A good start for the Maral
So as some of you may know, I purchased a Browning Maral. This was a spur of the moment thing. I walked into H&F to have a look around and there she was in all her glory a Browning Maral in 9.3x62 to boot!! I had always wanted a Battue rifle in this calibre and there it was. I went straight to the counter and asked to have a look, it was light, came up to the shoulder well and pointed like a shotgun, this rifle was for me. That night I went home and listed the Tikka for sale and it sold the very next day. I went straight to H&F and bought it. Off to the range I went to break in and sight in the rifle. It certainly does have a bit of recoil but no worse than my previous 9.3 or my 45-70.
Shortly after we headed down to Invercargill for xmas and the rifles first hunt. My Father hadn't been out since the roar so it was a good excuse for him to get out. So we went to our usual spot in the Longwoods, we arrived just after daybreak and started to stalk down the old logging tram. Only 10 minutes in we spooked a deer which promptly crashed off into the bush. We stood and waited a bit before we headed in after it. After no luck we continued on, along the way we saw alot of sign so were confident we would see something else. Sure enough we stalked in on a small clearing bordering the native and gorse on the other side, there standing 20yds way was a young stag safety off rifle to the shoulder and bang he went down hard. ther it was first blood for the Browning stoked!! After taking the meat we headed back to the car happy with our efforts. Time went by fast as it does and it was time to say our goodbyes and head back to Palmerston North.
After arriving back and having a chat with POPSHOT a plan was hatched to do an overnighter in the Ruahines. We got our kit ready and we were off on the Saturday afternoon. A short 45min walk had us in location ready to set up our camp. We the proceeded to glass a slip for the evening but to no avail. As night fell we headed back to camp for a feed and started getting ready fro the mornings hunt. The alarm went off and we were on our way by 0530. After arriving at our chosen area we started glassing as it got light, 15min in a young hind was sighted by POPSHOT, we observed for a bit and no fawn was present. We debated whether to shoot now or potentially wait for more to pop out. A decision wa made to take the shot, so I set up over my pack range to target was 186yds at this range all I had to do was aim dead on. I aimed just behind the shoulder (meat saver shot) and squeezed the trigger sending the 286gr Hornady projectile downrange. The deer jumped up span around and stumbled 5yds where it stopped facing down hill, I waited until she turned broadside and fire again, bang down she went. After reaching the deer it was apparent how damage was done a rather large exit wound on the offside shoulder and an absolute mess of the internal organs. Usually with this calibre no follow ups are needed however aiming back the stout projectile had little resistance on impact sailing straight through.
We were both happy as we had achieved what we intended to do and had some meat for the freezer. After butchering the animal we headed back to the campsite and walked back to the car with full packs.
So overall not a bad start for the Maral, two deer down and many more to come. Hot barrels!!
P.S pics are on the way.
