Thread: Another minter and more action

Another minter of a day. Decided to go over to another adjacent property and look for deer in the late afternoon. Found them no problem, but they were a long way away, on the other side of the gorge.

So I had a 45 minute dash through the bush to get to a decent shooting position. Just before I reached the open country where I had seen the deer, I ran into easily the biggest boar I’ve seen for several years. He’d heard me coming but wasn’t sure what I was; upon seeing my upright homo sapiens profile he made a fearful racket and came straight for me. For a couple of seconds I was quite concerned, but I think it was simply a mistake. He applied the brakes about 5m away and spun and legged it in the opposite direction, grunting and snorting, straight towards where I was hoping to find my targets. This spooked deer in the timber down to my left that I didn’t know were there, and the kereru feeding on the hinau berries above me. All up there was a tremendous bloody racket, birds swopping, deer crashing around, pigs grunting.

I decided it was probably a good idea to stand still for five minutes, and let everything calm the fuck down.

I slowly covered the last 50m or so to the edge of the native. I poked my head around the side of a large old rimu - my targets we’re still happily grazing heads down and bums up. Three red stags - two spikers and an older fat 11 pointer. As I pulled open the legs of my bipod I accidentally extended the one leg which made a horrid loud CLACK! I froze as all three stags stared straight at me.

So I waited another five minutes in a remarkably uncomfortable position, daring myself to not move a muscle. I was mightily relieved when the older animal finally turned to start browsing again… I slid back in the direction I’d come from and tracked around to a better position with a little bit of elevation. This required a commando crawl through the mud and sheep shit, but I could see a likely spot with good tussock cover. I slipped a round into the chamber, and I poked my head through the tussock only to stare straight into the face of the older stag, who had approached without me realising and was only about 10 m away. He definitely was not at all happy.

I knew I had about two seconds to act. I sat straight up, aimed and fired, clean bowling the stag straight through the base of the neck. The second animal did a full 360 and stopped to stare, whereupon he got exactly the same treatment. The third ran like the clappers across my line of sight and around to my right, behind the hillocks. Suddenly there he was, just shoulders, neck and head bolting away. I yelled “STOP!” which immediately had the desired effect (stupid animal). He got a 165gr softpoint through both shoulders. I found out a few minutes later that a single remanent manuka had stopped him from tumbling all the way down into the gorge.

Cool! Three big heavy deer down and now at the hard work began. I managed to get the back straps out of all three before it was too dark to see, then walked all the way back around to the bike hoping I wouldn’t run into that pig again. By the time I returned to the scene, it was cold as, with a heavy dew descending. But now I was armed with a head torch and the excellent LED lights on the bike so I could easily remove the back legs and the forequarters from the two I neck shot. Stashed the forelegs in a tree (not enough tie downs) and packed the rest onto the bike and made my way slowly down the hill.

By the time I got back to the homestead I was pretty bloody chilly and was grateful for the fire. I hung the legs in the shed and put the back strips in the fridge…. Phoned the wife and made a sandwich. Recorded this story for posterity.

Tired as now.

Sleep well fellas.

Great photos & write-up. I enjoyed that.

Great read....thanks.

Starting to forget what blue sky's look like over this way, looks like a good afternoon some rugged looking country in those photos.

Cool yarn.
Def be pleased that one didnt roll over the edge.
Good to see the bike still doing the job.

Nice one, it doesn't get much better than that
Lucky the pig ? dug a hole right under that tree to catch the deer for you

Great. What caliber did you use?

Originally Posted by nevereadyfreddy

Cool yarn.
Def be pleased that one didnt roll over the edge.
Good to see the bike still doing the job.

Mate, that bike is the best thing I’ve bought for years. Nimble and light and gets around the rough stuff no problem. So simple to maintain. I’m going to have to keep an eye on it because a couple of the lads down here are pretty keen…

Originally Posted by Tahr

Great. What caliber did you use?

.308 Winchester and Speer BTSP 165gr.

I have enough loaded for many years of hunting, and I doubt I will ever use anything else for general-purpose deer shooting.

Since the scrub clearances here, there is however a need for a proper long-range rifle, which I don’t have. Since the burn-offs the deer are coming out onto the new grass up the back, and on many of those faces you cannot get anywhere near them without being seen. So I’m having a think about an easy to feed magnum cartridge, something that can deliver a big thump from 500m+. Something that will cheat the wind and put a 200gr bullet in the boiler room with plenty off oommpfff to spare.

Originally Posted by bigbear

Starting to forget what blue sky's look like over this way, looks like a good afternoon some rugged looking country in those photos.

Yeah it gets steep as real quick. The terrain is good for spotting deer, but like last night you often have to go on quite a long walk around to get to them. As the crow flies it might only be 800m, but you’ve got a 3-4 km walk around the ridgelines to be able to get a shot.

I’ve been here a week now and its been back-to-back perfect winter conditions. There hasn’t been a breath of wind all week and that’s made a massive difference in my favour. But it’s clouded over today and this is the first morning with no frost. Nothing lasts forever!

See the old svord in action

hardcase seeing manuka sprayed off.....

Welcome back.

There is something to be said for the simplicity of just shooting stuff with a 308, especially inside 350m.

What are you thinking of for the long stuff?

Originally Posted by Flyblown

.308 Winchester and Speer BTSP 165gr.

I have enough loaded for many years of hunting, and I doubt I will ever use anything else for general-purpose deer shooting.

Since the scrub clearances here, there is however a need for a proper long-range rifle, which I don’t have. Since the burn-offs the deer are coming out onto the new grass up the back, and on many of those faces you cannot get anywhere near them without being seen. So I’m having a think about an easy to feed magnum cartridge, something that can deliver a big thump from 500m+. Something that will cheat the wind and put a 200gr bullet in the boiler room with plenty off oommpfff to spare.

That will start some debate But we might as well get into it... I say a 7mmPRC... contingent on cases and stuff becoming available. 180 grn bullet.

Originally Posted by Tahr

That will start some debate But we might as well get into it... I say a 7mmPRC... contingent on cases and stuff becoming available. 180 grn bullet.

I was sitting in a chill southerly late this arvo, waiting for a deer to come out, and I was thinking about this.

My requirements are as follows:

Twist - must be able to comfortably stabilise a heavy for calibre, high BC projectile. Miller stability factor of 2.0 minimum.
Bullet weight - aiming for 200gr +\- 10% or thereabouts
MV - sensible, but not middling. Around 2,900fps would be good.
Rifle weight - I am not going to try and build a light weight young man’s carry rifle. I’m too old for that. It will be pretty heavy. That’s what quads are for.
Stock - it absolutely must fit perfectly. Got to be adjustable for all situations. Shooting uphill, or downhill. I can handle a lot of recoil and shoot accurately at long-range as long as the stock is a rocksolid fit.

The 7mm 180gr ELD-M looks like a good option. So does the .30 cal 225gr ELD-M. There are several .30 calibre options in between that would all do the job.

Whilst I was daydreaming about all of the above the deer came out and I almost didn’t notice.

Yum yum.