Wapiti Thrills

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 331, 17 April 1928, Page 16

Wapiti Thrills

CORNERING A HERD Hunting in the South AUCKLANDERS RETURN Twice forced to break camp and fly from sudden floods, repeatedly in difficulties which would baffle experienced Alpinists, three Aucklanders who have just returned from a wapitistalking trip in unexplored country, are nevertheless perfectly satisfied—they havfe four good heads. “It was a real hard hunt,” said Mr. Harold Thomas yesterday morning, when he was picking up the threads of his business after a month’s holiday. “The other men have been stalking for 20 years and one of them has shot in Africa, hut they are all of the opinion that our block ■was the hardest country they ever sti-uck.” Mr. Thomas was at Manapouri last year. One extraordinary experience of Mr. Thomas’s illustrates the difficulty of the country with its sheer cliffs and narrow valleys. He followed a small herd and actually cornered them on a ledge to which there was only one outlet. “I would have given a lot to have had a camera instead of a rifle,” he said. “An eight-pointer bull with two cpws and a calf could not move off the ledge and I walked into one end of it. They rushed round like wild horses and then, one at a time, galloped by me, passing within a few yards. The bull, of course, was too small to shoot.” HERD INCREASING One thing the party is absolutely sure of is that the herd is established for all time and on the increase. The immense area and the abundance of food tends to scatter the animals and the biggest herd Mr. Thomas saw was seven, although other members of the party saw one of 20 wapiti. The party, including Messrs. J. Holmes, Frankton, T. Ormiston, Papatoetoe, and N. Cole, Nelson, entered the Middle Fiord from Lake Te Anau by launch and went up the north-west ' arm. Crossing Lake Hankinson and Lake Thomson, they established a base in the hush above Lake Sutherland. The shooting was done in a part marked "unexplored” on the map. “It is astonishing country to a North Islander,” said Mr. Thomas. “There is a network of huge valleys running in different directions and the country rises in straight-out precipices to several thousands of feet. The ends of the valleys are usually bluffs.” It was quite a difficult problem to find a site for a tent because the hills were so steep and the valleys were so damp. A few hours’ rain would transform the valley streams into torrents. Twice the party made a break from the floods and on returning on one occasion they found that the water had been four feet high in a back-water round the tent. The weather was satisfactory, rain and sunshine being in about equal proportions. When they were penetrating into

the block they would use dry watercourses one day and the next they would find raging torrents there. The only way to cross them was to fell trees. THREE HEADS BAGGED Mr. Holmes was the most successful shot, his bag consisting of a 10pointer and a 13-pointer. Mr. Thomas bagged a 12-pointer and also found a dead 14-pointer which had evidently fallen over a cliff. There was practically, no “bugling,” as the roaring of the wapiti bulls is known among hunters, and this put the party at the disadvantage of having to search for them. The last four and a-half days in the shooting country was not without its privations. .The main food was a haunch of wapiti, roasted, with a ration of four biscuits apiece and a brew of tea which had been twice washed in the floods and dried over the fire. Although, the heads were not as big as expected, Mr. Thomas was satisfied with his luck because a Wairarapa party which shot the .next block saw only one cow and a calf. The scenery, he says, was magnificently grand. The party Is grateful to the Southland Acclimatisation Society for its practical assistance and also to the Public Works men, who are surveying for hydro-electric power. Mr. Thomas said that no sign oi moose was seen, these big beasts being on the West Coast and further South. From reports of hunters, he was satisfied that moose had been established, but to what extent ther» was no information.