Hunting with Jon and Kayla | Part I

Part 1: The Range

We’re stalking through the eucalyptus plantation at Poronui, and Jon is after a trophy Red that he’d spotted the day before.

The four of us – Jon, his wife Kayla, their guide Mark, and me – are trying to cross the basin, moving slowly through low ferns and native scrub. Recent rainfall has helped fungi sprout from the decaying leaf litter, and it’s helping keep our footfall soft, but every snap of a twig is a betrayal of our location. The wind was favourable, but it’s threatening to change on us. We don’t have long.

I’d met Jon and Kayla at the Lodge the day prior, where they generously agreed for me to tag along on their hunt, take a handful of pictures, and prepare some write-ups.

We soon make it to the Polaris to take care of our first order of business: sorting out the firearm at the range. The safety flag at the range had been up for a total of 10 minutes: Jon’s first shot with the Winchester 300 is about two inches to the right of the target’s centre. The second shot is surgically placed in the middle. We agree that there probably doesn’t need to be a third.

It’s a bright autumn afternoon, towards the tail end of the rut at Poronui Estate. The barks and roars of the deer roll over the hills. The Reds are puffed up with testosterone, threatening to clash it out before winter sets in.

The Sika chirp to let themselves be known.

As we wind past the beef and sheep fields, I learn more about Jon and Kayla. Jon is in law enforcement: he’s a California Highway Patrol officer (yes, like CHiPs), who’s been hunting since he was young and regularly goes for elk with his dad – who almost joined Jon at Poronui instead of Kayla – and especially in Colorado. Kayla is a substitute teacher whose parents are ranchers. They tell me they’ve been married 15 years, and have three kids at home in California who they’ve raised to be kind and caring. They’re scrupulously polite, never failing to include a please and a thank you, and regularly address their guide as “Mr Mark.”

Together, they are here for Jon’s 40th birthday present: a trophy Red. We stop by the freezer and harvesting station, and they have a chance to size up the kind of beast Jon’s after, based on some of the skulls waiting to be sent to the taxidermist and then on to clients in USA, Europe, South Africa, and beyond. There is much admiration for the spread of sizes and features – larger palmations, sharp points, strong main trunks.

They discuss it at length: “We don’t just want a trophy,” Jon says, “but our trophy.” Kayla agrees – something balanced and proportionate; a trophy with some character to the antlers, not the biggest one in the estate. Something that will tell a bit of a story. Kayla’s undecided whether she’ll harvest her own animal, but is open to it. Jon’s trophy is the first priority.

Back home, Jon’s target practice is hitting an 18” gong at 600 yards. I suspect he’s going to make quick work of his trophy Red.