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Goat trip. (Caution, Shows animals dying and others being scared)
Finally got Photobucket to play ball and download a couple of video's.
When we arrived it was fine but the forecast was for rain over the next 4-5 days. That meant that we had to take our opportunities when we could.
The property is steep. Where we were staying was almost 1200' above sea level............but the coast was only 4000' away. .....almost a 1 in 3 gradient. Did I mention it was steep?
After settling in we decided to head out and do some scouting, with rifles of course.
Took this pic from the top of the hill. The place we stayed in was an old deserted farmhouse, which was on the ridge to the right of the pic.
Did I mention it was steep?
Came across a few goats and blooded the Sako 222 on this nanny at about 180yds.
More about the nanny later.........
Also came across this young spiker. Anyone want to hazard a guess as to what breed of deer it is?
We gave him a free pass as we it was the first day of a 6 day trip.
We headed back to 'camp' and settled in for the night as it started to rain.
The following morning we decided to head down to the beach to check the zero's on a couple of rifles.......Took the T3 Super Varmint 22-250 as I hadnt shot it since the last time we were down here about 5 years ago. Also had the 222's and a 204. Loaded everything on the quad and headed down by a circuitous route as we thought the main track would be too slippery and dangerous. What a ride that was. Kept the quad in 1st gear using the engine for braking.........and on the steep parts it was a case of pointing it in the right direction, saying a quick prayer and holding on tight. BH got off and walked down the steepest parts in some places. The trail is a 'switchback' with hairpin bends and I almost disappeared over the side a couple of times.
We sprung a big billy at one stage and BH took the top of his head off with the 222 at 25yds. ( I didnt get a pic of him but BH did.)
We finally get to the beach and although it was raining at the top of the hill we were in a different climate. It was sunny and hot. When we looked back up the hill we couldnt see the top of the ridge due to low cloud and rain.
After setting up targets at 100 and 200m I settled behind the 22-250 and sent the first shot downrange. 8" right ? Must have knocked the scope. Dialled it left till it was 2" high and on line then moved to the 200m target. Next shot was 4" right.....??? Ok, adjusted it and sent a couple more downrange......yep, thats good to go........Hold on, whats that at the end of the beach? A quick check with the video camera zoomed in and it proved to be a large billy relaxing and chewing his cud. Ranged him at 361m so I set up for the shot.
The video can tell the story........................
Scared the crap outta the goat!!! That will teach him to sit in view of the range.
The shot was taken across the bay and I guess I didnt allow enough for the seabreeze...........Didnt realise where the shot went until we replayed the video. Interesting to note the air disturbance the bullet created.........
Put a few more rounds down range at rocks 300m away and the rifle was splitting them so I called it quits.
On the way back up the main track ( another story in itself as it was almost impassable due to the rain and mud........will post up a video of one of the good bits when I get a chance) we popped over the ridge where I shot the nanny the previous day and saw a couple of 2yr olds near where she went down. This time I set up the video camera properly, got all set and BH got ready to take the shots.......Range was about 150m..............
More to come when I download more pics/video......probably in a couple of days.......
Edited to add: The chronological order might be a bit screwed up as The pics were downloaded from 3 different cameras and I didnt keep a diary of details from each day.
When we arrived it was fine but the forecast was for rain over the next 4-5 days. That meant that we had to take our opportunities when we could.
The property is steep. Where we were staying was almost 1200' above sea level............but the coast was only 4000' away. .....almost a 1 in 3 gradient. Did I mention it was steep?
After settling in we decided to head out and do some scouting, with rifles of course.
Took this pic from the top of the hill. The place we stayed in was an old deserted farmhouse, which was on the ridge to the right of the pic.
Did I mention it was steep?
Came across a few goats and blooded the Sako 222 on this nanny at about 180yds.
More about the nanny later.........
Also came across this young spiker. Anyone want to hazard a guess as to what breed of deer it is?
We gave him a free pass as we it was the first day of a 6 day trip.
We headed back to 'camp' and settled in for the night as it started to rain.
The following morning we decided to head down to the beach to check the zero's on a couple of rifles.......Took the T3 Super Varmint 22-250 as I hadnt shot it since the last time we were down here about 5 years ago. Also had the 222's and a 204. Loaded everything on the quad and headed down by a circuitous route as we thought the main track would be too slippery and dangerous. What a ride that was. Kept the quad in 1st gear using the engine for braking.........and on the steep parts it was a case of pointing it in the right direction, saying a quick prayer and holding on tight. BH got off and walked down the steepest parts in some places. The trail is a 'switchback' with hairpin bends and I almost disappeared over the side a couple of times.
We sprung a big billy at one stage and BH took the top of his head off with the 222 at 25yds. ( I didnt get a pic of him but BH did.)
We finally get to the beach and although it was raining at the top of the hill we were in a different climate. It was sunny and hot. When we looked back up the hill we couldnt see the top of the ridge due to low cloud and rain.
After setting up targets at 100 and 200m I settled behind the 22-250 and sent the first shot downrange. 8" right ? Must have knocked the scope. Dialled it left till it was 2" high and on line then moved to the 200m target. Next shot was 4" right.....??? Ok, adjusted it and sent a couple more downrange......yep, thats good to go........Hold on, whats that at the end of the beach? A quick check with the video camera zoomed in and it proved to be a large billy relaxing and chewing his cud. Ranged him at 361m so I set up for the shot.
The video can tell the story........................
Scared the crap outta the goat!!! That will teach him to sit in view of the range.
The shot was taken across the bay and I guess I didnt allow enough for the seabreeze...........Didnt realise where the shot went until we replayed the video. Interesting to note the air disturbance the bullet created.........
Put a few more rounds down range at rocks 300m away and the rifle was splitting them so I called it quits.
On the way back up the main track ( another story in itself as it was almost impassable due to the rain and mud........will post up a video of one of the good bits when I get a chance) we popped over the ridge where I shot the nanny the previous day and saw a couple of 2yr olds near where she went down. This time I set up the video camera properly, got all set and BH got ready to take the shots.......Range was about 150m..............
More to come when I download more pics/video......probably in a couple of days.......
Edited to add: The chronological order might be a bit screwed up as The pics were downloaded from 3 different cameras and I didnt keep a diary of details from each day.
Still enjoying the trip of a lifetime and making the best of what I have.....
Replies
Alec, what is the twist on your Tikka .22-250? If it will stabilize 65-70 grain bullets I think it will kill any deer on your or my continent and do it well.
Son that's somebody with nothing to do with his time but keep me in trouble with mom.
Its a 1 in 14 twist.
Ive heard that the mountain sheep folks hunt in Alaska is very tasty.
-Mikhail Kalashnikov
Hey did you notice that the area is a little steep?
Thanks for Sharing
Thanks. We are planning to head back at christmas for 10 days. Hopefully the weather will be a bit kinder.
You can only take one or two steps on your head then you fall over on your feet. Did I mention its steep?
Goat meat ( if you get the younger ones) is very edible. I had orders from Indian friends to bring back as much as I could, they swear that it makes the best curries............unfortunately, when the story continues, you will see why we didnt bring back any goat...........
Here are a couple more videos.....................
This is the same place that BH headshot the 2 black young ones. Because it was raining we took the big 'cafe' style umbrella and set it up cable tied to the front of the quad. With our 2 folding camp chairs we were quite comfortable and had a view out to about 600m in places. BH suddenly said, "Theres one standing on that stump". ( If you read the typical conversation in the clubhouse section in my thread titled 'New Video Camera' you will know how the conversation developed lol)
Finally I managed to pinpoint the animal and zoomed in..............
We later inspected the animal and found it was a high spine shot.............the wind pushed the bullet to the right as he was trying for a shoulder shot.
One thing I need to work on is the ability to read the wind ( which I underestimated). Because the terrain is so steep and has large gullies running down to the coast the wind gets funneled and shooting across gullies without grass/trees to give any indication of wind between the shooting position and the target I found it quite hard.
As we were discussing the shot above, a magpie landed about another 50m further down the gully. I gave BH the range and started the camera...........judging by the video he looks like he shaved some feathers off the top of its head.................
More to come, including a suicidal goat, and a story about two easy days after clambering around the hills..............
George Carlin