Thread: Rainy days are the best....venison galore

Nice one

Epic carry, gotta have it easy sometimes bloody good work
Cheers

well rather than start a new thread,I will just tack todays hunt report on here....hope thats OK with the EBRG toter....
bit slow at work as its been persisting down with rain,work know its going to go mental next week,so I took oppertunity to take a thursday off...
made plans to head away at 04:00,got all my stuff organized and set alarm clock.....
alarm went off,and I hit snooze for an hour then went back to sleep.....bugger the early start,work has been getting me up early so I needed a sleep in.07:00 next alarm went off,Mrs Milky made me cuppa tea and gave me shit about not leaving early.....had rethink on gear,didnt need the ripstop chaps,so swapped them out for gaiters.
set off up the road,saw nice big velvety red stag 50 yards off the side of road,still on tarseal!!!!!
parked wagon ,got Meg out and set off...7kms later I hit hunting block....hadnt seen anything yet as had deliberately left binos in pack,on previous trips Ive seen lots of deer OUTSIDE of hunting area,so was determined not to be tempted this trip.
got to area I expected to see something,Meg was keen as mustard to head off through swampy tussocks across wind.....shouldve known,she isnt wrong often..we kept looking around and then spotted first fallow of day 300ish yards away up in tall tussocks,now fallow seem to be my nemesis animal,not sure what it is,but if my shooting is going to turn to custard,there will be fallow in sights,having recently played musical scopes and not having had time to recheck zero no way was I going to risk over hundy yards....we tried to get a bit closer but young stag kept climbing up and away into misty rain....we were maybe hundy yards closer,puffing up hill when I look across gulley and see 4 pale animals casually walking up/across hillside,up with optic,half pie expecting thar and nope its four more fallow,I look a bit harder and spot there are more of them just above the first four...optics confirm TEN tasty wee morsels on the hoof....HOLY SMOKE BATMAN!!!! umm too far for .223 and me (kicking myself for not checking scope bigtime now)kicking myself for not bringing howa .270....... right watch and see what they are up to..and where did first one go????
the mob headed up hill and over crest of ridge...right if we haul our big fat over weight bums up this face and over the top,we might just be able to cut them off if they continue graizing on far side of ridge....Meg n I huff a bit,we puff a bit,sto pfor filling of water bottle,bit more huffing,see wallaby across gully,yeah nah not today fella,lots more puffing and we get ourselves nearly up onto ridge,there was a semi flat spot on ridge top we had been aiming for and we slowed down before reaching it...made the wee flat,I looked uphill into swirling mist and HELLO whats that I spy??? looks awefully like back of a deer,up come optics,up comes a head,followed by half a dozen more,all of 75-80 yards away. pack comes off,I sit down behind it,Meg sitting off to one side (good girl,you learning FINNALLY) line up on shoulder of stag and drop crosshairs to just above tussocks should be 1/3 of way up body and fire.bit WHOP of sound returns to my ears....the stag stays still and unseen hind spins furiously around and staggers,then staggers a bit more and flops over,moving towards me.Im confident any deer hit Meg will find no worries.she needed a lot of telling to get her hairy bum back beside me and not hare off up for a look(more learning needed),I can see deers head poking up in tussock,so sit and fire careful shot into head,we leave pack in open and quietly move up hill,Meg NOW allowed to move ahead of me,still kept within the 15 yard range and Im ready just incase.no need to worry,stone cold dead.Meg gives the usual chew to make sure...and we drag her back to pack to do the poohs n wees bit...now this is where life gets interesting...where the heck did that first shot connect??? big solid whack sound,deer fell over..... taking back wheels off and .whats this bruising??? I had hit her across rump between anus and hips...NOT PART OF PLAN.....bad enough wrong deer but hit on bum!!!! tut tut Milky,NOT good enough.luckily no meat damaged too badly.took both back wheels,both back steaks,both eye steaks,forgot to remove heart!!!! loaded pack and started long slow slog homewards.halfway down hill towards track,Meg gets all keen again and starts winding,sure enough a fallow hind takes off through tussocks,dont need another one,my back will give up completely if load pack up any more,neat to see aniamls and be able to watch them walk away for "next time/person"..get down onto track proper and manage to get past first lot of angus cows n calves without issue,Meg did well to stick at heel...carry on plodding and look up at next mob of angus cattle...now why is there one murry grey calf with all them black angus??? up come optics to reveal a young thar lol WE WERE WITHIN HUNDY YARDS OF IT....nope dont need any more meat ,and no way will I be shooting out here outside of block...got within 50 yards of it as we took low road to get past cows n calves s othey need not walk all way down track to gate...plodded homewards with 3-4 mini rests.....finnaly made wagon at 15;45
so wet walkies in misty rain mid week on a block that gets hammered,most Ive counted was 13 other rifles on block as we left.
Christmas prezzy for Daughter sorted,freezer filled back up with prime fallow venison.
take care out there folks.

Well done mate, good write up

Ye big write up,took a bit of reading.8ks with back wheels and steaks in the packs.Yr poor back,pufpuf,i feel the pain.Bloody good effort.Enjoy the venison and a rest.

found perfectly mushroomed 50grn sierra inside rump steak,so it had gone all of 3 '' broken pelvis and mushed tiny bit of steak...definately not ideal...triple checked scope alignment,both with colimeter and eyetrometer on thin chimney 200 yards away,yip its dead in line still.must poke holes in paper to confirm.
legs a little tender this morning but otherwise I feel pretty good... time to loose some weight.

Well done. Knew you should of bought a 243 Micky...they shoot true haha. Good on ye, good to see putting in some hard yards.
Wont be long before i be putting in some hard yards but i be giving the venison away to someone that deserves it ...freezer is quite ok at the moment

took @amlnz out for a wander today as weather forcast was for showers...back to same spot but this time we did circuit in reverse...that cheeky young stag who outclimbed me last week....well he was below us today and stopped long enough for Al to put 87grn hornady into his neck with 25-06..dropped like a sack of spuds.pretty good effort for his 2nd ever shot at a deer,with new to him rifle he had fired 5 shots out of before.
beautiful clean summer coat so I skinned it out for him to get tanned and we divied up meat for carry out...tell you what,its a heck of a lot lighter pack when two people to share the load LOL.
AWESOME day out on the hill...and Im absolutely stoked to get Al on the board.....

Nice one @Micky Duck. Not sure when i be out next, got a posioned finger from the shark catching lol so out of action for a couple of days