After two days of heavy rain the sun broke through the clouds and the afternoon turned into a warm, sunny, still, go-hunting evening. It stirred the blood. Something was telling me the deer would be moving around after being holed up through the heavy rain. Funny how you can think about that when you are busy working. Something just seems to put you in that frame of mind. I can handle more of that kind of thinking and a bit of other thinking, but that is another story.
I ring up Dennis to see if he wants to go for a hunt. He is as keen as and said he’d been thinking the same thing. Great minds think alike, I thought. Deadly Dennis, as we call him, because of his accurate shooting, being an army man and with all the skills that he’s got can use a GPS, maps and walkie talkies. He is a bit of a mechanic, you name it and Deadly Dennis will cope with it. He is well armed, with a weapon for every hunting situation.
Anyway, he has just turned up, I greet him at the door. Dennis comes in smiling, he’d just bought a new hunting coat and it has lots of pockets. He is really pleased; he can get all his gear in now. He’s carrying his new 223 single shot rifle with its flash new silencer that his brother Terry. who’s an armorist, had put on for him. He’s so proud of it he had to bring it in to show me. I liked it but it did not hold enough bullets for me. I like a fast back up magazine sitting under my bolt. Anyhow, Thomas has turned up from milking the cows, and he looks like it. He’s ready to go with his 308 mate, slaying gun, as he calls it and a handful of bullets. His gun is a 308 stainless steel Ruger with a Leopold Goldring scoре with stainless steel mounts on it. Dennis says, “Are we taking the new Hilux or the Triton?” He has been telling me about his new Hilux and its common rail and other stuff it has that the Triton doesn’t. I think what he was talking about had something to do with the motor, all sounded very complex. I thought we should take the Triton. No problem. Everybody was ready. Dennis and Thomas had their guns and were heading for the Triton. I had got my 270 Staginator out and had it ready to go by the door.
I call it that because it is a stag terminator. There seems to be plenty of fire power so I decide to leave it behind. Very empty feeling, going hunting without your own gun, doesn’t seem right. I quickly got over it because the boys were ready to go. I grabbed the keys and fired the Triton up, leaving some serious skid marks as it was getting late and we had a way to go to our hunting spot. After a journey taking approximately 20 minutes, we arrived at our forestry road. Turning into the road and going about 200 yards down the road, we come to our first obstacle. It’s a big wash out in the road from all the heavy rain. It’s about one and a half metres deep. It goes down into a creek in which the water level has now gone down. It’s just passable. The road has turned into a dirt track and there’s a drop off into the creek where the water has washed the bank on both sides of the creek away. I poke the nose of the Triton over the top so I can have a bit of a look. This type of wash out has been the death bed of many four wheel drives. Slowly letting the Triton down the first side I am committed. Once over the top I know I will have to really gun it to get out so I put my foot to the floor. The Triton bounces its way across with only two wheels on the ground most of the time but its momentum and power makes easy work of a hard job.
The boys are impressed. The going is easier now. After another 15 minutes of driving down the road we arrive at our favourite hunting possie. I pull up at the side of the road and Dennis and Thomas climb onto the back so they can get a good look to see if there are any deer on the road. On previous trips we had seen deer sign so we knew they had been coming out to eat the fresh grass along the road. Moving along the road slowly there is good vision ahead for about 300 yards, and also out into the pines. The land is dropping away on both sides of the road heading down into gorges. Looking ahead we can see a ridge that runs off to the west. We are travelling north. It is a big easy sloping ridge. The pines that grow on it are mature. 20-25 years. You can see through the trunks of the pines but there is undergrowth too, about shoulder height. Suddenly at the top end of the ridge, which is near the road straight ahead, we see something flashing and moving. It is a light green colour. The Triton slowly comes to a stop as we look and look to see what it is. First thing I think of is Predator! Predator is the big green alien in the movie, Predator, and he takes everybody out. He’s the most dangerous thing. I would hate to meet him in the bush. The light is just starting to fade and we are straining our eyes in amazement, trying to see what it will do will do. Dennis leans over the side of the Triton and says “What’s that?” Hе sounds really concerned. The green thing is moving this way and that. It seems to have got very nervous since we turned up and I wonder if it has smelt us. Either that or it is getting really mad about something. A chill runs down my spine. Dennis gets down off the back of the Triton so he can talk to me more quietly. As Dennis nears the door I say, “I’m not sure, but to me it looks just like Predator. Remember, he was the alien that was killing people while living in the bush in the movie Predator.”
“Gosh, do you think so?” whispers Dennis. “You could be right. I’ve never in all my hunting days seen anything like that in the bush before. I say, I say, “I had always hoped to meet Miss NZ Deerstalker in the bush one day, but not Predator. If it is an alien creature I know we will have to take him out as he will be too dangerous to have too to running around here. Thomas is straining his eyes to see what the green thing is.
“Dad is there really real a Miss NZ Deerstalker?” he asks. Dennis says, “I am sure there is, Tom,” giving me a wink. “It would be very hard to tell which hunter she is with all their hunting gear on. From inside the Triton I can not see a definite target as it just flashes and moves amongst the trees. Thomas has got off the truck too and everybody is silent watching it. Dennis and Thomas have their scopes on it but can not pick up a target. They load ammunition into the breech of their guns so they are ready if a deer comes into sight. They will not shoot until they have positively identified their target.
Suddenly the creature moves so quickly everybody is surprised. It is heading down the ridge through the pines flashing green as it wisps through the trees at over head height. The undergrowth is just high enough to stop us seeing it properly. It is a scary feeling. The ridge turns south as it winds its way down in to the gorge bringing the flashing green thing towards us. It is getting nearer as we watch it coming around straight below to where the truck is parked on the road. There is a clear patch in the gully straight below us where the water has washed the bottom of the gully clean. Predator is going to break cover any second. Dennis and Thomas have their rifles trained on the green. It gives the impression it is floating as it is dashing and glowing like a cape through the trees. It moves really fast. It breaks out of the undergrowth into the gully. We can’t believe our eyes. It is a stag with light green bale wrap around its antlers. Having identified that it is a stag Dennis fires; it looks like he hits his target as it spins down the gully and disappears. “I’m sure I hit it right in the vital spot. It must be Predator disguised as a stag,” he jokes. Dennis has been so busy looking through his scope to identify that it is truly a stag that he does not get a good look at the green around its antlers. After hearing the crack of the 223 with the silencer on I get out of the truck and, leaving the door open I look to where I had last seen the Predator thing. I come around the side of the Triton and look down the gully. It is an eerie feeling, standing there not knowing what it was or if it was Predator and having no weapon. My Staginator 270 was at home, bugger!
Thomas and Dennis have gone to where the green glowing animal they now knew was a stag had disappeared. I hear a big bang. I think: it must be Tom’s 308 mate, It can’t be Dennis’s gun because it has got a silencer on it. I move off down the gully to catch up to the boys. Coming around the bend I can see Thomas with a stag and it has green bale wrap around its antlers. Thomas has a smile on his face and says, “It’s wrapped to see us Dad.” Dennis is sharpening his knife. He says, “I was really worried there for a while. It looked like something alien. Thank goodness it wasn’t Predator.” “I’m sure this will taste better than alien.” said Thomas. I agreed. We were amazed at how the silage wrap had bound itself so tightly around the antlers. We had to really cut at the wrap to get it off so we could see the antlers clearly. “Nice head,” says Thomas with a wry smile. We surmised as to how bale wrap could get so tightly around a deer’s antlers. “He must have been digging his antlers into that big heap of wrapped silage the neighbour has by the edge of the bush.” says Thomas. “Yeah, I agreed. “As he played with the bales, the wrap has become more entangled on his antlers. I bet he had a great time flicking his head and digging his antlers into the bales. He just kept going as they became more entwined with the wrap.”
“I wonder if the hinds like the new stag look?” asks Dennis. We just gave him another of those ‘yeah right’ looks. “I wish all deer had bale wrap around their antlers,” said Thomas. “It makes them heaps easier to hunt because you can see them more easily in the bush.”
We head up the gully towards the Triton pleased with the hunt and relieved that we
hadn’t come across Predator in one of our favourite hunting spots. As we round the final bend, we all stop and stare in amazement. The setting sun is casting its last rays through the pines and the Triton has an eerie green glow about it. “Maybe Predator is still out there waiting for us,” whispers Dennis. Thomas and I just look at one another. “Is that for real?” I wonder. The green glowing is totally unusual in this environment. It must be something to do with the sun shining through the pines.
Thomas said. “Deer numbers are well down in here. Maybe Predator has been living here, eating the deer. I hope he hasn’t caught up with Miss NZ Deerstalker!” Dennis gives him a look of ‘Get real!
Pointing to the stag he says, “This is a real deer so that’s enough of the alien thing aye. You guys must watch too much TV and videos.”
