Thread: First deer for me

Had an interesting weekend. Departed Auckland Friday morning and headed down the other end of the island to meet a mate who had been promising to get me onto my first deer. Learned some valuable lessons along the way.

Saw my first deer. Saw my 50th deer. Missed my first deer (230m @30°). Saw my 100th deer. Missed my second deer (320m). Finally got my first deer. Spotted at 300m, but given my previous performance, I opted to sneak in to 60m. Got it. Missed two other golden opportunities at less than 100m because of an equipment failure.

Lessons learned - some easy, some hard:

I learned that my marksmanship is not what I thought it was. I've been hunting for about 4 years, and most of that has been in the bush at ranges from 5m to 100m. I was ill-prepared for style of hunting experienced this weekend. I know the theory (or thought I did) of external ballistics, angled shots, hold-overs etc, but have very limited practical experience in such shooting scenarios. This was embarrassingly exposed. Twice.

Know your rifle. Sporterised 1917 CG M96. This particular one is known to be accurate when set up correctly and in the hands of a capable shooter. I have previously shot it to 300m and had hits (on steel) using the predicted hold-overs. Then I upgraded the scope from a fixed 6x to a 4-16x Vortex Diamondback. Perhaps I didn't zero it correctly, as the predicted hold-overs didn't work this time. Same rifle, same ammo, same shooter. I know many of you will say "only a poor tradesman blames his tools". I've admitted my skill is not what I thought it was, but can't help but think it wasn't the only factor.

Know your rifle, 2.0. This particular rifle has an aftermarket Timney trigger fitted, which has worked fine up until now. At some point something came loose inside, and as a result, the bolt would no longer cock properly. This could be worked around by holding the trigger in the correct position as I closed the bolt to ensure it was cocked. I have since disassembled the rifle and found that the front grub screw that retains the trigger was loose, resulting in the slop. This failure (and my failure to notice the bolt was not cocked) resulted in another two animals escaping.

Very pleased to have shot my first Fallow, but in hindsight the meat is secondary to everything else I gained from the weekend. Know your gear inside and out, and practice practice practice with your chosen rifle/ammunition/optic combo.

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Nice one mate, and congrats. Doesn't matter how long you hunt for, or how experienced you are, you always keep learning. That's one of the joys of hunting.

Good to see you got your first deer so the goats and pigs are being given some degree of reprieve. You’ve mentioned the learning aspect and the bonus of getting some meat. There will always be someone somewhere who faces a steeper learning curve than you on this occasion. Congrats on the ‘harvest’ and the admission of faults.

Every day is a school day as they say, Congatulations and cheers for posting

Well done,

One thing is for sure is that Murphy fella shows up more often than you would hope even when you think you are sorted he is always waiting

Anyone who tells you they haven't missed a few hasn't shot many. Cograts and may they be the first of many

awesome

well done stretch got my first deer with my m96 i went for a hunt with daughter yesterday and everything seemed to be against us so you get days like that

The first will always be remembered and it seems to get easy from there on.

Good on ya fella

If you do enough hunting you will miss a heap more for whatever reason. It happens.
Not worth over analysing or beating yourself up over it.

Trust me. I have missed shitloads of deer and when I did miss it would bother me for ages afterwards. Took ages to accept the more hunting you do the more it happens.

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You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take, and a percentage of the shots you do take.

Well done getting there in the end. For what its worth this may help to explain those misses.
The original scope, fixed power (with a mildot or bdc reticle? )gave holdover values that worked.
You upgraded to a variable power, Im guessing with the same reticle and zeroed it correctly so in theory the hold overs should work.
The diamondbacks are second focal plane scopes meaning the reticle graduations are true only at the scopes maximum magnifaction, so if you wound back to 6x which you are familiar with each dropmark will be 2.25 times greater than you expect leading to exasperation and second guessing

Well done, I thought after close to 60 years at the game I was the only one who stuffed up, now I know there is 2 of us.

You never forget your first, nice one! Don't worry about the misses, learn from them and keep at it. If someone says they've never missed they are lying. Keep it up.

Honest self-appraisal, delivered succinctly which I enjoyed. You attained the desired result. I'm sure it will taste good!