Last shoot for 2007!

George invited me, Sam and Andrew up to a farm in West Auckland for an afternoon and evening shoot.

After arriving, we settled in, surveyed the land and each others' equipment - and set off to shoot some pest birds that have been annoying the farmer and cattle.

We stalked a couple of Magpies for around 30 minutes - finally shooting one at around 45 meters - only to discover we'd hit it at least two times already - once in the leg and once in the beak.

Big Sam had bought his new 308 for a test shoot, so we placed my target (large Christmas decoration of a Deer) on a stump around 75 meters away, with a safe hill behind - so there was no chance of hurting anything or having an accident.

So - George decided to have the first shot - laying in the prone position - rifle carefully aimed at the target.

A round exploded from the muzzle - resulting in an eruption of dust just behind and above the deer.

Trouble is - the dust just kept on erupting!

Darn - first shot - and we hit a water main!!!!

Well - we quickly decided to start shooting and hunting in the OTHER direction - and took off (after fixing the blown pipe) for an afternoon/evening shoot and to check out the lay of the land.

Having worked out where we'd be walking in the dark, we headed back for a men's dinner of BBQ wild pork, venison on bread - washed down with a cold beer - and several pop shots at Magpies and other pest birds.

We needed to sight in all the rifles, and Sam had to remount his Laser after the expereince with dead batteries on our shoot at Hunua.

Here's where I get in a bit of trouble.

While cleaning out my workshop last weekend, I found a large paper mache decoration of a 'deer'.

I honestly just couldn't resist - and took it to the farm for target practice!

In fact - it's what George was aiming at when he hit the water main.

So - the next hour or so was a heap of fun - as we literally peppered the deer with .22 - 308 and 410 shot at around 35 meters!

Now - did I mention that I hadn't asked my wife if I could use her 'deer' display???

Well - just half an hour ago, I was down in my office preparing for our Christmas day service - when I hear a loud 'knock - knock - knock' at my door.

I opened it to find a rather bemused wife holding my trophy six pointer!

After a bit of explaining - Debbie just couldn't stop laughing!

At the end of the day - that's what makes my adventures so wonderful.

A loving, understanding - and patient wife.

Merry Christmas.

It's been a good year.

Love you to be part of my adventures in 2008.

P.s. Only shot one possum this night - but managed to get another two with the mini-bus on the way home!