Thread: My woodhill day.

Recently had my woodhill hunting ballot day, After an hours drive we got to the forest at 5am. There were no other cars at the Dounahues rd car park after a quick coffee and a breakfast bar we split up and started walking to our costal block by torch light.
we had block 3 and I had chosen a doe permit as I really wanted to take some meat home. Just as I got to the coast rd to where I wanted to hunt it started to rain hard.As i sat on a stump waiting for it to get just a little lighter to see properly for say 50 metres the rain passed, so I slowly started off down the logged out forest rd. After about 15 minutes i picked up some movement ahead and saw 4 deer run across the rd weaving through the stumps and limbed branches and stopped skylined at about 150 metres.I leaned my rifle on a stump and watched these deer for a few minutes before they dissapeared.I didnt take a shot because of the angle but really hoped these wouldnt be the only deer i saw for the day.I carried on down the coast rd witout seeing anything else(except my mate in the distance walking toward me) He had seen 4 less deer than me and after a quick conversation and a plan of attack we split up again. I headed straight for the coast and hunted through the wild coast pine I had only been going for 10 mins when I spotted a black shape moving toward me through the trees. I shouldered the howa and waited untill the deer stepped out from behind the tree I was standing next to and shot her low in the chest at a range of 4 metres! After gutting the animal I looked at the watch....8am!! thats a lot of time to kill before the boys are ready to head home! I hung up the little deer up and carried on hunting in the hope of running into a porker.
The coast was definatly the place to hunt, I saw 16 deer in the length of the block, all does of differing colours. I decided to pack it in and start the walk back to the car as it was getting later in the afternoon now. I got to the car just as the sun was setting,scrounged a ride the last kilometre from the forest security guys,put the seat back and grabbed a cold beer from the chilly bin I was just about drifting off to sleep waiting for the boys when I heard a twig snap. from the comfort of the passenger seat i watched two well antlered bucks jump on to a small clearing 50 metres away, They stopped for a second and dissapered as quickly as they arrived leaving me wishing i had taken a buck permit instead.The boys arrived shortly afterwards, worn out from near 12 hours walking. total deer seen 32 does 2 bucks. Great day and still got take home a few steaks each.

Mint report

Well done one the Doe

Good effort Didn't no that you had to have a buck or doe permit, You can't have both ?

Good on ya

Top job and great result.What condition were the deer in? Last time I was in there they were a bit lean on it. 👍

Well done mate, ive missed out on the ballot the last 2 years but would love to get in there....

nice day!would love to smack over a fallow 1 day!

Originally Posted by BushHunter

Good effort Didn't no that you had to have a buck or doe permit, You can't have both ?

No mate. It's one or the other and strictly enforced. We got a ballot last year and saw similar numbers and the bucks were so flighty we couldn't get any chance of a shot, while dozens of does stood still for photos and video. I reckon they need to declare an open ballot season on does to even things up a bit

We have block 4 this Sunday... Can't wait!!

Originally Posted by Hunt4life

No mate. It's one or the other and strictly enforced. We got a ballot last year and saw similar numbers and the bucks were so flighty we couldn't get any chance of a shot, while dozens of does stood still for photos and video. I reckon they need to declare an open ballot season on does to even things up a bit

You dont really want the numbers even if you want good bucks.

na ya want more bucks

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Yeh I've heard a few people saying the deer are getting a bit skinny on it, so maybe there's a feed shortage and competing does mean bucks aren't moving north from outside the hunting blocks. Reduce the mass, increase the quality. Makes sense to me

This is the never ending management problem.
Want trophys shoot females and let quality AND Quantity of males increase.
Means that once system is in place very few animals can be harvested sustainabley.
Want plenty of animals to harvest.
shoot spikers and yearlings leaving breeding age females.
Everyone wants something different except that everyone wants the opportunity to hunt... and that means keeping female numbers high so that high numbers of animals are produced and allotted and harvested.

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Originally Posted by veitnamcam

This is the never ending management problem.
Want trophys shoot females and let quality AND Quantity of males increase.
Means that once system is in place very few animals can be harvested sustainabley.
Want plenty of animals to harvest.
shoot spikers and yearlings leaving breeding age females.
Everyone wants something different except that everyone wants the opportunity to hunt... and that means keeping female numbers high so that high numbers of animals are produced and allotted and harvested.

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Thats a heap of wisdom for a Friday night