a comedy episode and a professionally organised stampede; naturally they got out well ahead of us. Then they did something that only parries can, turning back over us within gunshot range and we dropped both.

Josh drove us out to the coast to visit more ponds which held nothing except for a very stuck sheep which Josh duly freed. As the day progressed we added more parries to the bag before heading back to the homestead for lunch and to hitch on Josh’s dad’s boat – destination Papatowai to launch and head out for a blue cod fish. Josh’s mum had made a pile of pizza bread which we scoffed along with coffee, then we headed off to launch the boat. Again the scenery was nothing short of breath-taking.

Josh expertly dropped the boat into the estuary, which hosted a good number of ducks and other birds then started the motor.

Unfortunately the boat’s jet steering unit was playing up, so after some ineffective fiddling around we retrieved the boat and headed home. After putting the boat away we picked up some field decoys and headed across the homestead paddock for an evening hunt. Josh and Tim knocked down a couple of parries that Josh’s dog Pip put up. They were the only visitors that we had, so we headed back home for a bite to eat and to get warm clothes on; our next mission involved shooting possums, hares and rabbits and we’d be out until late in the freezing night air.

It’s been many a year since I had last spotlighted coons (possums) and it would be more than fair to say that I’m not really a rifle marksman so I lugged my shotgun while Tim manned the .22 Magnum. We travelled on a quad up into the coastal block and before we’d gone 100m Tim had shot 2 hares. That pretty much set the scene, as possums and hares proved plentiful. As we got closer to the coast and out of the bush, the temperature rose noticeably, and so did the number of observable possums. We were able to walk up and shoot them with the light from our headlamps and soon the pile of dead animals was growing. I could see why so much of the bush was damaged, these pests simply hoover up native saplings and kill back trees such as Rata. Not much that we saw escaped, and by my estimate we put down 50 odd possums and half a dozen hares by the time we returned.

Hoons, with coons

The drive back to Gore was too much for me so I dozed on and off after a truly epic day. Funnily enough, when I finally hit the hay, I didn't get to sleep all that well...

Thanks Josh, that day will stay with us for a long time.

Photo credits: Tim Holland and Josh Cairns