Hadn't been out for a few weeks, a stuffed knee making it too hard, but an improvement meant time to get out on the hill somewhere for some outdoor therapy. Freezer status was good, so it was more about testing the knee and having a nice day out, so I was taking my time on the walk in, stopped off at a nearby hut mid morning to do a brew and just chill out, but I got itchy feet and just had to go and have a look. Hr and a half later and I'm sitting high on a hill glassing and spot two Fallow in a Matagouri belt on the valley floor, ummed and arrred for a bit, was going the other side, but decided to roll down to try my luck in the prickly jungle stuff and see if I could get a "spook and shoot", yeah nahh, they won that one, put up a couple of hoppers, but left them alone.
Moving on down to a nearby river to use the dead ground to glass up into the sheltered guts, got a brew on and bugger! three deer all looking right at me, busted! Not wasting a perfectly good brew so I stayed put for a bit and just looked back. Brew done, tried crawling along some dead ground to get off their vision angles and close the gap. Nanna up over a wee rise to have a look, and they are looking right at me, again! Wind in my favor, no problem there, range about 500yds and then they decide to wander further up the valley away from me. Need a new plan they had me covered.
Ninja skills to the fore, get onto the hill and spend the next hr and a half getting high and around behind where I thought they would end up. Wind was blowing a bit by then so was walking down the steep stuff on the gusts to cover my various stumbles and grumbles. I get to where I should be somewhere above them quite close, but cannot see because the ground drops quite hard to a bluffy bit, start crawling down to get a look over the edge, bloody stupid K2 pack decided right then to sit on my head, as I am trying to extract my shooting arm, the three deer bust out stage left, a hasty shot taken just as I start sliding over the drop while fighting with the pack missed everything, but I did manage to bash myself in the face and gain a couple of semi black eyes and well smacked nose, oh joy! was able to extract myself from the pack, not go over the edge and roll onto the other side of the ridge and catch up with one of my deer with a 168 Amax, not the best angle as they were going away on the opposing slope, but still into the engine room and a clean kill.
Oh joy of joys! it rolled down the hill onto the flat, a well flowing wee tussock drainage a couple of meters away, and snow patches for chilling the meat. Get a brew on and eat, sort the hind out for carting away, and an easy stroll to the bottom of the hill I needed to go over to get back to the main valley. Headed back to the hut I passed earlier in the day, had decided to get comfortable on the veranda and get a good rest before heading to the road end, knee not happy by then.
Looking across the valley I could see the hut had life, you never know what you are going to get....... Was greeted by a bright and friendly young lady and her dog, we got to chatting about stuff as I brewed up, her other half was of up the valley a bit with a bow. Was neat to be chatting with a young lady who understood and appreciated hunting as a pastime:thumbsup: Had to laugh, she works for DOC in Geraldine, and was telling me about their "wellness and health" kick, among other things, they are allowed to bring their dogs to work! how cool is that?. Anyhoo, her other half turned up with his dog, I had my pack back on to leave at this point, but got down on one knee to greet the dog, bloody this was so excited and energy filled, it knocked my on my arse!, they had to give me a tow back up. I think he was a bit keen to see me on my way, not sure he liked the look of me....
Get home, and as always, the wife has a brew ready for me and we chat about the day before dealing with stuff like cleaning up and eating ect, told her about the guy at the hut and she laughed at me and asked me if I had seen myself? "well no says I, I don't carry a bloody mirror" "I already know how good looking I am"! - so I go and have a look...... unshaven, dirty, salt caked with a cut and bloody face with black eyes just starting, carrying a rifle and looking a bit rough, yeah well maybe.
Tea tonight, roast spuds, roast pumkin, peas, gravy and veni steaks.
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