Well...... Im not too sure where to begin, but we'll start with 4:30pm on a Warm humid summer day with a thick haze of Bushfire smoke throughout the Valleys and at times thick in at close range.
We made a tough call to ditch playing with some Friends for the afternoon, we were more interested in going up the bush, looking for Deers!
We went an dug up some little Camos out of the closet, I packed the backpack with Honey sandwiches, lime cordial, a knife and some cheese snacks, I grabbed the Ruger hawkeye .35whelen and a handful of Shells...
I had already decided where we were to hunt, an old favourite system just 20mins drive from home.. things were all on Track an by 5:30pm, we had arrived at the start of the Bush.
As we were nice an early, there was no rush, it was quite hot so we got things together, I loaded up TYB (the young bloke) into hes Seat, locked him in and grabbed the rifles...
We set off up the track
A lot of tip toe action went on as I'd forgotten my Binoculars!! So I couldn't see as much as id have liked, although Slow an steady was going well, we had spied a few Wallabys making there way through the scrub, After about an Hour an a Half the boy wanted to stretch hes Legs so I unloaded him, told him to keep quite an walk behind me... "tip toe" we went for a further 50m or so When I decided we would Sit an listen to the bush for a while. time to bust out the honey Sangas!
Kids are great, although don't like sitting in one spot too long.... So to fix that I handed him my Mobile phone an away he went...
We sat for around Half an hour
After our food an One got sick of the games available, We loaded back up and set off up the track a further 100m, Where we got off the track an headed toward a Wallow & scrape area which sees a bit of action... With the smoke around an the Forecast of rain on the cards, we experienced our first Shower of the day, which lasted 10 minutes.... during that drizzle an moving 100m off the Track, I spied what I thought was a Black neck an chest looking our way!..... I raised the 2-7x Loopy an confirmed it was what we were after... I whispered to the boy 'block ya ears, deer' an on that note I Let a 225gr Woodleigh Rip toward the Animal from 100-120m.
where it unfolded.
All I seen was a deer look as if it had the #### scared out of it an it turned an run uphill..... dammit im thinkin... too keen...
We waited 5 minutes, an heard nothing more.. So off we went, to the area I last seen the deer..
no marks due to the dry ground, so I started to zig zag where I thought it would of Ran, around blackberrys an through some Dogwood scrub, When all of a sudden I cut across
which confirmed things were ALL A-OK... except for the deer...
I had followed the blood for 50m or so before it became too thick, so I unloaded the Boy an told him to stay put while I went to find it..
I was confident by now..
I looked up above me, in the same line the blood was flowing an there she was
As I went back an grabbed TYB, we followed back up the trail and it was hes first time seeing a deer up close, apart from seeing the odd deer in a paddock near suburbia... So it was a really cool experience i'll never forget.
A mature Sambar hind, in all her beauty.
I got her setup an took some photos before lugging the back legs back down to the track just as it were Dark.
Me an the Boy walked all the way back to the ute, unloaded an packed up, then drove up to pick up our Meat before heading home well after dark!!
WHAT A BLOODY RIPPER ARVO!!!!
My most favourite hunting photo yet!
Thanks for Reading!
WL
'faith in the whelen'
We made a tough call to ditch playing with some Friends for the afternoon, we were more interested in going up the bush, looking for Deers!
We went an dug up some little Camos out of the closet, I packed the backpack with Honey sandwiches, lime cordial, a knife and some cheese snacks, I grabbed the Ruger hawkeye .35whelen and a handful of Shells...
I had already decided where we were to hunt, an old favourite system just 20mins drive from home.. things were all on Track an by 5:30pm, we had arrived at the start of the Bush.
As we were nice an early, there was no rush, it was quite hot so we got things together, I loaded up TYB (the young bloke) into hes Seat, locked him in and grabbed the rifles...
We set off up the track
A lot of tip toe action went on as I'd forgotten my Binoculars!! So I couldn't see as much as id have liked, although Slow an steady was going well, we had spied a few Wallabys making there way through the scrub, After about an Hour an a Half the boy wanted to stretch hes Legs so I unloaded him, told him to keep quite an walk behind me... "tip toe" we went for a further 50m or so When I decided we would Sit an listen to the bush for a while. time to bust out the honey Sangas!
Kids are great, although don't like sitting in one spot too long.... So to fix that I handed him my Mobile phone an away he went...
We sat for around Half an hour
After our food an One got sick of the games available, We loaded back up and set off up the track a further 100m, Where we got off the track an headed toward a Wallow & scrape area which sees a bit of action... With the smoke around an the Forecast of rain on the cards, we experienced our first Shower of the day, which lasted 10 minutes.... during that drizzle an moving 100m off the Track, I spied what I thought was a Black neck an chest looking our way!..... I raised the 2-7x Loopy an confirmed it was what we were after... I whispered to the boy 'block ya ears, deer' an on that note I Let a 225gr Woodleigh Rip toward the Animal from 100-120m.
where it unfolded.
All I seen was a deer look as if it had the #### scared out of it an it turned an run uphill..... dammit im thinkin... too keen...
We waited 5 minutes, an heard nothing more.. So off we went, to the area I last seen the deer..
no marks due to the dry ground, so I started to zig zag where I thought it would of Ran, around blackberrys an through some Dogwood scrub, When all of a sudden I cut across
which confirmed things were ALL A-OK... except for the deer...
I had followed the blood for 50m or so before it became too thick, so I unloaded the Boy an told him to stay put while I went to find it..
I was confident by now..
I looked up above me, in the same line the blood was flowing an there she was
As I went back an grabbed TYB, we followed back up the trail and it was hes first time seeing a deer up close, apart from seeing the odd deer in a paddock near suburbia... So it was a really cool experience i'll never forget.
A mature Sambar hind, in all her beauty.
I got her setup an took some photos before lugging the back legs back down to the track just as it were Dark.
Me an the Boy walked all the way back to the ute, unloaded an packed up, then drove up to pick up our Meat before heading home well after dark!!
WHAT A BLOODY RIPPER ARVO!!!!
My most favourite hunting photo yet!
Thanks for Reading!
WL
'faith in the whelen'
I didn't know Sambar were so big, it looks as big as an Elk.
