Thread: First time hunting Sika

Originally Posted by petree

Great read . I've only shot a few sika but none that looked as skinny as that hind maybe she was sick?

Great write up mate, so thanks for sharing. My first kill was a Sika stag up Tree Trunk Gorge. When butchering him, I thought something must be wrong as he was too skinny and was missing hair in places. An autopsy found a shrivelled liver, so clearly facial eczema was on top of him. I took his jaw and had Alan Jackson age him, at 14years! No wonder he had no antlers... I had figured he was a spiker

I lost a good stag a few years prior off Kaweka Road. After shooting him on dusk and on the run at 30metres with a 180gn .308, I just couldn't believe he didn't flinch and kept running! Next morning my mate and I found a light blood trail and spent three hours working over the area with ever increasing circles trying to find him, to no avail. At the time I decided I must have only scratched him (although I never really accepted that, as I have always been an excellent shot even under pressure) and the wound was superficial. After hearing many stories since about Sika running long distances in spite of highly traumatic wounds to the hilar zone, I'm now convinced we should have kept searching until we did find him, as I'm confident I actually got him. Disappointing to say the least
Getting a Viszla is high on my priority list for this year