Post by safaritours on Jul 20, 2007 5:59:14 GMT 1
Hunting with a mate,
It was a cold frosty morning when my mate and I climbed into the helicopter for our flight into the mountains, bloody freezing actualy but we were both keen to be hunting the Sika Deer again in New Zealand, we didn’t talk much my mate and I but we know each others likes and dislikes. And we hunt well together, for instance we tried to always keep each other in sight and we knew what every movement made by the other meant, you have to when you hunt together.
My mate likes to ride in the front of the helicopter so I have to climb in the back with all the packs food and occasionally the clients, he knows he has better eyes than mine and must know I rely on him to find most of the Deer now as I am a lot older than he is, I suppose he thinks he should have the biggest window up front and besides he likes the fresh air, we fly with no doors on the front of the helicopter.
On arriving at the camp site I set up the tent we shared, and unpacked the food and my mate went out to check for Deer sign, but when after a while he hadn’t retuned I picked up my rifle and set out across the ridge to find him, it wasn’t long before I saw him on the bush edge, peering over some rocks he must have heard me coming because he turned around and looked at me, then pointed into the bush, as I got closer to him I noticed he had a slight shake in his shoulders a sure sign he had a stag at hand, he always shook like that when close to a Deer, probably because he couldn’t contain his excitement he knew as well he could scare the Deer away if he spoke to me so he stayed quite.
We moved into the bush me following as usual and as we entered the dark shadow I found it hard to see, but not my mate he was been born to hunt all his scenes were so fine tuned for hunting, he never even noticed the dark he just kept going until finally he stopped and pointed out a shape under a giant beech tree, and there it was a fine eight point stag, unfortunately the deer had heard me and had now seen my mate and was staring at him, all my mate could do was shake harder, he didn’t have a gun and so he had to wait for me to shoot, I could almost here him shouting in his mind SHOOT YOU USELESS IDIOT SHOOT, he was not very patient my mate not even with me.
I finally raised my .223 Sako and dispatched the deer from twenty paces with a neck shot and my mate ran over and grabbed the deer as it started sliding down the steep hill,
my mate then looked up at me with those eyes the eyes I have admired for years his shaking had stopped and his tongue was hanging out I remember thinking he looked like a dog , slobbering and all, but then I suppose thats what some people call a Weimaraner, but no not me , to me he was my mate.
Hope you like my short story, Tasha asked me to write something six months ago finally did it for better or worse, and to those of you that have not heard the Aussie slang Mate it means friend, someone you can trust and rely on to stay with you through thick and thin, what a better description for a Weimaraner could you find, so lets not let the Weimaraner down be his friend and keep fighting for tail docking to be legal.
