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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