Thread: Hunting and that bastard Murphy ...

This year I was out Hunting Reindyr and shot two from a mob.

I had to go back and forth between them to put the tags on the antlers and get the guts out. I didnt have a sling on my Rifle,so I decided to leave it with one animal while I dragged a buck towards the other for the Helo to collect. Back at Reindyr one,a mob of about 500 ran past me,one of them even stopped to sniff the Rifle leaning against a rock.

been hunting in wet bush all day with bro in law...out into big clearing 200 yards from wagon,unload rifle...wandering across open ground and happen to look up at bush edge....faark,spiker looking at us,thumb rounds into mag...throw up rifle...faark like looking through goldfish bowl,scope wet...whipe it as good as can,BIL cant see deer...only head and neck showing...Ifire 5 hasty shots freehand at 75ish yards..cant hit plurry thing through goldfishbowl...go and have good look,track animal and very small amount of blood into big patch of crown fern with about a zillion wasps going crook.....no way are we going to dive into that....then penny drops.it wasnt a red it was a fallow...tiny target.....the footprints confirmed it....that was 20 years ago...needless to say Im ready earlier and till later now.

A couple years back when I first started hunting, I'd headed up the Wairere falls and had been bush stalking all day without seeing anything. Knackered I finally gave up, pulled the bolt out, put the rifle on my backpack and jumped on the track home. Within about 1 minute of the rifle being on my back a big red hind walks out in front of me 10 metres away, frozen we both stare at each other for a long while until she bolted outta there. At the time I was just happy to see it and know deer were in the area.

Was coming back to the camp just on dark after a long day. Had the hind quarters of a deer on wondering along in my own world when a jap stag jumped out about 10 meters away and had no option to run to the river.
By the time I got over my surprise he was just entering the river, easy shot, just up from camp, no worries, already had it in the bag. Mid river I let him have it but just as I fired he stumbled in the rocks and went for a skate, I thought I had hit him and started to unload what I was carrying and go get him, only to see my dead sitter jump up and bolt off into the scrub.
Found the bullet strike, no blood, clean miss, so much for a easy short carry.
Another more lucky time I was hunting with my brother, he need a dump and went into a bit of scrub, a spiker snuck out and then stood there watching him, never saw me, let it move off a bit and nailed it. Me brother came out swearing, thinking I had fired a shot to make him crap himself, was surprised when I showed him the deer, told him how lucky he was I shot it seeing the spiker was taking so much interest in him while he had his pants down.

Originally Posted by berg243

lucky it wasnt me but my hunting buddy who was sitting patiently for the deer to walk up from the scrub at the lake edge .nicely 3 deer walked up to within 40m and stopped nicely while he lined up the shot and rifle went click so worked the bolt and another click meanwhile deer are getting a bit jumpy after the third click and some muttering from mate ( more like swearing profusely ) deer decide to wander off with some haste then. back at the hut i have a go still click .question mate about what he had done with rifle before heading out on this trip and he admits cleaning his swedish mauser real well even stripping bolt for a thorough clean before reassembling .pulled bolt out of rifle did another turn on the bolt head and put back in , rifle goes bang now. I think he was a bit gutted as tat would have been his first deer.

Not the first I have known others to be caught out with that.

Last weekend I took took a bloke out for a xbow hunt he said should i load my bow I said nar not yet , we walked 100 meters just standing there glassing away and yep a well conditioned hind pops out at 31 meters ...ever seen to guys trying to quickly load a xbow

The only "Murphy moment" I have had was in the roar. I was stalking along and heard a roar which sounded a bit dodgy. Long story short. There is a fellow and his grandson coming into my roars as I was travelling into theirs. It was Ross Curtis who wrote How I met Murphy and other Murphy books. We had a yarn for a while which I found really interesting as he had been a culler in the area we were in.

Quite a few years back as I was just getting keen on the deer the old man borrowed the neighbours .308 went out the back looking for a deer..... Nothing seen got taken home and sent to bed ( must've been about 13) next morning went over to the sheep yards and was fresh offal in the tractor bucket. Sure enough old man went rabbit shooting and saw 3 hinds at about 40-50M. 4 rounds of 12g no 4 shot does the job apparently. 1 shot and neck and part of shoulder preseasoned with lead.

Not hunting but... I was taking photos of Fiordland crested penguins near Haast. Coming back from the beach through the bush on a track, I heard a crackle in the bush about 25m away. I was standing above and beside a stream. The stream was about 2m below me. Well a red hind came down from the bush and crossed the stream until it was standing about 1.5m (max!) away, with its head about level with my waist. I'd stood stock still and could have leaned forward and touched it's nose with my hand! All of a sudden it must have whiffed me. It's eyes bulged, nostrils flared, and it turned and bolted back across the creek and into the bush. It must have stood that close for about 5 seconds before it realised what I was! Was bloody cool!

Was up behind Ngaawapurua hut hunting a handy face that usually holds a deer, when nature called.

Dropped my dacks, was midway through when an 8 pter walked across the face below me twenty odd m away. Rifle was out of reach, the stag watched me finish up , squealed at me once then exited the scene.

Lesson learnt

Had two times where it all went wrong.
One a few years ago drove to my hunting spot, hoped out and got 20 secs in the bush and a 8 point stag is 50m in front.
Shut the bolt, squeese the trigger and safety is still on . Stag then departs and gone. Walked 8 hours that day for nothing and could of had a stag next to the car.
Second time, walked down to a river flat in the dark, as soon as just got light enough to turn headlamp of 20 sec later walked into a big stag standing in the river.
Time of year had no antlers, shut the bolt, right on its shoulder, click nothing and stag bolts.
Shutting the bolt didnt cycle the round, again walked half the day empty handed .

A few years back I was checking out a new spot in the Pureoras. Sideling along with the wind in my face I wasn't seeing much sign so thought a change in height might do the trick but thought I better get my bearings first. Leaning the rifle against a tree and then finding a nice spot to sit I went about checking the map and figuring out where I was. After a few minutes I looked up to see a stag walking straight up the hill towards me at only 30-40 metres. He basically looked up at the same time I did and after what seems like a life time and an intense staring competition he bolted. And yes that rifle leaning against that bloody tree was not within reach so I now I always sit with my rifle across my knees.

Sika roar - kaimanawas. Stalking up a ridge early morning to where we had heard a stag hee haw the day prior. We were almost in the “hot zone” where we planned to stop, roar and sit. I decided to take a leak so leant my rifle against a tree and took a step away from it to do so. Low and behold just over the rise in front of me I see these antlers coming along, frantically trying to reach back for the rifle which is out of reach, the stag walks up and looks right at me. I can’t reach the rifle without moving too much or taking my eyes off the stag. Within moments he is gone. If I had the rifle in my hands he would have been dead. Bugger!

I’m amazed at the number who relinquish their hold on their rifle while ‘taking a break’
Always within arms reach for me - and that’s if I have to actually put the rifle down.

finnwolf.......when my youngfella lined up on his first bush stalked deer,SOMEHOW he had not shut bolt on wee rifle properly...click.opened and reshut bolt and rest is history...we couldnt make it do it again...buggered if know what he had done,possibly safety partly on.....
we also have been moving through particular clearing for 15 years,one day we will get a deer...this particular day,dog was super excited and wouldnt settle (oh hindsight is wonderful thing) I took dog of lad and handed him rifle,scooted 5 yards up towards clearing only to see massive rack of antlers turn and dissapear......stag had been looking down at us and Meg knew it was there.......one day I will get a decent stag from that block.