Thread: Ashlees fist Red Stag

My daughter Ashlee is up with me for the holidays & the goal was to get her first Red Deer.
Last weekend was a no-go, two hunting comps & guys/utes everywhere we wanted to go.....
We got up early this morning & met up with my mate K to have a go at getting her a Red.
The fog was an arse & didn't clear until about 8.30....."why did we get up sooooo early Dad" fairly hard to answer that one ....

We couldn't see anything but kept looking, I saw a couple of different coloured shapes but they weren't moving & looked way too small, even through the 15 x 56 Swaros.
I kept an eye on the shapes for a while & even looked through the Geovids but they were just the same, except smaller & 600 yards away.
I was hoping that we weren't going to be shafted by the fog like last time.

At about 9 I looked back at the "shapes" & Nek Minit one had moved !!!!, shit we are on

On closer inspection there was a Stag & Hind, 600 yards away & 17 degrees up with a wind that was around 7mph at ground level but was dropping.
I got the 375 Lil' Terminator set up for Ashlee, I decided not to dial for wind as it was dropping & the stag was looking like he was going to be facing the right way.
Ashlee got settled in & we found the stag in the scope but they weren't playing the game & were very hard to see, disappearing from time to time.
The Hind vanished, then the Stag moved down towards her at a wee trot & stopped.
I thought that even though he wasn't really side on he was in a "good enough" position for Ashlee to send 400 grains his way.
I checked to make sure she was ready & she was, the silence was shattered.
I wasn't sure of the shot as the binos were shaking & the muzzle blast effected me, but K said he heard it hit
The Stag went 5m down hill & laid down, we watched him for a while & he wasn't moving but we couldn't see him clearly, he looked very crook.
We discussed what happened with the Hind I shot a few weeks ago & decided not to stress about it.
The Hind & her bigish Fawn decided after a while that they would prefer to be somewhere else so they slowly left & we decided to leave them for another day.
Ashlee & K went up to the stag while I stayed behind with the radio to make sure everything was in hand.



K took great pleasure informing me on the radio that the stage had 9 points.....bugger she was beating me again....



The shot was a little further behind the shoulder than ideal, due to wind, angle etc, it slipped between a couple of ribs & made 5 exit holes, 2 inside the diaphram & 3 outside it, infront of the rear leg.
His lungs weren't that damaged but alot of other stuff was....
I retreived a couple of bits of the bullet from him, here they are with the weights, next to some popular projectiles for size comparision.



The bigger bit is split from the point to the base of the projectile & the copper edges are VERY sharp.
The 400 grain Cutting Edge bullet was doing 2420fps on impact & it had 5200ft-lbs of energy, a whole lot of power right there
When we got back into reception she was texting her mates, the replies were amusing....."whats a Red Stag", "what to you mean 9 points", " 600 what ?" etc.....Christchurch girls....

So I'm a very happy Dad with a Twelve year old who has some stories to make the boys very jealous

You go girl

Impressive, impressive performance from those 400g Cutting Edge projectiles considering it slipped in between ribs. Is that HBN I see on that 400 grainer?

Its great when the kids out do dad, years ago my youngest boy paced out some big steps on the orchard and placed his lunchbox up against a big old oratea beauty tree, he came back proudly and told me how good he was, settled in behind my 17hmr and drilled his lunchbox fair in the guts, it was then he discovered his 2 pack of yoghurt was still inside

17hmr



Going by what my kids say when they call 'round to have a catch up (and raid me fridge) I would say Ashlee would be the proudest girl at school, and very proud that her father took her hunting, she will remember this for life. Well done Kiwigreg

Nice one Greg and congrats Ashlee. There wouldn't be too many 12y old girls out there that have got a red stag in the roar. Certainly not @ 600Y
Is this some sort of Age/Gender/Range record? would have to be wouldn't it?
Well done again both of you.

I agree VC, well done both to you as a father encouraging it, and of course Well done Ashlee

Good on you Greg for getting your girl out there. Great shooting too Ashlee.

Shit hot Ashlee, thats awesome

Well done on her part and your part, God those numbers scare me tbh!!!!