Went for wee drive yesterday arvo to get some Venison with my Mate, he needed some for X-mas & I wanted to test some pills in the 375 Terminator.
Got on site & had a look at three o'clock at a spot were the Velveties tend to show up this time of year, just about to get back in the Ute after looking at plenty Goats spread out all over the place & bloody hell there is one, he just fed straight out, wasn't there a minute ago.
The Geovids couldn't tell me the distance.....not an issue for the PLRF10, 1587 yards, nope far too far with this wind, didn't look like we could close the gap for the Terminator so a jaunt up the hill was in order.
The river had been washed out since we were there last but with a bit of a look see a route was planned & off we went no worries & no wet feet :)
Got as far as we could in the wet knee high glass, grabbed the gear, the Dog, the good old 6.5 wsm & off we went in the light rain.
Bloody wind up here over there, back across there, "he will probably have buggered off" was the verdict....
Up the hill we went, got to the top & looked into the basin type area, yep he had gone bugger, a few Goats in there that hadn't & didn't even acknowledge us 250-300 yards away, we decided to leave them in peace & retreated back down the hill to find some more Deer in another spot.
The rain was coming & going making things fairly unpleasant, not too bad in the Ute though :)
Well after looking here & there it wasn't looking good until about seven o'clock, then a couple were spotted but in a really crap position for retrieval.
We decided they would probably feed out into a better position, being just over 1000 yards away there were in trouble, but it was not to be, they disappeared as we were trying to get a better position, to increase the odds of a positive outcome :(
A few more Hinds & Fawns were seen, the Fawns were pretty lightly coloured & were frolicking around in the last of the sun, so that mob was safe today.
Found a couple more high on a far face, was neat watching them through the Leicas, moving around feeding & shaking the water off.
They were safe as well, too high & far for a nice retrieval, such is the joys of LR hunting.....
It was looking like I wasn't going to get the Terminator out of the bag again, no testing today......Bugger.
We decided to go back to where we had seen the Velvety earlier in the day just in case.
We tore off back there trying to utilise what was left of the light before it got dark.
Bloody hell there is two of them over there a bit further to the left on the hill, we decided that we may be able to get a position on them by manoeuvring into a paddock to see around a knob in front of the Deer.
Yep it worked & we managed to get into a shootable position at 1227 yards but with the light fading & lack of appropriate testing at that range we decided to use that position another day & take off back up the hill again with the 6.5 wsm.
This time it was a little easier to go up there as I knew where I was going & there was no wind to stuff it up this time, didn't stop me from resting heaps of time try & catch my breath..... not fit enough & getting old... :)
I got up the top, pretty bloody wet by this time with the high grass & recent rain, stuck my plugs in, snuck around a bit, bugger couldn't see them :(
I grabbed the CRF1600 & used that to have a look through, shit there they are you beauty, 435 yards, nah haven't used the Wsm for a while, I will get closer.
I popped down under the ridge & snuck around some more, my mate would have been wondering what I was up to, he was a wee way back with his dog so he wasn't in the way & his dogs ears were safe, his are beyond repair......
Found a better spot, extended the bipod right out, bugger still not high enough, bloody long wet grass, so I belly crawled through it over the top of the ridge, it nice & wet.....bloody hate that.
Ranged them at 355 yards looked through the VX3 CDS after dialling 2moa in to it, wishing I had a 50mm objective or my Kahles on it.
F--k the front lens is wet, every thing was so bloody damp, I thought I might have to sneak back to my pack to grab some loo paper, Bugger it, no time for that it's getting dark man, so I carefully wiped it with my finger :o
The steam was starting to come off me & my surrounding, funny how that happens when you are lying in knee high wet grass....Yuk....
I could just see through the scope but it was way less than ideal, I moved around a little to miss some grass with the muzzle, then I couldn't see them again on the bracken background, where the hell are they....
There they are, the smaller one is side one, cross hairs on his shoulder, yep do it, BOOOM, heard the smack & saw a wee bit of brown/cream in the scope, COOL, now where is the other one.....bugger steam & crap everywhere from the muzzle blast, just imagine what a brake would have done especially a Radial.... nope can't see him.
My Mate brought my discarded pack to me & said "the other went over there, stopped & waited for his mate who had fallen over, then buggered off"
Then I heard him swearing at me from inside the bush, not at all happy with me for disturbing his meal & taking his Mate.
We went over to find the Stag, not easy in the fastly fading light on broken ground, dogs are handy things, "Here he is Boss"
http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/...Velvity003.jpg
I was happy, the 120 GMX hit it where I aimed, just behind the shoulder coming out where you can see in the picture :)
He dropped on the spot after standing wobbling for a moment.
http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/...Velvity009.jpg
Not exactly long range but I can remember not that long ago when 355 yards was an improbable, low percentage shot, let alone to hit them right where you wanted too.
One good thing about wet grass is that it pretty slippery, making the short drag up the hill & then the long drag down to the ute reasonably easy :thumbsup:
Looking forward to finally using one of the 375s at distance again, maybe next time now we have found another suitable spot :cool:
