Awesome morning hunt with my dog Pippa
All of my hunts since December have been with other people, and unfortunately Pip's missed out on most of them, as I don't really like taking her out when I'm taking another hunter out as well. So last night I decided I'd gear up, aim for an early start and take her for a walk this morning.
Missus dragged me out of bed about 5am, as she was already up about to leave for cross-fit. Had a quick bite to eat and shot up the road to a block I've only hunted a couple of times before. It was an awesome morning for hunting, calm as, and clear skies.
We'd only just parked up when I spotted a couple of deer in the neighbours block, a good sign of things to come maybe?
http://i829.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps9aafae8e.jpg
We ignored them and hunted our way in the opposite direction, using a slight breeze drifting out of the gully to our favour. Pippa started winding well, suggesting something was down below the ridgeline, so we dropped of and went into stalk mode. Stalking quietly, I soon spotted two ears poking out of the long grass, a hind. Pip had seen them too at this stage and was indicating well...a perfect opportunity for a photo!
I stopped to get my camera out. In doing so I clipped a strap on my pack which alerted the deer and before I even got the camera up she was gone, fawn galloping along behind her trying to keep up! Amateur mistake on my behalf but a cool moment either way.
Back on the ridgeline we found a rock to perch ourselves on to glass the face opposite us, as the sun was just starting to hit the clearings and guts that looked very "deery". Sure enough after a few minutes glassing, a couple of orange blobs were confirmed as deer, a couple of stags in fact. Two turned into five and we watched them feed in the sun for half an hour or so. There was no way we could get closer with the wind blowing the way it was, and being in velvet I wasn't that keen to knock one over, so we let them be.
Pip and I carried on, fairly content with how the morning was panning out. For once I didn't have to remind Pip to "heel", or "shut-up" or "stop sniffing hare tracks" ;D, she seemed much more relaxed than usual. Dropping through a manuka filled gut, Pip stopped suddenly and indicated the scrub ahead. Staring ahead I couldn't see what she was interested in, so tried pushing through into the open a tad more, semi ready. Mistake! A deer leapt out in front of us and took off into the bush.
It was a hind, so I wasn't too worried, but Pip looked at me like I was some sort of idiot. We looked around for a fawn for a while, but didn't find one.
The sun was up now, and the temperature was getting up there. I was thankful, my lower half was drenched from the cold dewy grass, and water had begun to run down into my boots. Thinking it was getting a bit late, and I did have to return for work, we crossed onto another small ridge, over and down into the creek and started to hunt our way back towards the truck.
Pip started winding the breeze again, I thought "surely not" and went back into stalk mode. With soaking wet waist high scrub making stalking difficult we started to sidle up the face above us. Rounding a bend in the creek Pip started trying to stand up on her back legs to get a look over the scrub ahead. Thinking there must've been a deer ahead I checked my rifle and waited. Sure enough, within seconds one appeared only a stones throw from us.
With a mouth full of grass, its eye's bulged as it saw me the same time I lifted the wee Browning. Out the corner of my eye I saw Pip locked up, shaking with anticipation. With no obvious spikes or velvet I double checked with my scope to make sure it wasn't a hind and noticed buttons on top of its head. Without thinking further I'd dropped the crosshairs onto its neck and sent the pill, it disappeared into the grass it was eating.
Previously unseen to us, two of its mates went bounding past, stopping briefly on the bush edge. I easily found the next target, thought about it, then lowered the gun. I could only carry one at a time.
Sending Pip ahead she quickly found the deceased deer. We proceeded to butcher it and an hour later were on our way back home. 13 deer seen for the morning, one on the deck, it was easily one of the most rewarding hunts we have had.
http://i829.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps752df6c6.jpg
Cheers
Josh :)
