I had a rough Winter , between the poaching and spotlighting I think its getting harder to turn up big old stags, a lot are getting shot off the roads by spotlight if they have any sort of antlers over 24 inches,.
then the hound hunting has ramped right up and they are pushing into any bush they can and spending up to a week at a time , killing everything the dog stops.
but im not here to whinge about the way others go about there 'deer hunting' as I have been in my own battle regarding my own personal opinion on what is deer hunting and what had it become.
just recently I read the introduction to a book by Tony Orman, called "Reflections of a Deer stalker" , it was a refreshing look on the way it was, the way it is and the way you determine what it is to You.
I'd spent a lot of time in the field and was killing a lot of deer, mostly Hinds in the name of conservation, but mostly in the name of reducing numbers for the Landholders, I was having trouble running into mature animals by hunting this way.. first couple seen, one would get shot.
So toward the Ass end of Winter , with the Wattles coming out and Spring turning up temps during the day, it was only a matter of time before the Big Brute Stags would be tailing up the Hinds down in the lower lying country, moving down from their High country escapes.
I started off at 5am, the rain was hounding down on the roof and I canned the morning hunt andwent back to sleep, by the time I got up and realised the day was good I donned the camos and grabbed Kimberly, headed off up into the hills behind some farmland and trekked out onto a ridge I have always wanted to check out.
The sign was minimal at best, old if anything although I knew the deer were down in the blackberry country, as the arvo grew on and the winds picked up I was forced to the lee side of the hill, one thing led to another and next you know I was down in the blackberry country with a semi swirling breeze but the sign had gotten really hot.
as I snuck around looking for fresh prints , I was able to close right in on a couple of feeding wombats, the wombafts out feeding was a good sign things were quite in the area and It wouldn't be long until the Deers came down to feed out onto the farmers pasture.
before long I began contouring the low land and came up to a surprise dam, it looked like a likely area an before I even finished my thought, a Sambar deer was spotted walking through the timber, then another and then a Stag!
I straight away seen big beams and brows so I got the camera rolling, as they went about their evening decend
I was able to get some satisfactory film as He wandered around chasing the girls..
I set the camera up and he walked right into it
and within a moment Kimberly spoke, sending a Woodleigh 140grainer right into the Engine room
It kicked up and landed and took off a million knots, I lost him to the trees but out of the corner of my eye I picke up movement down by the fence
The other deer were Honking and as above one came to investigate the leader of the group... I took a moment to film that and capture it as the king lay rest.
So guys, Meet the Deer I named Brutus, simply due to the Ancient set of Antlers he is carrying and the size of hes Puffed up neck due to rut.
I pulled the Woodleigh out from the Far side, at 80 paces it is text book.
Happy Days Down under to welcome Spring an the mating season!
I sorted the Deer out and gathered my gear, my ute wa Parked a good 4-5 kilometres away and up hill, there was no way I was lugging this back up there and so I Rang my dear Mother , and had her pick me up from a Main road down lower in the Valley... that was the easy way and straight back up to my ute!!
Cheers fellas!
WL
then the hound hunting has ramped right up and they are pushing into any bush they can and spending up to a week at a time , killing everything the dog stops.
but im not here to whinge about the way others go about there 'deer hunting' as I have been in my own battle regarding my own personal opinion on what is deer hunting and what had it become.
just recently I read the introduction to a book by Tony Orman, called "Reflections of a Deer stalker" , it was a refreshing look on the way it was, the way it is and the way you determine what it is to You.
I'd spent a lot of time in the field and was killing a lot of deer, mostly Hinds in the name of conservation, but mostly in the name of reducing numbers for the Landholders, I was having trouble running into mature animals by hunting this way.. first couple seen, one would get shot.
So toward the Ass end of Winter , with the Wattles coming out and Spring turning up temps during the day, it was only a matter of time before the Big Brute Stags would be tailing up the Hinds down in the lower lying country, moving down from their High country escapes.
I started off at 5am, the rain was hounding down on the roof and I canned the morning hunt andwent back to sleep, by the time I got up and realised the day was good I donned the camos and grabbed Kimberly, headed off up into the hills behind some farmland and trekked out onto a ridge I have always wanted to check out.
The sign was minimal at best, old if anything although I knew the deer were down in the blackberry country, as the arvo grew on and the winds picked up I was forced to the lee side of the hill, one thing led to another and next you know I was down in the blackberry country with a semi swirling breeze but the sign had gotten really hot.
as I snuck around looking for fresh prints , I was able to close right in on a couple of feeding wombats, the wombafts out feeding was a good sign things were quite in the area and It wouldn't be long until the Deers came down to feed out onto the farmers pasture.
before long I began contouring the low land and came up to a surprise dam, it looked like a likely area an before I even finished my thought, a Sambar deer was spotted walking through the timber, then another and then a Stag!
I straight away seen big beams and brows so I got the camera rolling, as they went about their evening decend
I was able to get some satisfactory film as He wandered around chasing the girls..
I set the camera up and he walked right into it
and within a moment Kimberly spoke, sending a Woodleigh 140grainer right into the Engine room
It kicked up and landed and took off a million knots, I lost him to the trees but out of the corner of my eye I picke up movement down by the fence
The other deer were Honking and as above one came to investigate the leader of the group... I took a moment to film that and capture it as the king lay rest.
So guys, Meet the Deer I named Brutus, simply due to the Ancient set of Antlers he is carrying and the size of hes Puffed up neck due to rut.
I pulled the Woodleigh out from the Far side, at 80 paces it is text book.
Happy Days Down under to welcome Spring an the mating season!
I sorted the Deer out and gathered my gear, my ute wa Parked a good 4-5 kilometres away and up hill, there was no way I was lugging this back up there and so I Rang my dear Mother , and had her pick me up from a Main road down lower in the Valley... that was the easy way and straight back up to my ute!!
Cheers fellas!
WL
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