5 Attachment(s)
Wet Whisker Crossing Hunt & How To Make A Venison Fart Cushion
Bit quiet on here of late, so thought l would throw up another quick report to try & kick things along - :thumbsup:
So today at the Bach we had a small break in the weather before more rain settles in & with the pressure on from the "God Fathers of Salami " to fill the Game gathering list , for ingredients for our next Salami & Sausage making session ,l planned to head off in the Jet Boat down to a spot where a Farmer had asked us to wipe out a big mob of Goats, that were in a very difficult bit of country for them to reach from Farm side of the river.
The plan for the day was to get the missus some field practice with her new favorite rifle, the Old School 90's Remington Mountain Rifle in 280 AI, l had just inherited , that she has now nominated as the rifle she will use during our annual couple of weeks hunting trip over the Roar . I worked up a nice accurate & very mild load for light game, of the 120 grn Nosler Ballistic Tip pushed along at just over 3180 fps, that was putting 3 shots into 18mm consistently at home on the farm range .
At first light l loaded the missus & 2 hounds into the Jet Boat & headed off up the river, it was well up from the recent floods ,so apart from there being a heap of flood & tree debris floating down in the main river ,what was before a tight & tricky run up the side creek in the Jet to get into the back country where the goat problem was ,now was a easy push through , with only low hanging branches on the risen water levels to watch out for ,after a couple of smacks in the face of the curious dogs ,they soon decided the floor was the best spot & had a snooze cuddled up to the warmth of the engine box .
After around a hour & a half run ,l found a good spot to beach the Jet out of the fast moving water ,but unfortunately much closer to where we were going to hunt than usual ,as the little sandy beach l normally use was well under the flood waters. Me the missus & dogs started the steep climb up into what we nick named Billy Goat Basin ,where on previous hunts we had seen large groups of separate mobs of 10 or so happily bedded down in their family groups across the basin . It took us around 3/4 of a hour to make the climb up & we were both surprised how long the grass had got with the recent consistent rain & it made for a very slippery & wet going ,any wonder the Deer ,Goats & Pigs were all in prime condition , even the hounds were happy to have a breather ,so on a sheltered rise before Billy Goat Basin, we settled in for smoko by firing up the Jet Boil for a cuppa & a feed of some of our home made Salami ,Biltong ,Jerky & cheese & bikkies which the dogs were only to happy to share .
So after giving plenty of time for any noise that may have drifted up from the Jet Boat to be forgotten by any game in the immediate area ,we started the low creep up to a glassing point, again there were scattered groups of goats soaking up the morning sun ,the grass was that high it hid from clear view many of them , after searching for a close group of good looking meat animals suitable for what we needed , l checked the swirling wind what seemed like 20 times & while it had a spell ,led the missus & hounds to a little rocky out crop where l hoped the missus would get a good over view of the target group of good eaters l had selected & a good solid rifle rest .
I had sized up the lay of the land & thought the goats would take off along a particular game pad in the the high grass, trying to reach the safety of the other side of the mountain ,through a narrow rocky pass ,the missus would hopefully be able to nail a couple as they angled up in plain view of our rocky vantage point & if necessary l would back her up with the 284W.I went over with the missus how l thought the group would react at her first shot & to advised her set herself up to take the shots along the game trail l guessed they would try to escape along .
I let the missus know to take a large black Nanny in the group first, which l ranged at 114 mtrs as she would be perfect for the Salami making mix & then work her way through any small Billy's which are perfect for our Game Sausage mix ,the dogs were behind us trying to look intelligent ,heads held straight up scenting & seeing who could shake the most with excitement ,l wanted to use this as a opportunity to reinforce control of them too, even in strange for them environments, where they were fanging to see what was going on & making sure they kept any excited whimpering to their best ventriloquist impression, of only quietly as they could through closed mouths & gritted teeth .
I made sure the missus had a great rest using our day pack ,but also as usual made her do it herself ,so any time she is hunting alone she will quickly know how to do it herself & what works best for her .I wound the NF 2.5-10 x 32 on the 284W down to 2.5 power so if any wounded animal took off on a Zombie run, l could take it on the run & said to the missus to count to 3 when she was ready ,but reinforced she was the only shooter ,so to take her time picking her targets & she would be fine ,at 3 the Nanny went down with out a flinch ,the next shot dropped a young Billy while they were still all looking around to see what had happened & then the missus did a fine job picking off another 2 young Billys as they worked there way along the pad l had guessed they would use .
Again was very pleased how the missus handled the "stress " of having to quickly pick her shots & perform under pressure & the Hounds are coming along in leaps & bounds doing exactly as asked ,it was interesting to see how unlike how the gleefully lick downed Deer & Pigs as if showing "l did dis " they would not have a bar of the goats ,both turning their noses up ,although as suspected having the standard doggy competition of seeing who was quickest gobbling down tid bits while we were cleaning the goats was not a worry .The 120grn BT's performed perfectly ,bang flopping every one of them & make a great choice for small light skinned game like Goats,Chammy & Snak Pak sized Fallow etc & will see a lot of use in the coming meat animal hunts .
After we had loaded the goats onto the back of the Jet so we would not have their smell blowing in our faces all the way ,we needed another Deer for the chiller & with not knowing what the weather would do next ,l headed off to another spot we had seen good Deer numbers last time , but unfortunately it would mean a wade across the chilly river crossing to reach & by now we had a threatening sky & light drizzle falling .
After a half hour run & finding a good spot to moor the boat out of the fast river flow ,after a deeper than expected, chilly river crossing (especially for those lacking in the height department ) at the now named Wet Split Whisker Crossing & a lot of swearing coming from she who knows best, choosing to ignore my advice & trying for the shorter ( & as we now know deeper ) route :P ,
we all set off up the thick scrubby hillside we were going to try our luck on , after a hour of fighting our way through to a good hunting height, Muttley locked on to a scent ,so l got the missus to get Sako to heal & let Muttley run the show ,after 20 mins of slow tracking ,Muttley had the tell tale sign of the Tail up in the air like a flag pole & quivering the tip like a Rattle Snake, a sure sign a Deer was close , l never shoot over my dogs & as l stepped past Muttley with my gun at the ready a rustle came from the bushes ahead, as l got myself a steady footing a hind burst from the bush & tried to make its escape up hill ,the 284W swung smoothly & it dropped at my shot ,rolling down hill until it came to rest next to a tree .
It was a great eating size & fat as mud so would make perfect game sausages ,we would have a full boat on the way home so ,we decided to call a early day & would head out for a hunt in the morning ,where l will try to put the missus onto another Velvety for the Salami mix & she was keen to try her hand at working with Sako alone to track one .
Again the 140gn Barnes-X pushed along to around 3000fps from the 284W performed like a bone grenade had gone off in the chest cavity , when l put my foot on the chest as it laid at the base of the tree, it sounded like a Venison Fart cushion .I noticed the sharp bones poking through while l was carrying it out, so when l got back to the Bach curiosity got me to skin it out for a look before hanging for a start , rather than skin on as l normally do . Sure enough the Barnes had absolutely smashed the shoulder blade ,showering bone fragment shrapnel into the chest ,shredding Lungs & the Heart with enough force to puncture the rib cage skin & making it look like a pin cushion & the off side shoulder was like jelly .
Rachies Billy Goat Basin Bomb Up
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Muttley Trying To Look Intelligent
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Rachie At Wet Split Whisker Crossing
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Snak Pak
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140grn Barnes ,Venison Fart Cushion
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