Thread: Bush stalking the first deer

Originally Posted by Dominator

It was one of those trips where I just felt really good about it and felt like it would produce the goods... finally.

Through no lack of effort my mate and myself have been on a few trips now trying to bag our first deer but fallen short. We have seen some animals but felt there were big improvements we could make in the hunt to improve our chances. With improving our techniques in the bush we felt it must only be a matter of time.

My mate and I went out for a hunt a week ago Doc land bush stalking. This was the first time we had hunted this area. The sign was plentiful which kept hopes high. 300m into our stalk we had our first encounter. It was intense. The bush was thick here and we could not see what we were dealing with. The deer must have only been 15m away and was barking away. eventually it broke away without us getting sight of it.

Not too long after we made a little ground and checked some nice bush out, stopped for a snack and a yarn. Following this, we made our way back onto some fresh game trails and sign, and out of nowhere 50m ahead of us up the hill the bush crashed away and saw 2 deer split and run off. Damn... but wait, the one on the right stopped and looked around... The angle was tough and it was facing away slightly broadside and up hill. I managed to plug it with the 308 higher up on its back and straight through a lung, and the bullet stopped in the upper spine. Stoked!

The other deer was barking as it ran off. When we reached the target we were presented with a lovely young hind. Perfect first deer and awesome eating. The shot placement meant meat recovery was maximised. Two students heading back to dunners with some meat for the freezer.. priceless.

Was some cool learnings here in processing the meat too. First time we have done this by ourselves and think it went really well but picked up on little things that will make a difference next time in the field. That was also the first blood for the 308 baikal which is a sweet little rig.

Cheers

Awesome man, First deer is always awesome. Heres to many more