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Blue Mtns: Forum connections and caravan hunting for the win
July this year I put in for a Blue Mountains ballot and in August I received news of a successful application and was gifted one of the better blocks. In the meantime, my wife and I had our second child (7 week old boy at time of writing) and I bought a bunch of AR2206H off @Dama dama (Brent). More on that soon...
Last Thursday I got my hands on a flash new rifle. Thursday night I threw a nominal mild load of the AR2206H from Brent behind some interlocks, Friday I shot a group and dialed the scope in, then Saturday morning after helping with the kids, Flo (dog), James (mate), and I headed to Beaumont. After dropping the caravan off at the pub, we were in the block by 10am.
With horrible southerly wind and sideways rain, we all took shelter in the bush and split up for the days hunt. Flo and I spent a good few hours chasing wind scents round in circles, which was pretty frustrating and very unsuccessful. James took a more considered approach and found some fresh sign on a ridge and worked it super slowly. He managed to spook a sleeping doe, then shortly after put a spiker on the deck. I received the good news by text just after Flo and I had bumped a deer at 10m in a thick gully. We pulled pin to give James a hand.
It seems like a long day unsuccessfully stalking around the bush in the wind and rain but back at the pub for a beer and pizza things weren't so bad. We retired to the caravan for the best nights sleep I've had in at least 6 weeks... Pictured below: Flo on the brink of throwing in the towel.
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After a windy and rainy (but comfortable) night, we woke to clear skies and relatively light westerlies. I had added Brent to the permit so he was coming in with his boy that afternoon and we were leaving a couple of areas clear for them to explore. Meanwhile, James, Flo and I set off towards an area that Brent had recommended. We stalked into the wind for a start as Flo was indicating strongly. However she took us into some thick scrub so we pulled pin and rolled down the hill towards Brent's honey hole. As we approached the stream, Flo started indicating again. We didn't think too much of it as the wind was swirling and we were on a mission, but sure enough two deer broke on the other side of the stream as we approached.
Next we came up the ridge towards our intended location. As the bush opened up Flo started indicating so we followed her into the wind. It felt like we must have been getting close so I put Flo on a sit and stalked forward a few meters. At this point I heard a bolt close, the dog get up (bad dog), and hooves trotting. I turned to watch the chaos unfold as three deer broke from the regen 10m in front of us. They each ran a different direction. One deer doubled round and stopped in front of me, I raised the rifle and as I got it the sights it bolted again. Meanwhile Flo was trotting round like an excited teenager (again, bad dog/trainer) so I got her back under control and we sat down to have some leftover pizza to plan our next moves.
James and I split to cover more ground. James went high; I went low. After a couple of hours of slow-as-you-can-go stalking to no avail, I was ready for a sit down. I felt like there was more fresh sign down low, so James agreed to meet us where we sat and we'd continue hunting lower together. A few minutes later I heard a stick break and, assuming James had made record time, stood up to let him know where I was. Instead, I stood up to let a spiker know exactly where I was and, without a rifle in my hand, he smiled, turned, and trotted off. I sat back down and two minutes later a doe was working its way up the ridge across the gut from me. I snuck down into a shooting position but by the time I could get a clear line of sight, it had moved on. This time James did arrive a few minutes later and we decided to make our way to the river and get into some new country on the other side.
Well, we didn't need to. With a consistent breeze in our faces (finally) we worked our way down the river with Flo indicating our front. As we sneaked around a corner I spotted a doe's head just above the crown fern off the river about 100m ahead. I crouched down, got it in the sights and squeezed off the trigger. It promptly dropped into the creek and I was able to celebrate first blood for my new rifle. A lot of hard work bush stalking to finally get the reward wandering down a creek.
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A quick-ish (I'm out of practice) butchering session and we were on our way back down the river to the main ridge where we would climb back to the car. With one deer each we had decided to pull pin and get back to our respective families early. Wishful thinking. A couple of corners later, still with good wind and Flo was indicating again. I looked at James and we both nodded as if to say "if we see another we might as well smack it". We slowed down and made some, but not much, effort to walk quietly. After 50-odd more steps James stopped in his tracks. He pointed to the other bank of the river and all I could see were trees. After 30 seconds of moving round trying to get a different angle, a buck broke into my field of view. It hadn't seen us but knew something was up. I followed it in my scope as he moved through the bush until finally he stopped broadside in a clear patch and received an Interlock to the shoulder. Adrenaline took him about 50m before he dropped into a patch of crown fern.
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Another quick hacking session saw us up the hill with 6 legs (the bucks shoulders were blown to bits), four backsteaks, four eye fillets, and one heart to add to James' spiker from the day prior.
This trip absolutely reinvigorated my intrigue for the Blue Mountains and love for hunting fallow deer in the bush. It's challenging hunting in there but very rewarding with lots of opportunities. Of note, all three deer were in terrible condition we suspect due to the high numbers of deer in there (and probably end of winter).
Huge thanks to Brent for his helpful advice and for the powder. And a shoutout to the Beaumont Pub - great food and very friendly people. As a side, caravan hunting is absolutely the way of the future.
