Thread: Always check your gear...

Sunday in Hawkes bay was pretty crappy weather and some of us lunatics decided we would go for a hunt. Up at 4:30m as daylight savings had kicked in. After a coffee and a few bullshit stories we headed off to our hunting spot. We arrived to gale force winds, but as we had made the effort to get there we thought we better give it a good go. The wind was SE direction and the worse possible breeze for the block. After a a slog up a few hills and into some prime country we waited for a stag to make some sort of noise. The rain was pouring down and the stags were silent. We decided to go into some pines nearby and hoped we would maybe see or hear something in there. After a pointless stalk through the pines we decided this was crazy and started to head back to the car. Being the stubborn bastard I am, I thought nope we are here lets try one last ditch effort to get a stag roaring. Out with the horn I proceeded to bellow out enough noise that my mates started to laugh at me. We were drenched in rain, standing in a wind that blowing right up our backsides and there were no stags. My brother put his gun down and I took off my pack to have a drink. We sat in the drizzle thinking about our next move. My brother made the call to leave the block head home and get dry. I put my pack on and my brother picked up his gun. We started to head to the top of the ridge when we heard a crash. Thinking nothing of it we continued up the ridge. Its funny because right at this moment the rain stopped and as I wear glasses I decided to get out a peice of toilet paper to wipe the drizzle off my glasses. No sooner had a done this we heard a thunderous roar that made me almost shit myself. A stag had come in on us and was less that 30 or so metres in front of us. We could see bushes moving and a set of white tips moving through the shrubs. It was my brothers shot and I had lost a previous game of paper scissors rock to him. The stag moved in on us only 15 or 16 meters away. My brother loaded up a round and slowly lifted his gun. IN all its glory the stag was standing 10 metres in front of us. I can remember the noise of my brothers rifle going off and watched in disbelief as the staged reared up and ran to the left crashing its way through the bush. What the *&%#@$ happened there! My brother had no idea why he had missed, and I've always considered him a crack shot. On careful scrutiny of his gun one of the lock nuts that held his scope on was loose and his scope was not secured...........He was a solid big 12 point and one of the biggest animal I have ever seen. Hence the title......always check your gear