Thread: Breaking the Drought!

Waiting at work the time seemed to go so slowly. Watching the clock with much content I was relieved to see the familiar sight of three o'clock finally appear on the distant clock across the office and just like that I had shut my computer off and scurried out of the office after a long 10 hour day.

I grabbed all my hunting gear which I had not thought to lay out the night before and with a quick stop for a pizza and diesel I was ready to get back into the bush. The hour half trip in seemed to drag on but as I rounded the last corner into the car park I was relieved to only see one other car parked up. Quick inspection of the vehicle proved it to be a hunters and the engine wasn't warm so I made the assumption he would hopefully be on his way out as the time was just passing 5 o'clock. I quickly grabbed my gear and made the decision to head up the river valley pressing into the stiff breeze.



I knew time was against me so my slow paced walk turned into a brisk one stopping only quickly to look at sign. I managed to find an oldish print , one of the biggest I've seen just minutes from the carpark on a sandy bank. Will be keen to try catch up with the stag in just a few weeks time!



I was planning on heading up to a slip about an hour back and glassing it till sundown with the goal of at least seeing an animal. I have been into this area for 6 trips now and before this last trip I had only ever heard one other animal, at a distance charging away from me. So anyways I jumped out of the creek bed onto a DoC track which runs roughly parallel with the goal of covering more ground quicker so I could force my way back into the slip. After about 40 minutes I was half covered in sweat and thought an easy relaxing night may have been a better option. I quickly told myself to stop being lazy and pushed on. The side creek I wanted to head up was erring ever so closer with each step when out of no where I heard a rifle shot off to my right roughly about a k away. I halted to a stop and with a bit of geography along with a fair amount of cursing determined the shot rang out from roughly where I had planned on going.

Plan B was the next option. I had no plan B. I picked my rifle up and decided to switches sides of the river bed and start bush bashing with any hope to bump into something. Another hour passed and I had about reached the end of my self allocated time limit to get as deep as I could before I better turn back around and start wandering back to the ute. I dropped off a ridge and back into the main creek bed. A few previous scouting trips into the area along with alot of Google Map searching had given me a bit of information on where a few slips which could be seen from the creek bed were. So after conceding that I was gonna get wet feet I started making my way slowly down the creek bed glassing the slips marked on my GPS.



A quick glance at my watch showed a bit after 7 from memory and my hopes were fading almost as fast as the sunlight over the ridge beside me. I had two more slips left on my journey out an upon approaching the first one I quickly lifted the rifle and began glassing away. After a good minute of determining that there was nothing up on the slip I decided to have a quick breather and sat down on one of the rocks in the creek bed. Staring aimlessly into the bush in front of me.



I grabbed my GPS from my bum bag and after toying with it from a few minutes glanced back up to the slip to be in utter shock when I saw a faint brown clump on the right hand side of the slip which I knew was definitely not there before. I quickly snatched the rifle from the adjacent rock and it effortlessly glued to my shoulder. Upon inspection I was stoked to discover that my eyes had not actually been playing tricks on me and it was indeed a deer. I quickly brushed a few rocks aside in the creek bed and with a bit of tetris stacking I managed to create a rest high enough to be able to scope the animal up on the slip at roughly 45 degrees from the creek bed. As I went prone on the creek bed I had rocks digging into places that would not be comfortable for any man and after quick reshuffling found myself in a less that ideal but more comfortable position.



My scope showed a hind (sorry about the pic quality its in the bottom right I promise) and as I lined up to take the shot I thought I better take a quick few pictures just in case I missed her. They all turned out pretty bad but managed to get a good one out of the thirty or so that were quickly taken on my phone. When I got back on the scope I was alarmed to see her brown body had disappeared from the slip. After furiously glassing for the best part of three minutes I finally found her head tucked above a small tree staring towards a neighboring ridge. Her body was completely hidden behind a bush. She had presented no shot. I waited and waited. We were in a stalemate. I reached for my GPS and with a bit of button pushing estimated she was around 270m away. For myself and my .243 a head/neck shot was out of the question. With light fading fast around me the thought crossed my mind that I may not get a shot away. However after what seemed like eternity which was actually probably the best part of 15 minutes she took a step to the left. I lined up on her and squeezed a round off hoping I would actually hit just behind the front shoulder where I was aiming. The sound echoed down the river flat and surrounding ridges.

My rifle had recoiled off target and I quickly tried to find her in my scope again. I saw the last glimpse of her scurrying across the left hand side of the slip seeming merely untouched with either a yearling or another hind quickly in toe. I had no clue where this second animal had come from. I had been watching her on the clearing for the best part of 25 minutes and had not seen any other movement. To be honest apart from the adrenaline I felt quite empty inside like I had fluffed the shot. I stayed on my scope just long enough to see her edging back onto the slip from the side she had left only 20 seconds early. A quick action on the bolt saw another round in the chamber and as I tried to calm myself for the reload she stopped close to the middle of the slip. With my finger on the trigger I was about to squeeze off a second round when out of my scope I saw her tumble over backwards down the slip. Needless to say I was stoked.

I quickly dropped all my non essential gear in the creek bed and made my way up the ridge to retrieve my animal. The light was fading fast and I knew the downhill carry could get messy if I didn't get out of there quickly so I pushed myself up the hill as quickly as safety would allow. I finally reached her after about 20 minutes of scurrying up the hill. Panting like a fat dog to say the least. I quickly gutted her and was relieved to note she wasn't milking. I still have no clue how but I managed to place the bullet behind her front shoulder with it smashing through the heart and out the other side. I swung her on my back and started the sketchy descent down the ridge. I got about half way down before having to switch my head lamp on and decided tossing her down the faces was safer than trying to carry her. Finally on dark I dropped into the main creek. Relieved as anything to be in the last of the daylight.



A slow long heavy walk awaited me to get back to the ute. But thankfully it wasn't dull. About half way back in the dark I spooked a stag over to the side of the creek and he grunted at me before climbing back up onto the ridge to give a few more grunts. The water crossings weren't the best in the dark but I managed to keep level and make it out to the ute just before 11.



The car trip out was filled with me wondering how I managed to make the shot at that distance. A new PB for me and that rifle. When I got home I hung her on the washing line in good ol student style. And then after an early morning I was left with steaks rolled roasts and a sausage meat pile.



Pretty stoked to break the drought in this area after so many trips and will definitely be heading back in there for the roar!

bloody excellent mate well done

Big effort Dan
The meat in the kitchen looks nice

Good stuff.

Excellent read - you've got writing talent.

About 30 years ago, a well known trophy hunter told me (after I moaned about a 12 point stag I'd missed getting a shot at because I was admiring him with my binos for too long and he buggered off) don't piss around; shoot as soon as you get the chance. If you get the point.

Well done
Get yourself some binos they save a lot of rifle waving around and you will see a lot more animals.

Well done , was a good read

nice

Great stuff mate well done��

Wow, an awesome trip out to your local organic supermarket �� well done.

Great skills, like both your writing style and the fact you came up with a plan B and it paid off for you.....good luck in the Roar.....

bloody awesome read mate and congrats on breaking the drought-perseverance pays off!!
nice looking country aswell,goodluck for the roar hopefully you catch up with that stag....just over a month to go and we're into it.....cant wait!!!!!!!!

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

Well done
Get yourself some binos they save a lot of rifle waving around and you will see a lot more animals.

Cheers man, have a pair of Leupold Rogue's in 10x25 but prefer to not carry the extra weight when I'm by myself, otherwise they will just become another thing I put down and forget to pick up when I move on haha

Thanks for all the comments guys !!

good write up , good result its amazing how you can turn you head away for a few min,s or seconds and look back to see a animal.
I have really only started to sit and glass in the last two years and bugger me dead it works.
I wonder how many deer I have missed because bino,s were in pack ?
Should have listened to my mate,s wise words of Buy yourself a half decent set of bino,s and start looking .

Nice effort. Sitting and watching is the key to seeing animals.

I took a north island sika hunter away hunting for the weekend, we spent literally hours glassing over 5 days, and saw 50-60 deer in our travels. He was surprised to see that many, I wasn't as much as I knew they'd be there, you just have to take time to spot them.

Nice shooting