11 day blackout hunting

Moderators: gds, bakerjw, renegade

tikkablk
Senior Silent Operator
Posts: 137
Joined: Thu Jan 22, 2015 4:14 am
Location: New Zealand

11 day blackout hunting

Post by tikkablk »

Hi yah all

This time of year in our country New Zealand is the red stag rut or roar as we call it over here. It was still early before the stags were in full roar mode when they roar all day and night.
So the plan was to get a helicopter into the back blocks of public hunting land and spend 10 to 14 days in there back pack hunting solo and my dog a Vizsla.
The tools of the trade a semi custom bolt action Tikka T3 rebarreled with a 12” 1:7 with Ti suppressor topped with a Aimpoint comp M4 zeroed in for 60m.
Ammo was 50 rounds of hand loaded subsonic Lehigh 168gr Controled Fracturing for deer only.
150 rounds 208gr ELD subsonics for feral goats.
And 50 rounds of Nosler 125gr BT supersonics for both deer and goats.

10 minutes after landing we had 4 deer come over the hill 150m from camp as I was setting up the tent.
After camp was all set up it’s time for glassing animals and it didn’t take long to spot a few small mobs of deer and goats.
The main goal of the trip is to get a nice trophy 12 point stag or better and cull goats and also thin out the deer a bit as this area has high numbers. Two weeks prior to me going in a government helicopter operator did a goat cull and they shot 3000+. If the deer numbers weren’t under control the helicopter would be back.
For the 11 days in we seen 250+ deer and 1000+ goats.

We had plenty of close encounters on the deer stalking with the help of the dog pointing on them and culled most of the goats in our travels while stalking the deer. That’s the bonus of using a bolt action 300 blackout super quiet and can bang away all day without disturbing the deer.

One of the best stalking moments was a 3 1/2 hour belly crawl covering 600m in semi open country and getting within 80m of a up hill 8 point stag and 4 hind behind him. He was standing up feeding for most of the time until we got to 150m then he had his fill and decided to bed down with only his head and neck showing.
I gave him a few roars and wasn’t interested so I yelled at him then a whistle, all that done was alerted the hinds looking directly at us. Time for plan B just take the neck shot. Still in the prone position from belly crapping I dropped the bolt with a Lehigh 168gr CF in the chamber, put the red dot on the neck and bang down he went, One very happy dog.

At the end of the trip we got 9 stags, 17 hinds and 172 goats which isn’t to bad for a 300 blackout.
All up this rifle with the help of the dog has got 346 deer and thanks to the quick kills of the Lehigh bullets and 3000+ goats.


A mutant stag shot on the run at 111m on the other side of a small gully, we were actually on the stalk for 3 other stags below us but this one seen us and run. Prefect hilar shot stopping him instantly.

Image

Head shot yearling hind shot at 60m

Image

Another head shot hind we stalked onto shot at 10m

Image

Typical semi open deer country.

Image

A small stag the dog got us.

Image
User avatar
gds
Silent But Deadly
Posts: 3711
Joined: Thu Nov 01, 2012 9:43 am
Location: Sandhills of North Carolina

Re: 11 day blackout hunting

Post by gds »

As always I am extremely jealous of your hunting prowess.

Good job.
Yes, I am a Baptist, and yes I carry a gun. You might think I carry a gun because I don't trust God. Well you would be wrong. I have complete faith in my Lord. It is mankind I have no trust in
blaster
Silent But Deadly
Posts: 780
Joined: Thu Apr 01, 2010 10:18 am
Location: Fla. Keys

Re: 11 day blackout hunting

Post by blaster »

great hunt! that's some rugged terrain you have there.
good to hear from you again. I was wondering if your Gov't was censoring or silencing Kiwi gun owners.
peace through superior firepower
Sig220
Silent But Deadly
Posts: 532
Joined: Sun Jan 26, 2014 10:11 pm
Location: SE TX

Re: 11 day blackout hunting

Post by Sig220 »

Sounded like a great adventure!

Thanks for the pictures and writeup, as it helps appreciate the conditions even more!

To say I am jealous is to put it lightly!
User avatar
eowen37
Member
Posts: 22
Joined: Fri May 03, 2019 1:39 pm

Re: 11 day blackout hunting

Post by eowen37 »

All the ammo!!! :shock:
All the meat!!! :shock:
Sounds like an awesome time, definitely jealous!
TRshootem
Silent But Deadly
Posts: 264
Joined: Fri Dec 26, 2014 1:13 am
Location: Montana

Re: 11 day blackout hunting

Post by TRshootem »

Dang man, what a great trip...and all that great BLK performance. The only critters I can 'cull' and shoot a bunch of are ground squirrels and prairie dogs.
Nice to see you back here and keeping us informed. Thanks for the high light of the day on the 'net.
BlogSarge
Silent But Deadly
Posts: 1336
Joined: Mon Oct 21, 2013 11:10 pm

Re: 11 day blackout hunting

Post by BlogSarge »

I’m thinking there is going to be some happily full freezers shortly.

Good shooting and good write-up.
User avatar
dellet
Silent But Deadly
Posts: 6967
Joined: Fri Nov 30, 2012 1:25 pm

Re: 11 day blackout hunting

Post by dellet »

Geez tikka, more like 11 months. It’s been a while, we missed you, hope all is well there. Really good to see you and the dog still having good fun.

As always, thank you for showing what the cartridge can do in capable hands.
300 Blackout, not just for sub-sonics.
Freedom1973
Silent But Deadly
Posts: 172
Joined: Sat Apr 11, 2015 6:45 pm

Re: 11 day blackout hunting

Post by Freedom1973 »

Great job! Thanks for sharing. Very jealous.
User avatar
rebel
Silent But Deadly
Posts: 7285
Joined: Mon Apr 22, 2013 2:01 pm
Location: Moonshine Country

Re: 11 day blackout hunting

Post by rebel »

Great shooting!
You can't beat the mountain, pilgrim. Mountains got its own way.
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 11 guests