At home on the range Back-country skills teach life lessons

• Published date: 17 July 2021
• Publication title: Mix, The

What are we hunting?’’ I asked Mr Higgins.

‘‘Hopefully a delicious wee deer, or a porker if one is unfortunate enough to make itself known,’’ he said.

Otago Daily Times photographer Stephen Jaquiery had some concerns the night before. ‘‘I think lipstick is very visible to deer,’’ he texted.

‘‘Maybe don’t wear any?’’ I suggested.

He didn’t, but I turned up in a squeaky waterproof jacket and pants that went swish swoosh. We drove to the Neck and glassed up above the isthmus looking into Glen Dene, white caps on Lake Hawea. The rain was torrential, the wind gusting around 30kmh.

The first thing I did was slam the truck door getting out.

‘‘I would have said ‘don’t slam the door’, if I’d had a chance,’’ said Mr Higgins.

Too late. Four young spikers shot their heads up over the bracken, bouncing away with tail flips of derision.

The Upper Clutha branch of the New Zealand Deer Stalkers Association attracts a diverse age range of members; a gratifying number of women and young people attending the hunts course they offer every September, taught right here at Glen Dene. The last course’s participants ages ranged from 16-65. The club would love more female members. Women are great to teach because they listen to instructions.

People were getting into hunting because they were foodies, said Tony (Higgins), who has been hunting for the past 25 years; works as a hunting guide in the season formerly flavoured with Americans and has a great line in chat.

‘‘They want to get connected; you can’t get wild pork at the supermarket. I like a lovely little piggy wiggy woo; joint it up and cook for about an hour with lots of seasoning, cream and rosemary.’’

His favourite though, hands down, is venison mince used as burger patties.

Dinner starts here, but hunting’s not a cheap or convenient way to source your meat. There’s helis, diesel ... ‘‘and we’re gear nuts if nothing else. I’ve gone back to old-school wooden rifles rather than these Tupperware ones. Dints on timber give it a patina, dints on plastic ...’’ he pulled a face.

You need to have butchery skills, practise exemplary food safety — which begins the moment you shoot the animal — and be a fairly decent cook, too.

‘‘Or you’ll need a chainsaw to cut your steak.’’

These attributes, as well as bushcraft, river crossing nous, a high level of fitness and accuracy are all required long before your two veges meet meat.

We tracked up and down as the rain came in sideways. Broken bushes from antler-polishing told us we were on...