Thread: Photos and quick description of hunt -blue mountains

Had a bit of an internet presence hiatus last couple of months but headed out into the Otago blue mountains bush Monday Tuesday this week. Been a while since ive gone out there.

Monday 5am bright and early to 9pm with nothing. Missed a stag at around 7pm, bullet fell too low and grazed a bit of his chest skin (found the little patch of skin but no blood where he was standing). I feel really REALLY bad about that. I hope he recovers from at without too much issue. Yeah, nature can be even more cruel sometimes but that wasn't a necessary wound for him to get. While doing the slow painful disappointing march back to camp empty handed in the dark with my headlamp, i saw a possum. He looked at me funny. He was mocking me.

Next day (yesterday from this post) went back in at 5am again, got a tiny little young male at 10am, straight through the heart, even though i aimed higher. I think my rifle needs sighting in very badly.

While I was processing him, a bunch of other deer occasionally appeared to take a look at what I was doing and barked at me. Of course when I reached for the rifle they ran off. I found it a bit strange that the deer in the area didn't just disappear after the loud bang of the gun, but came in to investigate instead.

Got about 12 kgs of meat from that, 1.5 kgs of that being backsteak. He had some pretty big back muscles for such a little animal.

Had chinese style ginger and wine stir fried liver and kidney with rice that evening. This video shows the general method, but the ingredients i used were slightly different and I quickly blanched the organ meat in boiling water before adding to stir fry. it was very tasty. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luwEoHJGnbE

Extremely disappointed that I missed that stag, but at least I came home with a bit of some good quality venison from a young animal.

Don't beat yourself up, everyone has missed a deer. Just go to the range and sight riffle in before going out again

Well done on getting the deer, nice eating those wee fallow.

Enjoy your venison, you put in the long hours and hard yards so you deserve it

Well done
Wild critters are pretty hardy, I think the stag will recover fine. As 7mm says sight ya rifle before you head out again. Nothing worse than not being able to trust where it's shooting.

Looks very tasty
Although that purple mushroom looks like it might be full of nasties.
Great pics too

Everyone misses now and then. Unfortunately for me I blame the rifle and go to the range and find it shooting perfectly.

Well done.
If you haven't stuffed up a shot then you haven't shot many.....
Probably it will be fine and a bit wiser.
Dont dwell on it and endeavor to improve.....starting by checking rifle zero.

Enjoy the feeds as I know you will.

Great report,cool pic of the Mushy .Do not be hard on yourself & instead use the experience as a lesson ,on making sure of the gear & your shot for future hunts ,sounds like you have found a productive patch ,so may pay to head back as soon as you can before the Roar Hormones set in proper & may scatter them .

That is a great eating size ,we call them Snak Paks,do you take the Neck Chops ?they are delicious & you would make some great recipes with them .

Remember when you check the rifle at the range ,shoot it as you would in the field ie same ammo , no excess rest points or barrel resting on anything etc & if you can start with the target at 25-50mtr for easier adjustment of point of aim, before finishing off at 100mtr & let the rifle cool between shots .

Good Luck on your next hunt

Thanks for the encouragement and tips everyone.
I think I did my last sight in about 6 months ago. Was hoping nothing got bumped since then but I guess I need to tighten the scope and do another round of sighting in. And if it turns out it was shooting perfectly then I just need to improve my ability to aim properly when doing quick standing or kneeling shots.

Originally Posted by bunji

That is a great eating size ,we call them Snak Paks,do you take the Neck Chops ?they are delicious & you would make some great recipes with them .

Remember when you check the rifle at the range ,shoot it as you would in the field ie same ammo , no excess rest points or barrel resting on anything etc & if you can start with the target at 25-50mtr for easier adjustment of point of aim, before finishing off at 100mtr & let the rifle cool between shots .

Good Luck on your next hunt

I shaved off the neck meat in pieces but I think next time I will take the whole neck with the bones in it. Less messy that way. And good idea on letting the rifle cool, i imagine it might shoot a bit different when warm. When a deer appears out of nowhere in the bush, the gun is cold, not warm like it is after many shots at the range.

Your onto a good spot there so keep at it. The deer you got will be a nice eater and the stag should be fine, where the bullet grazed him will be like him running into a sharp stick so will recover fine.
Your stir fry looks nice , enjoy the meat.

@JessicaChen When l get into the final fiddly bit of finding a rifles accuracy Node with a particular load ,l have always favored cold barrel POI over last 0.0000 MM shaving accuracy adjustment ,even still do/did it when l had the Long Range itch with my 338 Edge,300 Wby Mag, 300RUM etc,etc .


You will love Neck Chops & will make some great recipes with them ,with your flair for cooking

What l do is if you are cutting the throat as l see ,instead grab the animals head under chin ,twist upwards as far as possible & aim for the gap in the vertebrae immediately at the base of the skull , you will find the twisting up will form a gap easily found by the blade .This will minimize wastage & you then just butcher by cutting into the chops,they make beautiful slow cooker casseroles, fantastic curries or in Snak Paks like that one lovely just done on the BBQ.

You're doing well getting them in the bush to start with! They can do some strange things as you have attested to, coming into check out an intruder etc but in general they are very sneaky and intelligent little deer. What side of the Blueys were you on @JessicaChen ?

Originally Posted by Ryan_Songhurst

You're doing well getting them in the bush to start with! They can do some strange things as you have attested to, coming into check out an intruder etc but in general they are very sneaky and intelligent little deer. What side of the Blueys were you on @JessicaChen ?

I was on the west side this time. And yeah they are super quick little things, i think ive only managed to get close like this because ive been minding every step and trying not to move too much. Also changing the gear I am wearing or wrapping my suppressor in felt, because some things make very unnatural sounds when brushing against vegetation.

You are a good hunter,most guys can get on to reds,but fallow in the bush are a diffeent game.You gota be a walking ghost,twinkle toes.Well done.
A couple of cold bore shots every few months,just gives you confidence that you rifle is on target.
Enjoy your venison dinners.

I dont see,eye fillets or heart in your stash of meat??? missing out on the best bits some would say.....definately worthy of quickfry and chuck between bread n butter.
you are doing VERY well stalking up and shooting deer in the blueies many a good bush stalker has been stumped in there.
even a simple look through bore then scope at object 25-50 yards away will give you confidence all is lined up properly..easy to do if rifle held in something firmly.

Good report and well done. Don't beat yourself up over missing one. Ive missed a few in my time and Ive found that after a couple of years of intense therapy I've been able to let it go. So you will be ok. Just keep it in perspective.

By the time you get into the trees next time after sighting in your rifle you won't give it another thought.

It looks like you have mastered the disassembling and cutting up thing - good.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

I dont see,eye fillets or heart in your stash of meat??? missing out on the best bits some would say.....definately worthy of quickfry and chuck between bread n butter.
you are doing VERY well stalking up and shooting deer in the blueies many a good bush stalker has been stumped in there.
even a simple look through bore then scope at object 25-50 yards away will give you confidence all is lined up properly..easy to do if rifle held in something firmly.

Some of the stash wasn't in that particular photo. The precious tenderloins were in the fridge along with the offal at the time of that picture. Unfortunately the heart, one of my favorite bits, was completely demolished by the bullet.