Cam talked me into going for a walk with him, he didn't have to try hard, he wanted to see if he could catch up with the other Deer he saw last Friday before he shot his latest stag.
We were going to stay over night if necessary & take a mutual mates youngest boy to try to get his first Deer.
Unfortunity he couldn't make it & didn't let us know until it was too late to get Ashlee organised for the trip.
The alarm went off at 3am, slightly worse the 4am of the previous morning & I'm thinking I'm getting too old for this crap...
Cam picked me up about 3.30 & we cruised off to the end of the road.
It was quite windy so we were a little concerned about how bad it would be on the tops, there was a ton of stars out & the wind in the trees was strangely nice after the noise of town.
The thing I like about climbing in the dark is that you have no idea how far you have to go or how steep the "shitty bit" is going to be if you haven't been there before, but that is the ONLY thing I like about climbing up hills.....
We had plenty of stops, we can blame each other, the weight on our backs, the time of the day & or our age, the list goes on & on
As it was getting lighter we worked out a plan & decided roughly the area where we would be camping out & dropped most of the weight to pick up later & got into hunting/glassing mode.
It seemed to me to be a fair way to where Cam wanted to go but I figured the lack of pressure here compared to other places I have hunted would have the Deer out later.
We looked & walked & looked & walked, Cam saw some wwwaaayyy in the distance, which was where he thought they might be & handyish to where our intended camp site.
We keep walking around just under the ridge to avoid the dreaded silhouette sydrome.
The sun was getting up, it was a stunning day, the strong wind hadn't eventuated & the veiws from up there were simply awesome.
As we came around the corner a bit more Cam suddenly ducked down & said the magic word "DEER"
I popped up & could see a Hind below us feeding, "how fars" were exchanged, I grapped the CRF & got 275 give or take.
I put down the bi-pod & hurriedly looked for a suitable shooting position, wasn't looking good, bloody tussock......
Cam stayed put as I scurried down the hill searching for a position, she was looking up the hill in our direction, started moving towards & to our left making getting an angle even harder.
The sun was behind her shining directly on us, it wasn't looking to good.....
Luckily she stopped & I finally managed to get into a do-able position, just.
I lined up & sent a 120 GMX her way, the "SMACK" that came back up the hill as she instantly went down is one of the greatest sounds around
We couldn't see any others floating around, I reloaded & went up to Cam to get the gear, he had videoed it hopefully he got it & will chuck it up on here.
As we started down to her I spotted another one ,we hit the deck as I said "do you want another one ?".
Cam tried to get organised, he gave me the camera but it said "SD card full" Bugger
I passed him down my bi-pod to help him get a decent position, as I was reaching into my pack to grab my camera, "Boom" the mighty 308 spoke & the 130TTSX sent Her big Fawn tumbling down the hill
It was 7.25 am & we had two Deer down, all day to get down the hill & nice bed with a proper roof over it to sleep in that night
After we got them sorted & mostly into my pack... we started back onto the wagon.
On the way Cam pulled a few pine trees out in the Tussock, I have seen what they can do in other areas & they SUCK...
One was pretty big, I suggested a saw for next time, Cam then said he would ring bark it.
I suggested using the 308 "Nek Minit" BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM & what do you know, Amaxs at 2 metres really sort pine trees out
No pics as I was already suffering from the weight & we hadn't hardly started back yet......
Cam went & sorted a few more as I headed up & around the hill.
We got back to the Cruiser at about noon, a fairly big day, a little sore today but not as bad as it could have been
A big thanks to Cam for taking me out to see some new country, was great seeing Deer out on the tops again
PS "Tip for the day" if you have a CDS turrent on your scope check it before you pull the trigger......mine was only 2 moa too high, no problem with this calibre at this range but.......could lead to a moment.....
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