I have been lucky enough to be involved with the Lincoln young farmers hunting competition for a number of years now so it has giving me a good chance to see how they organise their competition. What makes this comp different from a lot of other comps is that it is run by different people each year. Last year Cullum Woodhouse organised that comp with a team of 2nd year students from Lincoln around him. This year Cullum was there again but this time as a person in the back ground that can help out if needed using the knowledge that he would have learnt in the previous two years. This year Jeremy Kilgour stepped up as the main organiser with a team of 2nd year students around him and they had done a fine job of the whole comp and their team managed over $11000 worth of prizes. Abby O’Brien had her work cut out as she inputted all of the animals into her computer and worked out all of the results for Jeremy and I to announce at prize giving. Abby had a number of young lady’s watching her, one of whom maybe doing this job next year.
The guys I can’t forget a mention were the 1st year students who were there helping our Ridgeline judging team with weighing and hanging the animals. One of these guys maybe organising this competition next year.
McCarthy contracting had a truck with a Hiab which was operated again by Merv. As with a lot of comps with a three hour weigh in time most of the animals did not come in until the last ninety minutes. One thing that competitors need to remember is that when two animals weighed in are the same weight the first one weighed in gains the prize and for this comp Ryan Nesbit arrived a couple of trucks before George Hope and both of their boars tusks measured 19 5/8 so Ryan got the main prize however it was good to see the organising team take out one of their spot prizes and give this to George.
Also in this comp we ended up with two stags 2nd and 3rd weighing the same weight so again first one in got second next one third.
We even got to see some of these big canal trout with the biggest one being 14.46 pounds and the guy weighing it said he saw someone else pull in an 18 pounder while he was there.
There was also a prize for the best Tahr horns where the winning ones went 13 6/8 inches. I just hope that in the future we still have these majestic animals roaming our hills and that the irrational thinking of a very few don’t get to wipe out such amazing animal. At the same time as this comp was running there was the big protest going on up in Mount Cook trying to get heard to protect our Tahr. I’m sure that once we get down to last couple of breeding pairs they will try and protect them by putting them in an enclosure while they keep on poisoning the next species of animal that has adapted well to its environment.
While I’m on the topic of poisons and killing things we in New Zealand are very lucky so far to have avoided the worst of this Corona virus and so far this winter most of the hunting competitions had been cancelled, this Lincoln comp is the first comp this year that our Ridgeline judging team have had to judge.
As I mentioned earlier the last ninety minutes of the weigh in was flat out and I know I did not even get time to look around until after 2pm. This year we weighed in 29 stags and 48 boars.
One stag that came in had both of its ears ripped so we could not weigh that one in as someone may have complained that it could have at some stage had an ear tag even though it did not look like it. The guy weighing the stag was good about it as he had a heavy stag as well so did not need to weigh it.
The one thing that I really love about these competitions is talking to some of the many hunters out there. Because it had been so long since the last comp there was a lot of catching up going on. One guy Tahj was telling me how he broke his pelvis but still made their helicopter trip in hunting about 3 ½ months after his accident. That’s real dedication without the motivation to want to get out and do something he could have been like a lot of people who have every excuse for why they can’t do something and they wonder why their bodies take twice as long to recover.
Another hunter was telling me that he had lost three good dogs this year. One of them he got to the vets and it was still wagging its tail but the vet made the call to put the dog down because it had too much of its stomach hanging out, a very hard call but it goes to show some of the ups and downs of our sport.
While I was up on stage presenting the prize giving I was looking around the crowd and thinking to myself this sport has a lot of fit healthy motivated people who are doing what they love.
Results
Winner big three Bird Watchers 462.5 pounds
Best stage head George Letham
Best tusks equal Ryan Nesbit 19 5/8
George Hope 19 5/8
Biggest Tahr horns Gut Shot 13 6/8
Heaviest boar
1st A Team 186.8
2nd Bird Watchers 167
3rd Mavericks 159
Average weight boar Bird Watchers 111.4
Heaviest stag
1st Bird Watchers 294.6
2nd Team Simpson 251.6
3rd Sow Slayers 251.6
Average weight stag Sow Slayers 179.4
Heaviest trout Stick it to em 14.46 pounds
Junior section
Little Three Chase whitelock
Heaviest billy Doug Roper
Heaviest possum Cooper Stewart 9.56
Heaviest trout Little Grunters
Biggest goat horns Doug Roper
Most rabbits and hares Doug Roper
Heaviest mouse Doug Roper