Hunter and hunted

Back in civilisation after 4 days of tramping on the stunning Rees-Dart track. And although the hike was quite amazing, it was what happened the evening before what i will remember the most. From Glenorchy you take a gravel road to a tiny carpark in the middle of nowhere. Nobody there, so I prepared for another boring night. And then a french guy shows up. Shoes wet, pants full of mud, looking exhausted, he was pretty much at the end of his Latin. He walked at least 25km that day after he decided to return between the first and second hut. We were chatting a bit, when a white van enters the parking lot. just anbother hiker I guessed. it soon turned out the man was a hunter going for a white tail deer that night. He didn't want anyone to know he was hunting there, just to keep his spot secret, and although he wouldn't be in the neighbourhood, he warned us it would be safer to stay in the carpark. And then he left with his sniper-looking-rifle. One hour or so later, while having dinner, there sounded a gigantic blast really close to the parking lot, and it scared the wits out of me. A few minutes later the guy, Tony btw, comes back, asking us to help him with his trofee. He was on his way back, emtpy handed, when suddenly this deer shows up right in front of him. it wasn't supposed to be there, so close to the carpark, and that was a fatal mistake. It was a very nice deer, the best one he ever shot, and although i don't like killing animals, this guy changed my perspective on the whole thing. He showed respect to it, and it didn't suffer, it just died instantly without even realizing it. Luckily we were there to help him a hand with lifting the deer in his van back to the carpark, and to clean it, saving him hours and hours of work in the dark. So this was really interesting me, how to cut open the deer carefully, where to locate the bowels and the organs. I really learnt something that night. Afterwards we put it in a tree to drain the blood, which was not easy at all, it was still quite heavy. You can't eat the meat straightaway, it has to rest for a couple of days. So for our help, we got some fresh deer heart, kidneys and liver. This was the first time for me to eat organs, and honestly it was delicious. "Yeah it has a lot of fat, a nice and healthy deer it is". He was very proud, and relieved, because he promised his visiting family he would show up with some deer. There was at least 40-50kg of meat, providing food for weeks and weeks. And you are sure it has had a good live in the mountains, so it's totally organic, and the taste is much better. In a supermarket you just buy an abstract package of meat without knowing or wondering what happened with those animals. As long as you hunt to provide food for yourself and not too much for sport, I reckon this is even a better way. and Tony would try everything he told. All the organs, but also the brains, the tongue, he even took the balls with him. At home he would skin it, to sell or use it himself. Yeah this was a very peculiar and unexpected meeting indeed. And next morning I took of with kidney, liver and almost half of the heart stuffed in my backpack, to cook with some good veges that night at the hut. This wasn't a Great Walk, but the walk was great indeed. With 62km the longest till now. The first day I was baptized as swamplord, taking the wrong way in the wetland and ending up in the mud till my knees. So a few minutes later I just walked through a knee-deep river with shoes and everything to wash out the swamp stench. From here I hooked up with another french guy, Jean-Lou, and walked the entire track with him. Although the huts were only at 900m above sea-level, it was almost freezing every night, and both me and two other germans were freezing to, experiencing some horrible nights in a row. So the second day was a real killer, climbing to a saddle and back down again. The third day I went into the red zone on the Cattle Flat, which wasn't flat at all and there was also no cattle = DOC joke. And the fourth day I finished with only one apple and tea as breakfest, which must have been injected with nitro I think, because I went really fast. probably to arrive ahead of hunger I guess. All the veges and meat the first day looked like I took much food with me. NOT!! But to save the day, i got a lift back to the other valley and the car started after only three times trying. Fantastic! Next one is the Caples combined with Routeburn with or without deer.