Thread: Trip Report

Hey Fellas,

Thought I'd post quick trip report as many of my learnings so far have been helped along from advice on here combined with boots on the ground.

Big week on the tools last week but was itching to escape down bush for a night for reset and to try to find where these deer are hiding in the cold.

Got down set up camp and did a bit of pre spring house keeping.

Left camp around 9 and decided to walk over into next stream/catchment where I'd seen a fair few animals last spring.
The frost down low made me think that the deer were pretty unlikely to be down at stream level so I left the track and started sidling around above the stream through the tawa.
Small pockets of sign but nothing to get to excited about with no real decent Tucker around.
I dropped down into a fork in the stream crossed over and found my way onto quite a decent but thick ridge.

I climbed slowly and skirted around the broken areas of supple jack and popped my head into the ferny guts that were catching the mid morning sun - still not alot of sign but I pushed on.

Worth noting that I am only just starting to get truly comfortable with navigating the thick pureora native by myself and every time I get back to the track efficiently is rewarding.

By this stage I'd been stalking for 2 hours and was starting to lose focus, I'd told my mate I should be back by 3 ish so decided to turn around at 1.

At 1 I was met by a wall of supple jack so decided it was time to start looping back around.

I noticed a almost benched track headed into a very steep gully so started following that, as I got further down more and more prints were joining the game trail and it was starting to look good, I got to a point where 3 trails converged and it looked like a small horse had recently been through so I deployed my new trail cam in a cunning location.

When I got over the next rise I thought I was guaranteed an animal... fresh sign absolutely everywhere in a broadleaf feed belt, hundreds of square meters of almost cattleyard type ground, I stalked through this stuff for 45 mins absolutely studying every bit trying to spot an animal but to no avail!

So to round out i learnt a great new spot and gained a little more confidence hunting solo, I managed to boost back to camp by my estimated return time.

Looking forward to heading back in to grab trail cam and knocking over a nice fat spring spiker!

Cheers.

You found a winter feeding area, won't be far away to their daytime camping area.

tetawa onto it now its timing and learning the way in and out to get back to camp - hit that feed area at right time and I am sure you will be in like Flynn -

Yep, despite not shooting anything the hunt was still really rewarding, my goal is to be able to knock over animals consistently in public bush, not easy but I bloody love the challenge. Am building a fairly good knowledge now of the area and figuring where animals will likely be through the months/seasons. Spring is on its way though and will feel like its cheating again haha

Murphys law when I head back I'm picking the animals will have moved down a little lower but that's OK I know where they are coming from and where they are likely heading so fingers crossed!

Nice trip report mate. Sounds like you're on it. Also looking forward to the change of seasons, want to be able to hunt all year round so good to know where their hanging out.

something I learnt and may be relevant for you is looking down at the sign to often.once in a hot spot keep eyes forward all the time it was a hard habit for me to break and I still have to think about it.
Deer if they hear or see you a way off will often just move away silently and youll never ever know they were there,i now see a lot more deer at max bush visibility range and get more shots away.
Good that you found that area its likely a night feeding area,the nice open bush that us hunters like to hunt is the opposite for deer, they dont like open areas during the day.try and find a game trail from that spot heading higher into that gully head on the north face they likely be bedded up there.youll probably smell them before you see them.

The knowledge you have gained will certainly get you animals in the future. Look forward to the next report, and what’s on the camera. Oh and a pic of the animal you get.

Originally Posted by Yesmate

something I learnt and may be relevant for you is looking down at the sign to often.once in a hot spot keep eyes forward all the time it was a hard habit for me to break and I still have to think about it.
Deer if they hear or see you a way off will often just move away silently and youll never ever know they were there,i now see a lot more deer at max bush visibility range and get more shots away.
Good that you found that area its likely a night feeding area,the nice open bush that us hunters like to hunt is the opposite for deer, they dont like open areas during the day.try and find a game trail from that spot heading higher into that gully head on the north face they likely be bedded up there.youll probably smell them before you see them.

Yep I learnt that the hard way last year, only glance down to check where I'm putting my feet now. Hard to not stop and have a look at some huge prints when you walk past still tho!

Thanks for the positive feedback guys, looking forward to posting up a few trail cam pics and hopefully grunting a full pack of meet back to camp.

we used to have some real experts ( ex SAS Police ) do instruction courses for us in DOC one great tip I learnt was directly applicable to hunting - observation - we learn to look from left to right reading and it becomes ingrained - teach yourself to look from left to right and then back from right to left - scan whole area - its easier to do standing still - as others have said dont pay to much attention to fresh sign at your feet - it simply means you are in right spot - its likely as others have said the deer will camp up for day a little higher up especially up on a ridge where they have a view around and breeze and sun - but they have bad habit of picking a piece thats hard to get at quietly - what is important is to learn how to get in and out of that good area you found- Pureora is not a place to stumble around in the dark by torchlight

Originally Posted by Barry the hunter

we used to have some real experts ( ex SAS Police ) do instruction courses for us in DOC one great tip I learnt was directly applicable to hunting - observation - we learn to look from left to right reading and it becomes ingrained - teach yourself to look from left to right and then back from right to left - scan whole area - its easier to do standing still - as others have said dont pay to much attention to fresh sign at your feet - it simply means you are in right spot - its likely as others have said the deer will camp up for day a little higher up especially up on a ridge where they have a view around and breeze and sun - but they have bad habit of picking a piece thats hard to get at quietly - what is important is to learn how to get in and out of that good area you found- Pureora is not a place to stumble around in the dark by torchlight

No you are right re stumbling around in dark, funny thing is I used to do competitive orienteering so am probably suffering a little from over analysis paralysis, I find when there are two of you both chiming in RE navigation is when you tend to get a little disoriented, solo i can just follow nose/instinct and have a geez at gps/map when I sit down for break.
Between bushstalking and learning fly fishing I've certainly had a few goals/challenges to work towards in the past couple years!

Originally Posted by Barry the hunter

we used to have some real experts ( ex SAS Police ) do instruction courses for us in DOC one great tip I learnt was directly applicable to hunting - observation - we learn to look from left to right reading and it becomes ingrained - teach yourself to look from left to right and then back from right to left - scan whole area - its easier to do standing still - as others have said dont pay to much attention to fresh sign at your feet - it simply means you are in right spot - its likely as others have said the deer will camp up for day a little higher up especially up on a ridge where they have a view around and breeze and sun - but they have bad habit of picking a piece thats hard to get at quietly - what is important is to learn how to get in and out of that good area you found- Pureora is not a place to stumble around in the dark by torchlight

Are you sure? I seem to remember doing a lot of stumbling around Pureora by torchlight (and some in the daytime also)

Originally Posted by Ross Nolan

Are you sure? I seem to remember doing a lot of stumbling around Pureora by torchlight (and some in the daytime also)

we have all done it- that does not make it a great idea - we come back a lot by torch - but its tracks and we know them

Originally Posted by Barry the hunter

we used to have some real experts ( ex SAS Police ) do instruction courses for us in DOC one great tip I learnt was directly applicable to hunting - observation - we learn to look from left to right reading and it becomes ingrained - teach yourself to look from left to right and then back from right to left - scan whole area - its easier to do standing still - as others have said dont pay to much attention to fresh sign at your feet - it simply means you are in right spot - its likely as others have said the deer will camp up for day a little higher up especially up on a ridge where they have a view around and breeze and sun - but they have bad habit of picking a piece thats hard to get at quietly - what is important is to learn how to get in and out of that good area you found- Pureora is not a place to stumble around in the dark by torchlight

Lol re these experts. They have several hundred hunting a fugitive here in victoria at the moment, instead of saying we're up the creek without a paddle they are starting to blame the locals for harbouring the wanted man.
Seek your own solutions, then you only have yourself to blame.