Longridge Hunting

24/08/2024

Decided to strip my .308 Tikka Bushpig today after hunting in wet conditions over Winter. Half the Kaimanawa bush was in barrel channel lol, and was presently surprised to discover the barreled action that I had Cerakoted by Hercules Coatings and Engineering service was in mint condition. There was no sign of corrosion on everything that was coated except action screws that I forgot to give Mike when he did work and they were rusted badly ( my bad). I can highly recommend this applicator to anyone who's wanting to Cerakote their fi****ms.

05/07/2024

Couple cold day's Winter hunting Kaimanawas for Sika with my young dog Spika.

23/06/2024

Sunday afternoon experimenting, testing the new Garmin Xero C1 Pro chronograph. If you don't know what a chronograph does it records muzzle velocity of ammunition out of a barrel of a firearm. This little unit uses Doppler radar to record rather than shooting through screens that you maybe familiar with and is so easy and fast to setup not to mention very accurate. I did some testing of .308 Wi******er 185grn factory subsonic ammo and .22LR CCI 40gr subsonic HPt. I'll do a review sometime soon on the .308 subs and my findings. Working in a hunting store I've had customers tell me that CCI ammo is not as good quality as it once was well I can tell you it still is made very good from what I found today. The 'old' ammo is stock I have that would be approx 10yrs old and 'new' recently purchased. Only thing different was new was slightly higher velocity average 1061fps ( feet per second) as against average 1048fps for old, extreme spread & standard deviation the same. Another Myth busted is that semi auto .22's loose velocity due to having to cycle the action . I tested my R***r 10/22 with custom carbon fiber barrel 13" alongside my Tikka T1x with slightly longer 16" barrel. The semi auto R***r won on consistency and velocity was about same. The Garmin chronograph made it easy to record this info and I'll do a separate review of this neat bit of kit shortly as well.

09/06/2024

09/06/2024

Here's couple videos of Sika hunt.

09/06/2024

Just had couple day's chasing Sika with my Vizsla Cedar in some new country and managed to bag a few for the freezer. Weather was a bit chilly and windy no roaring but managed to call in a couple.

27/05/2024

Happy birthday today to our beautiful girl Ruby who turns 13yrs old. If you're wondering why she hasn't featured so much in post's lately it's because we retired her from field work over 12mths ago and she's a lady of leisure these days. Ruby is doing well although in last few months has gone completely deaf and has lost vision in one eye due to cataract but she's still the lovely kind hearted soul but I know she misses her hunting so we try to make the most of her company as time is getting short with her but that's life I guess unfortunately. So she'll be getting a special treat for her dinner tonight I'm picking.

11/05/2024

11/05/2024

Went down Desert rd late last week to hunt Southern Kaimanawas talk about brass Monkey cold! Got back to car after day's hunt at 5.oopm and already - 3 degrees and everything freezing got changed out of sweaty clothes pretty quick before they started freezing on me. The area had had a hammering still managed to call in young Sika stag but finger's were too cold to work phone to get some video.
Went for hunt today to bush stalk a Red stag or Fallow buck not expecting to hear any roaring but we had a Red stag going well that we managed to sneak right in on he was only a youngster that needs a few more year's. While climbing a steep ridge we spooked a Red hind that stood looking down at us for a couple minutes I gave a fawn call to hold her while I got my phone out and just about to video her and she gapped it. On walk out the Kuri's took me into a mob of goat's that we dispatched to do our bit for conservation and some dog food.

10/04/2024

Good stag wallow in amongst supplejack central and first outing for new Crispi boots and really impressed with them light as and very comfy.

10/04/2024

Took day off work today to look for a stag before rain later this week. It wasn't for want of trying changeable wind and bloody feral goat's were a pain. Spika and I got in on several stags but couldn't get one on the deck. Still very enjoyable day watching Spika develop and grow with her indicating even if they were goat's lol

28/03/2024

Early start this morning 4.30am to have a look at a spot that's reasonably local to see if anything was making some noise. Had my Vizsla bitch Cedar with me , we sat for a breather after climbing a spur to be greeted with a short roar approx 400mtr away. The odd's were in our favor as wind was coming from the stag to us so we wasted little time closing the gap. We came to a spot were i could make out a small scrubby opening approx 200mtr away and saw a hind cross followed by another. I quickly dropped into prone position and blow me six more hinds crossed the gap i thought how many girlfriends has he got! I new he would be crossing very soon i didn't even have time to take my daypack off to use as a rest. Sure enough he quickly appeared trotting across after the girls and a quick shot off my elbows and 'Whack ' a solid hit dropped him on the spot. We proceeded to head over and Cedar found him after he'd rolled into some scrub that closed over behind him. He was good solid 11pt stag . On dressing him out found projectile as this was first animal taken with. 308 172grn Speer Impact bonded and really pleased with result. It had taken out both shoulders and lodged under skin on offside with 66% weight retention not to hard and not to soft might be my new go to projectiles in .308 i think. So first stag on the deck for 2024 roar going to another spot next week for Reds also then onto the Sika.

17/03/2024

This is a bit extra from last video showing that if they don't take as much notice of dog's moving i kept completely stationary the whole time. I've proved countless times over the year's that if deer can't wind you and you're still they don't take much notice of human voice I've tested it on Red's, Sika and Whitetail deer.

17/03/2024

Got some awesome video today of some youngsters

17/03/2024

Big day on hill today checking on roar block big boy's still not with hinds yet but dog's ( Eve & Spika) did well.

11/02/2024

Just giving a shout out to a couple of talented guy's who have done some awesome work for me recently. Trent from Smithbassa Leather handmade a leather sheath for my 'Supplejack ' cutter's , so much easier having easy and quick access to them than having to get them out of pack every 10mins when hunting Kaimai's. Had my Tikka Bushpig. 308 Cerakoted by Mike from Hercules Coatings and Engineering service and really digging the color ( Midnight Bronze) which complements the black of stock & scope. It's now nice and dull and blends in nicely in bush instead of shiny stainless to spook game. If you're wanting to get some custom handmade leather work done or new Cerakote job on rifle contact Trent & Mike i can guarantee you won't be disappointed with their workmanship.

11/02/2024

Hot day in the bush today doing a bit of pre roar fitness training with 15kg in day pack and looking for stag sign. Found some fresh sign and reasonably good size stag prints and tipped a few goats over using subsonic loads in .308 Tikka for training for young dog Spika. Her and Cedar took me right in to small mob and wished I'd had video on as Spika walked in to a few meters of them and it was a Mexican standoff as they stared at each other for about 30 seconds. I was very pleased when the goat's bolted and i did my stay command and Spika just sat down without giving chase all the training pay's off in this situation. Spooked a red hind and fawn after dogs gave positive indication snuck in not easy with bush so dry atm good training for them. The Roar's just around the corner people can't wait.

20/01/2024

Couple feral Tom cats taken care of recently using R***r 10/22 fitted with Maxtoch torch both were fighting with our pet cats.

13/01/2024

Just had my Tikka .308 Bushpig Cerakoted by Mike from Herclules Coatings and it's turned out awesome. The color is Midnight Bronze and bolt handle is Graphite black notice how less reflective it is in sunlight compared to standard stainless Tikka. If you're thinking about getting a firearm done give Mike a call 027 2369595 or get hold of me and I'll point you in right direction.

12/11/2023

Entered my public land Red stag in Sika show a couple weeks ago mainly just to get it Douglas scored . I knew it was up there possibly making the benchmark ( 300 DS) to be listed in NZDA record book but was blown away when it scored 342 DS. Always been a hunting goal of mine to shoot a 300DS plus Red Stag on public land and to finally achieve that is one of the highlights of my hunting career. The photo of 2 stags shown my one is left and the other was taken by good customer of mine this roar also on public land 343 DS and best overall Red at show scored 344 DS ( private land).There was only just over 2" between the three heads! talk about close finish.

06/08/2023

Cedar and Eve weren't to happy when I didn't pursue what they were sniffing lol

06/08/2023

Another early start today to recover b***d out hindquarters from stag we got yesterday. Stashed meat overnight in bush in a very natural chiller as was frost this morning, took the Ginger sisters for a walk. Decided to take my Tatonka Norix 48lt pack which is fast becoming my favorite lightweight day & overnight pack. It has a adjustable frame and when you're carrying a good load nice and comfy I've got no time for those small 20 - 25lt packs when you've got some decent weight (20kg b***d out hindquarters) to haul out.

05/08/2023

Teaching pup control

05/08/2023

Video of taking Spika into her first deer.

05/08/2023

Early chilly start this morning with anticipation that might get my young pup Spika's first deer. After few hours we bumped into couple goats and tipped them over. Snuck in on a nanny with couple kids that was good training for Spika when they gapped it keeping her under control. We eventually got on to some fresh deer sign that we tracked and were successful in shooting Spika's first deer that she winded and took me into. I was pleased with my little hairy mate as she was so calm throughout the whole stalk. GPS tells me 24km day and it feels like it too totally buggered tonight. Going back I morning to recover rest of meat.