The Wild Side by Brian and Claire Rogers

The lads needed a last blast at pheasants before season's close, so loaded up this month's test vehicle – a Toyota Hilux 4WD ute – and headed for the hills.

After the freezing polar blast, it was good to be out again and enjoying the fresh air. The dog certainly thought so.

We had quite a mix of firearms this trip, ranging from a couple of basic 12g semis, to a lighter 20g semi and a traditional over-under.

That made shopping for ammo at Hunting & Fishing a bit of a mixed bag, but the guys there are really helpful and sorted the team out with shot to keep everyone happy.

The lads spent a lot of time inspecting the ute and were pretty impressed with the hard cover – with gas struts on the rear for easy loading. The dog wasn't impressed with this arrangement, however and had to ride in the back of the old truck.

But it was perfect for storing gear and firearms, dry and safely locked away, leaving plenty of space in the cabin for the big boys.

The ute is powered with the three litre diesel through a five-speed gearbox. The drive was smooth and easy, great handling and plenty of power on the open road. The gearshift seemed to have quite a long throw, but it was intuitive and smooth. I settled quickly into the Hilux and found it a very natural driving position. The engine had plenty of low torque and it wasn't too fussed about which gear it was in – just did the business.

We were impressed with some interesting little features about the Hilux too, such as the reversing camera built into the dash and all of the information at ones fingertips, including outside temperature. The tinted glass and custom 'outlaw” trim, including striping and black mags, really sexed up the looks. Shame, we were about to get it filthy!

Shifting to four-wheel mode on the farm track was a cinch and, although the traction requirement wasn't demanding, we were glad of the high ground clearance as the recent rains had rutted and gouged the track.

The Hilux was very much at home on this terrain and the drive to the shooting possie was a pleasure. We arrived with much less fuss than expected and Churchie's truck was still pretty clean.

Our destination, a small farm up the back of the Papamoa hills, always produces good numbers of pheasants according to my buddies – especially around the bush line and on the fringes of the pine plantations. It's really interesting country; plenty of rolling terrain, hillocks, corners and nooks of scrub, interspersed with rolling pasture and the odd crop paddock.

It's the sort of country, as Dave put it, 'that you never know what's going to be around the next corner”.

The pheasants seemed to pop out anywhere, anytime. There weren't many in the usual spots down near the flats, but once we moved upland amongst the scrubby patches and nearer the pines, it was all action.

It was one of those days when you needed eyes in the back of your head – you'd just convince yourself a pheasant was going to blast out of the valley ahead, when a bird would come belting out from the thicket behind.

Tony's young dog was in her element and gets better with every outing. At first, she was ranging too far ahead of the shooters and a few opportunities were lost because the old fellas couldn't keep up with the energetic girl.

But after a bit of 'range adjustment” she was brought more to heel and kept in control until we were ready for her to go flushing.

Before long, she had birds in the air consistently and the lads, strategically stationed in range, had a great afternoon.

Not bad going – considering two of them had only one real knee out of four.

As the sun slipped into an orange soup over the Kaimais, the guys trudged back to the utes, discussing what recipe plan Claire might have for pheasants and looking forward to a drop of mulled wine. That thought interrupted by a surprised rabbit which was given both barrels. I don't know what the land speed record is for rabbits, but this one was just about leaving scorch marks across the paddocks. It probably didn't stop at the coast; last seen heading for Motiti.

Thanks to the landowner, Tauranga Toyota for loaning us the Hilux and shooting buddies Brian, Dave and Tony for a great afternoon.