I met Steve shortly after he started working at the steel mill
Unlike most guys his age, steve was quite.I,d long ago decided that most guys his age were from a different planet than me,But steve actuely kept his mouth shut an listened most times.It made him eazy to train, thus making life eazy for me.Because of this we would talk about things other than work.Of course it wasn,t long before Bowhunting was raised.Steve was amazed and interested.I left out the bits about mud, blood,rain,snow
and my habit of falling off things I shouldn,t of been on in the first place.
Steve soaked it all up like a wet sponge.
Then came the day he rocked up to work with a big grin an a compond bow.The bow was an old Browning complete with hangers on the limbs,as
old as any compond Iv,e seen,but suprisingly like brand new.I helped Steve set up the old dinosaur with some arrows and other bits I had laying
about.Like I said Steve was a good listener so within a month he was shooting his new old bow as well as I shot my recurve at the time.
We went out after rabbits a few times with Steve doing most of the shooting,myself just telling him as much as I knew about the things.
If you study rabbits,they are interesting little fur balls.Did you know they eat their own poo.Fair go, they have to digest it twice.Glad I,m not a rabbit.
I was intending to take steve Goat hunting but for some reason we ended
up in one of my favourite Deer places,TE UREWERA,home of the children
of the mist,TUHOE.we won,t go into these people to much other than to say they are the old people of Te Urewera and are also the adversaries of my own old people,They make good freinds and even better enemies.
A three hour walk into an area called skips,was spent with me pointing out the trees an land marks of intrest.About half an hour before the old forest service hut I spotted an area where animals had been crossing the track and climbing the bank.I pointed this out to Steve an told him how deer would move from one side of the valley to the other daily at this time of year.We decided we would come back to this spot the next morning.It was real good for me to be back in the place as I had been coming to the area since the early 70s when I was hunting with an uncle
who is no longer with us,Some good memories for sure.
The next morning we were up an off before day light,in this place the mist
always drops over night and makes for a very spooky feel as you walk the track first thing.We got to the crossing both soaking wet from the mist
in good time,The first thing we saw were fresh droppings beside the track,
I pointed out to steve the jelly on the droppings and explained how the jelly will disapate after about half an hour even in this weather.It didn,t take steve long to work out just what I ment.The animal that left the sign
was probably still in the area as there was no wind an we hadn,t been talking as we approched the area.The game trail we followed was pretty eazy after getting thru, the thick stuff that always boarders any bush track in NZ.I,m busy studying the stinging nettle burn on my arm five minites after having warned Steve about the stuff when he says,Hey look.
Geez don,t ya just dig it when a plan works.Fifteen or so meters away stand a Red Hind an yearling.The best bit is they are unaware of us,no thanks to me an the stinging nettle.This is where I should explain I hunted
for three years and had more misses than I,m going to tell you about before I got my first deer.I said nothing as we had talked about this first
shot at a Deer plenty already.As Steve comes to full draw an settles for the shot I am standing behind him and can see that if he don,t pull it he is right on the mark.Then the arrow vanishes directly behind the old Hinds
elbow.A better shot you couldn,t hope to see.A light red mist is left hanging in the air as the Hind hits the scrub an is gone.I,m shaking so much I can,t roll a smoke an Steve is like a young dog that just saw a cat,
It was a long ten minite wait and not needed as she only just got out of sight before going down.Steve went thru, the whole deal,first jumping about an yelling his lungs out,then he got all quite on it as we sat and just looked at the old girl.Times like that can,t be descibed without geting all poetic,so I,ll leave it here and you can imagine the rest.
Jack.
Steve,s Deer
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