Thread: First public land deer - fallow in the blue mountains

Originally Posted by Kimber 7mm-08

Hunted that block once before. Had only walked into it along a formed trail for 5 mins, stopped and looked around, only to find two fallow looking at me. Needless to say, they were gone in an instant. Real sneaky buggers that get hunted a lot!

Did a Hunts course in the Blue Mountains around 2000 I think, and the guys that showed us how it's done certainly took their time getting around the block. Slow, slow and slower still and wait for the deer to appear.


Thanks for the write up!

Back in late 70’s - early 80’s ( not sure of exact time) a study of hunting in the Blueys revealed there was nearly 40 man hours spent for each deer shot.

What a nice story to read,well done on yr success on those little deer.They might be small but you gota be twinkle toes in the crutchy forest to get close to them.Torchs,i always carry 2 head lamps and xtra batterys.Extra power pack for the phone.
Theres a app called ViewRanger to put on your phone,dont need phone reception either.It displays,records yr hunting movements all day and you can follow yr track home on the phone in the dark.If you wants to,tape a power pack to the back of your phone.Phone will last for a few days.
Any how enjoy yr venison and keep up the hunting reports.

Well done! A great read and congratulations on your first public land deer.

Good hunt.

You will never forget your head lamp again. I have a head lamp and small little torch size of pen as back up.

Head shots. Dont bother in my opinion. Go for the vitals and have higher success versus less success with head shots.

Well Done success at last, you have certainly earned your first deer, great story and look forward to many more. Enjoy the hard earned spoils of the hunt.

Realy enjoyed that, well done and don't those Fallow taste good.

WOW you packed a lot of learning into one hunt.....
a gps to mark spot would have given peice of mind...more reliable than a phone....
look up Alex Gale carry belt.......for fallow sized animal...definately for goats..it is the ducks nuts,will save your back,and if you happen to fall head first into hole,maybe your life.I have carried out 2 goats at same time using it...and two pigs another time....
great to hear you are learning to slow down....a lesson I have to keep relearning over n over again.
HOPEFULLY your hide cooled enough on the side that was on the ground...if not the hair will slip out....happened to my first stag skin,which was a right mongral as was huge and was carried a looooong way.
not sure if you have read my two bucket method for storing meat in fridge...one inside the other...holes in bum of inner bucket...it lets the blood drain into cavity so helps keep meat from going off.

Awesome story , top marks to you for not giving up , looking forward to some more write-ups .

Awesome write-up thanks. A vivid reminder of the spectrum of emotions that come from the quest for your first public land deer. Congrats, well-earned and bloody well done recovering everything. Let us know how it tastes 😜

Well done Jessica, obviously stoked. Ill have a good read of your write up when I have a bit more time.

Another good thing is to know your day pack inside out. this is a must,
i have seen people panic because they can't find compass or torch, only to find them in different pockets from when used last time and not put back into correct places

lid pocket: compass, spare folding knife, first aid kit, spare batteries.

left side pocket: Gloves, woolen hat, spare ammo

right side pocket: toilet paper, small knife sharpener, head lamp

waist belt pockets: i usually have treats, map etc, bic lighter to check fickle wind.

main department: light rain jacket, 4 black rubbish bags for meat, Boning knife, bits of rubber tube for fire starting, second bic lighter
wrapped in plastic bag to keep dry.

everything that is in my daypack stays in my daypack,
if you need your headlight at home, leave your hunting one in pack and go buy a headlight for home use only, same goes for most things in your pack, don't take them out of your pack unless you are out hunting.
and get to know what essentials are in WHAT pocket, it makes it a lot quicker/easier to find and do things.

And in addition to the advice from HUNTY I would recommend regular checks/replacement of batteries in the items requiring them.

Originally Posted by JessicaChen

Thanks everyone for the comments!



Yeah i did the hunts course in 2013 or so. Not a single person in the group I was with got a deer haha. We did go a lot faster than what I did for my first deer this week, and one of the guys said we needed to go faster to cover more ground for an encounter, so maybe that contributed to failure? Someone did pick up two rotting skulls though. Cant remember if it was the pair of skulls that were tangled in vines that is hung up in the NZDA hut there.



I did bring a little set of pulleys and rope to hoist a deer for hanging, but I didn't feel like I had enough time to drag the animal to an appropriate tree at the time. Didn't quite have the mental clarity to make the decision to just hang it and leave for next day collection. Lessons learned though!


Heck yeah... especially for people who have gotten a very large animal. I can't imagine trying to carry a big red. The little fallow was hard enough.

I think I was one of the trainers on that course (not that one) so it's good to see you've stuck at it, and have been rewarded.

Sent from my F5321 using Tapatalk

Great story, reflects a lot of my limited deer hunting experience as well.

Good on ya. Nothing quite like slow and steady perseverance.