Finally did it.
Got my first deer last evening (Friday 15th Novemeber 2013).
A lovely plump hind. Had some the back steaks for dinner this evening. What a privilege to have access to such tasty meat.
We were stalking a flat at dusk and keeping close to the tree line then we spotted 2 at 250m. We stalked in and zig zagged across the clearing so as too block their most obvious escape route. Once she was 150m and out of the bush a bit more I got in position but she wouldn't turn around. Kept her ass pointed right at me. Time was of the essence as darkness was closing in so I gave her one straight up the ring piece and quickly put another in the engine room when she turned to keep things humane. Fat and ready. Not ideal shot placement but didn't have the luxury to go for neck but all things considered I actually damaged a very minimal amount of meat and ended up with quite a few kilo of venison...which is fun for 5 minutes until carying the extra weight takes it's toll!
We walked over, I said my thanks and appreciated her there before we got the blades out and gutted her there.
Credit and thanks to the bloke I was hunting with who kept eyes on the prize and spotted like a pro, couldn't have done it without him... and he helped carry and gut her as well as hearing me brag all day. Cheers mate.
Wind in our face, walking slow as hell and checking for sign earlier in the day paid dividends. I'm stoked....the only photo I have is the end product as I didn't have my camera out ready, we were ready for business and didn't even think to take a photo as we were gutting in darkness so no apologies at all but here's a photo of the plate to drool over all the same. This is one back steak and fed six of us tonight.
Thanks to JoshC and various other folk who within a week of joining the forum have helped me out with a bit of advice and even some areas to check out.
Took me 6 months of serious stalking but I'd wait another 6 years plus to experience this again. What an honour, the hard yakka getting in, being patient, and more hard yakka carrying her out was worth every drop of sweat.
Not to mention the fact we get to do this in the most beautiful damn country in the world.
Living the dream
Jord
Thanks to Attachment 16512
