We pick up where we left off on day 6 of our Chew tobacco honeymoon down on Stewart Island. There isn’t too much to report from the next couple of days, morning rain encouraged most of us to partake hut bound mornings, indulging in the café luxuries (thanks to our baristas Cody and Goose), and a spot of reading followed by afternoon missions in the search for more rut pads and of course the grey ghosts.
Ben and I were running turn for turn so he was up if we spotted anything; unless it was a buck, then it was ladies first. We had a few encounters with whitetail on these days and found an interesting line of rut pads, but found we were never quite being in the right position at the right time. On one of these days Ben decided to suit up and get in the water for a dive despite our worries of old Merve (the angry sea lion) and had a great time, bringing home some delicious paūa and butterfish for quite the feast.
Day 9 arrived with wind, rain and hail and to my surprise we were still heading out. In fact, it was “couples’ day” and the spouses were all hunting together. The others had been hunting on their own until this point but sooky me (with a lot less bush hunting experience) was too scared of getting lost to brave it alone. We rugged up and off we went. Under the canopy was rather sheltered from the wind and only the heavier hail and rain managed to reach us; but underfoot was quiet with the ground being so damp and it made for some much easier stalking. Not too far from where I shot my deer, we came across some fresh sign so slowed our pace and went on high alert. Ben and I had become quite in sync with our stalking so when he stopped suddenly, I knew we were on. A doe was feeding out on a grassy flat no more than 25 yards away, but with a broken off punga tree covering her chest. These deer really do know how to protect their vitals! With some patience, she stepped out and provided Ben with a slightly quartering on shot but he was confident and sent it (the arrow) hitting exactly where he was aiming. She crashed off and went down in the crown fern. Bugger, this could take some scouting.
While we were looking for Ben’s doe, I had a gut feeling it would be a good idea to have my wits about me just in case. Good thing too as a yearling doe stepped on the clearing 10 yards from us. As turn for turn rules go, this should have been my turn but with Ben in front and having the better shot I said for Ben to take it. She knew to be weary but not sure of what and as Ben came to full draw, she stepped behind a fallen punga and once again covered her vitals. With all of us participating in a 3-way staring competition, Bens only option was to stay at full draw or risk spooking her as he let down. For one whole minute (and probably some) Ben stayed at full draw until finally she took a step up onto the punga to get a better look at us. That was all Ben needed, pulling off a hard but fatal quartering on shot. She disappeared out of sight but with a moments tracking we found her no more than 20 meters from where she was standing. What a day, two deer in less than an hour! With both deer recovered we thought maybe there’s something to hunting in these conditions! However, we were getting cold, so it was back to the hut to warm up and swap stories from couples’ day.
Over the next couple of days, we resumed the pattern of cafes, reading and hunting. We explored another area in our section that we hadn’t made it to before and straight away found more sign, pausing in areas that felt particularly promising hoping to catch one out bush stalking. It was my turn, and I got to knock an arrow a couple of exciting times, but the deer were back to ghosting us. On one occasion we were standing watch on the edge of a patch of crown fern after hearing some hefty rustling noises. Thinking it was go time we were on high alert only to have a kiwi just about run into Ben’s boot! The kiwis were a real highlight on this trip as I didn’t get to see any on our previous one. We were lucky to see kiwi most days, but my favourite encounter was watching a big female approach us and start feeding around a tree, she was driving her beak into the ground in search of worms, and I was fascinated to see when she opened and shut her beak it sounded like chopsticks! We also got to witness the same kiwi sneeze after having a good scratch, and then promptly stumble off a log. Thankfully she recovered her stride quickly and it was obvious she “meant to do that!” It truly was the most magical experience getting to see these creatures in the wild.
On our second to last day, we were greeted with stunning weather and millpond seas so Goose, Donna, Ben and I took the dingy out for a spot of fishing while Ben suited up and went for his second dive of the trip. With the confidence of us being close, Ben ventured out a bit deeper, and the visibility was incredible, over 12m deep and you could see the fish attacking your hook on the bottom. Ben said it was the best dive he had ever had! More butterfish, more paūa, but with the blue cod being a bit small we loaded Ben back in the boat and headed out further to try our luck with the rods. The fishing was much better, and we quickly found out the mollymawks knew the benefits of having boaties around. We took great pleasure in throwing them parrotfish which we learnt were their favourite, and we roared with laughter when one accidentally slapped Donna in its haste to catch the fish before it got away.
When we got back into the bay we decided to try our luck at paddle crabbing. Well, who knew that was so much fun! Picture 4 adults leaning over the side of the dingy, pointing out the crabs heading towards the net and cheering when a big one was landed on the boat and safely in the bucket. We were honestly like a bunch of kids. It quickly became a competition of who could catch the most crabs on one drop, I believe the record was 8 (well done Goose). Suddenly 1 hour turned into 4 and we needed to head in to start dealing with our catch.
Before we knew it, it was our last day on the island. Ben and I were feeling the fatigue of 13 days straight of hunting and fishing but felt it would be rude to not head out for one last hurrah. We decided to head back to where I had shot my doe and climb the tree once more just in case. No luck, so we ventured back but made sure to stop by Greg’s tree one last time to say goodbye. We walked past this tree most days and felt a sense of camaraderie knowing he had been here before us. Once everyone was back at the hut, we popped some bubbles to celebrate an awesome trip.
We awoke on the last day feeling sad to be leaving and wondering how 15 days had gone so fast. We had been lucky with stunning weather the entire trip and very little rain for Stewart Island in May.
Once we were all packed and ready to go we waved goodbye to Chew Tobacco, while Merve felt it appropriate to scare me one last time and share his sentiments! On reflection we really did have the best island ‘honeymoon’ shared with some of our favourite humans despite it not being 36 degrees! It’s safe to say the plans are already in the pipeline for our next Stewart Island adventure… Berp…
