May it be the first of many
Today I got up early and headed away for a hunt.
left the old gal Meg at home in a sulk ,took young Poppy as both dogs together just isnt working,the old gal cant wind properly with young lass jumping on her or licking her chops,cutting her off as she walks etc so made hard call after last day out...one at a time for now.
Poppy was winding well last time out so I had high hopes today.
made the call to NOT go back up to my usual bush hunting spot,time to change things around so took the trebly and headed into the tussock country.
forcast was for cloud....reality was light misty rain,this spot has produced for me before in these conditions so all good.
headed off up track and just kept walking,right past boundary marker..hmmm this looks a bit weird??? realised my error but as wind was correct we went with plan B and headed in from other end of area we wanted to hunt,hunted up ridge into clag and sat down hoping for a clearance of visibility,hadnt even got billy out to boil and cloud moved and BINGO ,fallow stag with spikes only....
not a heck of a lot of option to stalk closer without loosing all contact with it in tall tussock and trying to jump it up for snap shot with fixed 6x not ideal so a careful straight on approach was order of the day...closing distance to 200 yards I realised we had been spotted,Poppy flapping ears possibly alerted young stag,he simple sat down behind tussock and kept peering at us through leaves....these fallow arent dumb,Ive seen them do this before and a fallow head through scrub isnt easy to spot... looking ahead I made a spot maybe 150 from deer,if could get to there,it would just have to do.
got there and got comfortable on hill side,no chance of prone..would be shooting off knees,now to get stag to stand up..5 mins wait,nope just kept peering through tussock fronds,tried whistle..nope..more whistles,nope,just turned his head and stayed hunkered down...tried yelling...nope,same reaction...got binos back out,yes difinately still there but only head visible....got steady as posible and aimed through light screen of tussock at centre of face.... pop goes trebly..always surprises me the sound it makes after years using the .223,its just different,might be waitaki can too. deer got up and hopped away slowly while Im frantically reloading ..not that quick with break open single,deer slowed,lined up pop thump and deer dropped out of sight. reloaded and waited watching for movement...nothing.
walked down to where deer last seen,confident Poppy will find it with help.. the vegetation was tit height..oh crap,this could be needle in haystack,wet tussock isnt going to give me much help..we moved into area it shouldve been,Poppy moved forwards and out it jumped,bounding over tussocks.I fired at head (took off one spike....done eggzachary same thing twice before!!!) stag dropped out of sight again....not confident it was down for count reload and move forwards again..crazy thing,as Im lining up on fallow Mr wallaby was seen out corner of vision 10 yards away.... cheeky hua.
Poppy was winding but not sure what was going on,we got past where I thought we should be,turned around and headed back..I kept encouraging Poppy to go find it... she was bopping around looking,scenting..early days. then I spotted fallow head poke up about 40 yards away,Poppy had stopped out of my line of fire so up came trebly and ended it properly...much easier when deer is stationary.... confident it was all over rover now,walked Poppy in and sent her ahead..she is really impressing me as likes to be within 5 yards of me,perfect for a bush hobbit,her nose finally got good whiff of animal and she darted forwards and poked head through tussocks...then bolted back to me...FARK THATS A HUGE RABBIT!!!! she hasnt seen a deer before and has only seen me shoot hares...she was happy to go back again..with Dad to back her up..then the Labradore kicked in....hmm I can posibly eat this....
lots of praise,lots of pats... out with knife and got 99% of usable meat off animal,Poppy decided she really really likes fatty bits of fallow venison,so much so I was worried the knife was going to poke he in face at times...well mannered and polite but very keen for another wee bit please...
loaded up pack and wandered back the 8km to wagon...
didnt even stop to make a cuppa tea...grass was long n wet so didnt really want to sit down in it and try to clear spot for boilup.
got out to car and rang mate in fairly,put the billy on please, dropped off some venison for him to enjoy and got to smooch his wonderful dogs
all up a great day out and I have high hopes Poppy is going to be great companion on the hill,she is the most "birdie" dog Ive ever owned and with natural point already there and staying in close...hopefully I can encourage the bits I want and dont cock up the rest.
time will tell.
