Geoff Thomas: Boys bag off-field trophies

Crusaders coach Todd Blackadder scored his biggest stag in the Kaikoura hills. Photo / Geoff Thomas

Rugby players love their shooting and fishing. A lot of them have golf handicaps in low single figures, which says a lot about their hand-eye co-ordination, natural sporting attributes and perhaps spare time.

But whenever a trip into the hills is mentioned there is no shortage of keen blokes ready to put their hand up.

Like when a few of the Crusaders took time out to spend a few days in Kaikoura earlier this year. George Whitelock turned up with brother Adam in his old ute, complete with pig dog in the crate in the back.

The Whitelock boys come from good farming stock in the lower North Island, and all four have distinguished themselves on the footy field. George and Adam are stalwarts in the Crusaders, Sam is making his mark with the All Blacks and youngest brother Luke was part of the under-20 national side, which won the IRB Junior World Championship in Argentina earlier this year. He is joining his three brothers in Canterbury for the Super 15 next year.

They love their shooting and George spends every spare moment in the hills chasing pigs. But this trip started at a pond deep in the hills at the back of Kaikoura, where a spring-loaded machine pitched clay targets out over the water.

Adam and George joined Andy Ellis and coach Todd Blackadder to see who could hit the most targets, and they missed very few. When the contest continued into the night, the targets in the spotlight were harder to pick off.

Andy Ellis had earlier bagged his first deer, after lying in wait at dusk on a hill top for the deer to come out and feed. It was a long shot - more 300m - but he was smiling. "Venison for the freezer!"

Adam and George stalked a small pond hoping to see a bunch of ducks jump into the air and, after missing the first birds, they managed to drop a brace after creeping up on a second pond.

Blackadder loves getting out into the hills on his quad bike and also has a hidden getaway spot in the Marlborough Sounds.

On this trip the target was to put him on to a trophy red stag. He has shot plenty of deer but no big heads, and local outfitter Anton Evans, from Pure NZ Hunting and Fishing Safaris, had a top spot lined up.

"We can organise everything from a meat animal to trophy stags, chamois and tahr," said Evans. He has taken the extra step and given up a career in marketing to set up a Hunting and Fishing store in Kaikoura, which also operates as the base for his fishing and hunting trips.

"Some people want to head out and catch groper, crayfish and blue cod, or maybe dive for paua, and it is a short hop by helicopter into the mountains for world-class trout fishing."

With Kaikoura established on the tourist map for whale watching, it is a natural extension for such an operation.

Toddy, as he is affectionately called by his mates, spent the morning stalking a valley that ran up into the foothills. It was a big block of bush and manuka scrub, and a large stag with a potential trophy set of antlers had been seen coming out to feed on the valley bottom.

The local guide worked his way along the edge of the scrub, stopping to scan the clearings with his binoculars.

"He will be here somewhere, because he hasn't been disturbed," he said.

Toddy was ready, gripping the rifle and checking through the scope from time to time.

Suddenly, a stag bounded out of a patch of scrub and galloped across a clearing.

"That's him!" shouted the guide. Toddy lifted the rifle and took a snap shot. It missed.

They ran up the slope and cleared the top just as the stag broke from the scrub and headed up a narrow track. Toddy fired again. This time the stag stumbled and disappeared around the edge of the scrub.

"He's down!"

The hunters could hear thrashing in the scrub, then it was quiet. They peered through the tangle of scrubby manuka, and there was the quarry.

The head carried 14 points: a handsome trophy which was hung from a tree back at the farm, and the cape and head were removed for a taxidermist in Christchurch.

The meat would be processed into steaks and sausages and maybe the Crusaders will enjoy a barbecue when they gather for the new season.