Thread: Winter hunting the bush....Great time to be out

Winter bush stalking is a great time to get out looking for deer , and pigs if you into them.
Heres a wrap of the last few weeks. Havnt been out nearly as much as one would like but had a couple of hunts and some success.

Awhile ago after not much hunting at all decided to chase some pigs with my mate and his 2 dogs. First hunt was with a couple of other guys in a private block, didnt take
long and the dogs found a pig and after a short chase we got a 60lber.
Couple weeks later my mate rang and asked if i could take a day off during the week as he saw some sign of a good boar (around 150lb) near the road in a DOC block.

So i arranged a day off late in the week and bright and early after overnight rain we went for a look. When we arrived and let his 2 dogs out they seemed quite keen and raced of into the scrub.
After looking around there was fresh rooting from a pig, not the big one but of a pig around 80-100lb.
After 10mins of waiting and watching the dogs on the gps they had gone 300m and a bail started up! My mate has a stuffed ankle some he handed me the rifle and said go get it.

Rushing off thru the scrub to the bail is abit different than slow bush stalking, and i soon discovered that im not that fit after not much hunting lately lol.
Still, didnt take that long before i got withing 50m of the action, i saw one dog above me then the pig broke and charged off down the hill past me.
Dogs were hard behind it and then there was silence.
I waited, heard nothing and as i made my way back down i ran into my mate that was limping along lower down.
He said the dogs were back around the ute and the next thing a bail from there opened up again.

So off i went again, 200m back toward the ute and they had the pig 20m from it in the scrub. One dog was holding it and i grabbed the pig and had a sit down and a rest lol.
My mate turned up and he stuck it and we had a good eating boar of 90lb.


















Pity it wasnt the 150lber as it was 20m away from the ute lol so we were back on the road by 745 back home, cant beat that for a day off work!










Last weekend decided to chase a winter fallow. After all the floods and rain we had the rivers still were up and the bush was wet but i got up early and headed up the track in the dark.
Was a good walk in, crossing swollen creeks and got to the area i wanted to hunt.

Didnt take too long stalking in the bush i saw sign, and i knew i have to climb real high to get amonst the deer so the hard sweat and tears began.

30 mintues into it i came to a nice area that looked good, and the wind suddenly shifted direction and the next minute 2 fallow are running across the gut .
Darn it! No time for a shot and they were gone. Bugger, but thats bush stalking for you.
Didnt see much on way out stalking the tops and 7 hours after arriving i got back to the 4x4 totally buggered.


Today i decided i go for a red, in the spot i now call my meat safe. A small area of DOC native but holds a couple of deer so i grabbed my most trusted rifle, the mighty 243,
my light weight stoney creek pack and headed off in search of a winter deer.

Winter is a great time to hunt deer, signs easy to see, normally wet so you can move thru the bush quietly and the deer dont move around alot so
if you find sign the deer arent far away.

We had overnight rain, which i find good for bush stalking and arrive at the spot with mint weather. Straight away i saw fresh deer sign but i didnt hold hope i find a deer so low down
so the plan was to climb real high, up into the steep stuff as thats where the deer are going to be at this time of the year



Its great bush stalking bush and i kept seeing deer marks so i was feeling good i get a animal.











After a hour heading up into the steep country and following a game trail with some marks i suddenly saw a deer about 60m away looking at me!

Because of a bush, all i can see cleanly is its whole neck and head and its seen me but hasnt taken off.
Wasnt game on a free standing head shot at that range so i decided a neck shot will have to do before it bolts so i slowly lined the crosshairs on the base of the neck and squeesed
off a 100gr Fed powershok and BOOM the mighty 243 went.

Yes, was a good shot and the round hit its mark and down the deer goes. That 243 doesnt let me down much, if at all so was very happy with that result
















Was a nice young animal and shot it in some nice bush so thought about taking it out whole but i was a fair way from the 4x4 so i decided to bone it out
and maybe see if i can bump another on the way out.























After boning it out i headed out but went wider to cover some more country and after going a fair way, not far from being out i could smell deer!

The smell was very strong, i knew deer had just been here or were very close and as i headed to abit of a drop off just below me were two deer standing broadside on in the open.

The had already busted me but they hadnt run. Maybe it was because i had a deer, as i normally never shoot two but instead of just dropping one i just stood and looked taking
in the scene, its always great to see deer in the bush.
Suddenly it came to me im not far for being out and its going be quite easy to get it out whole from there and a voice screamed out inside my head shoot one!!

I slowly rasied the rifle but i had watched too long and the deer decided it was time to go. i had them in the scope but the shot was dodgy as they were moving so i just decided
to leave them now for next time.
They soon dissappered, wasnt that worried about it really and that was another great days winter stalking.

well, until the next report, happy hunting and dont worry about the cold, winter bush stalking is wheres its at, get out there and get amounst it!!

Hot barrels Cheers

that crown fern is heaps easier to move through in winter time too.
great writeup thankyou.

Great writeup Deer243. Your freezer will be looking top notch. Lots of good summer bbqs coming up.

Great write up!

Good stuff. You really should come up North and chase Sika one day.

Originally Posted by Chur Bay

Good stuff. You really should come up North and chase Sika one day.

Yeah, would love to chase them one day. Its on the bucket list

Not a bad Saturday night read.Enjoy yr veni and pork.

Good yarn. Winter is an underrated time of year for bush hunting I reckon.

cool, thanks for sharing.

Originally Posted by Brindog

Nice winter venison interesting rifle that you shot the pig are lever action rifles really that safe because I've heard that you can do some things wrong and it can be quite catastrophic.

Didnt shoot the pig, stuck it. Lever actions are genrally the prefered rifle for pig hunting.
No bolt to get caught up in the thick stuff plus the cal prefered (eg 44, 44mag,357 ,3030 etc)are more often in lever action. I personally dont like lever actions
over a bolt action but heaps of people use them and they fine to use