A Hunting We Will Go!

A friend invited me to go hunting with him last weekend.  In the spirit of experiencing everything NZ has to offer, of COURSE I said yes!

We headed to my friend's friend's farm, where the farmer allows hunting on his land to VIPs like us :)   We were allowed to shoot any goat or pig or hare we saw.  NOT the cows or the sheep, obviously.

 There was a hut for us to stay at for the weekend.  It was quite a way out on the farmland!  There were 13 gates between the road and the hut.  It was my job to open and then close every gate once my friend's truck drove through.  It was a pain, and sometimes the gates were tricky to figure out.  I eventually got the hang of it. 

My friend played a cruel trick on me.  He stopped in front of this thing and said it was the hut.  It had no windows!  No beds inside either just scrap metal and hay!!!  

I just about fell for it.  What a joker :)

A few more gates to open/close, then the REAL hut was in view.

And a close-up.  MUCH better than the first piece of tin crap he showed me :)

Here are some views from the hut's porch.  So pristine!

After we got settled, we went walking the hills in search of ANIMALS to hunt.  My friend shot at a few goats, but no such luck.   Still, the scenery was gorgeous!!

My favorite pic of the day.  The snowy mountain in the back is Mt Tapuae-o-Uenuku, the tallest peak in NZ outside of the Southern Alps.   Sir Edmund Hilary climbed this bad boy, probably practicing for Everest!!

While the weekend in the great outdoors was fun, we didn't see much eligible wildlife other than those few goats.    But my friend did let me get some target practice shooting his 22 (tiny thing) and his 7 mil 08 (big boy!)!   Quite an accomplishment for me, as my previous firearm experience involved shooting my grandpa's BB gun ONCE in his backyard.

Ready?  Aim....

Fire!   I did pretty good shooting rocks to smithereens.  Maybe next time there will be animals involved.

The day ended with what could be called a Kiwi Rite of Passage.  On the road leaving the farm, my friend says,  "Hey Lindsay.... go out in the middle of that cowfield, lay down, and stay VERY still."

This guy trusted me to shoot his firearm, so I decided to trust him on this one.

 Getting curious....

And closer...

I kept my eyes closed as I didn't want to see what was happening at this point, but I could definitely hear their deep breathing!!!

Yup definitely felt this!!!

And you thought CATS were curious!

I was excused from my position at this point.  A nice fun activity in the Kiwi Farmland :)

Well.... no animals were harmed in the writing of this blog entry, but a fun weekend on the farm with firearms definitely was had.

Cheers from the cowfield!