Thread: starting out right

@almnz is a mate of mine,we met through his flat mate and have hit it off right from the get go.
took him up shooting wallabies a year or so ago,his first ever shot from centrefire(I didnt realize it was at time) snotted a wallaby at about 70 yards neat as you like...my Zastava has accounted for first wallaby for a few folks now.
he managed to keep up well and shot another few wobblies before I managed to shoot 140lb boar,we divied up the meat and headed home....
fast forward to opening of duck season..Al was a bit crook so stayed home...the following year he was keen as mustard so we found room in the crew and suitable shotgun sorted...all went well,he shot well and managed to shoot a couple of canadas from my dingy much to disscust of our mutual mate who still hasnt managed one.
Al has hung in there for over a year till FAL finally arrived...and he straight around to pick up .22lr I have been holding for him...Ive owned it twice and fitted it with a lovely fixed 6x M8 leupold I got off another forum member...that rifle and scope is a neat package and Al will do well with it....
yesterday I phoned him up to see if wanted to come for hunt..... does a bear pooh in the woods???
so met him at local spot at 9;00...I was 7 mins late,but thats ok....this time.
up track we headed,got out to open spot,loaded round into chamber,bolt up,Al in front,spots wally,"shoot it "I say...and he does promptly... hopefully he will stick in photo.....
we carry on and sit on ridge,out come binos and wallys are all over the show,6 in one spot that we can get down into range of so off we head. spook a deer on way down ridge.... Al gives me the HISSSSSS half way down ridge...."deer" he points out.....hmmmmmm
find flatish spot...get Al in behind the 22-250 and wait for hind to pop back out,then for wind to die,shot is fired,I fire too to make sure,another couple of deer pop out and are left alone.....bit of a pow-wow about how the actual heck are we going to get to deer..and wallies pop back out,so Al proceeds to shoot 3 with 3 shots with 22-250...FAAARK thats LOUD he says with silly grin.
we head back up onto ridge,along over top and down into creek...bit of a scramble and deer is found,still on feet but i soon sorted that (my bad for not judging wind and distance better) Fallow are my nemesis animal,other than the first one years ago I havent managed to drop one with only single round since....small head/neck is my excuse and Im sticking to it.
we stringed up animal on steep slope and I gave Al a crude butchery lesson.75% of meat goes in his pack,rest in mine..then I made dumb call to head down creek instead of back up way we had come down...a few weeks earlier I had done most of downstream section with @RUMPY so thought "she'll be right"
oh boy was I to regret that call...the creek looked good but gorged out..so we climbed a bit then dropped back down,still gorgy..back up and around...then bluffed out..up up and more friggin up later we broke out on farmland well outside where should be..but safe
THAT was a good call....had we continued downstream....a night out wouldve resulted if not an EPIRB activation...made phone call to local copper letting him know where I was and that Id stuffed up so was bailing out across farmland...just incase ran into trouble for doing so....not something Ive often needed to do in past but was right call today,not enough daylight or energy in tank to go back down then back up n out way we had come in.
all day no complaints from Al....
its been a pleasure to sort of mentor him this far.....
go on fellas there will be someone you know who might turn out to be good mate if you give them a chance and take them out.
@phil H ...dont know if I have given Al a good start or not,but I sure as hell have given it a good nudge,and he sure looks to be absorbing it and loving every bush lawyer infested steep slippery rockslidey step along the way.

Yeah good job. And good on Al for hanging in there, and turning out ok. Its a big investment in someone to take them under your wing, even as rewarding as it can be.

I had an absolutely fantastic time today, learned heaps and think I’ve been bitten by the bug hard. I’ll be needing to find something a bit bigger than the .22 very soon I think!

It’s amazing how quickly things can turn on you but you’ve got to just hang in there and know that you will get out one way or another!

Thanks again @micky-duck - I’ve also just finished watching The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Photo of said Wallaby:

Great stuff guys.

Another great day out in the wilds, good on ya.

GREAT write up thanks - good job

Enjoyed the read.