Thread: What did you learn on your last hunt?

Topomaps are only 80 percent representative of reality.

How quiet sika are when they are running in from behind you to your roars. Cunning little buggers!!!

Originally Posted by hebe

Topomaps are only 80 percent representative of reality.

Too true, set of bluffs I came across in the bush this week are not on the map

Saw my first stag in the bush today!!! I saw some fresh prints and was tracking those for a while. I then saw some fresh clumpy shit, so I knew there was a stag nearby. I was thinking to myself it would be amazing to see a stag in the bush ad lo and behold! I see this flash of red and then some antlers about 40m away! It was facing away from me and had turned and I could see it's head. The stag was further down the spur and down a wee bank so I couldn't see more than it's head and didn't fancy a shot at it. It may have seen me by then and I saw it's head lower (which I thought it was just sitting down). I didn't really know what to do, so I crouched, hoping it hadn't noticed me and that it would show itself somehow. That was the last I saw of it as it had moved away. I managed to keep calm through the whole thing but once I was certain I had missed my opportunity my legs started to wobble It was a thrilling first encounter for sure.
If anyone has any suggestions of what I could have done differently in this instance I would most appreciate it.

Somme learnings of late:

- When exploring a new area (or when new to hunting) it is actually better to stick to a plan than get lucky.

I used to stalk straight from the carpark thinking "deer could be anywhere", and as a result not get to the area I intended to hunt. I've been a lot better at "sticking to the plan". Even though I may have walked past a few animals that may have been closer to the car, I have learnt a lot more about the area by covering more ground.

- I'm seeing more animals every trip, however, I'm not sure how to progress to the next step (i.e. getting in a shooting position). All the deer I've seen lately have been less than 5om in relatively open bush. I saw the animals before they knew I was there (or in some cases they did not know sense me at all), yet I never felt like I could go from knowing they were there to getting into a shooting position.

P.S. I'm sorry for inundating you all with my deer sightings. It is all till very new and exciting to me. This is partly why I have joined this forum because I'm sure all my mates have started rolling their eyes at me with my deer sighting stories (and I am assuming some of you will too, but that's okay, I can't see your eyes).

Can't wait until you nail your first one.

That deer have bloody good eyesight.
Saw Bambi happily feeding in the sun yesterday from 1km away.
She was very settled and not going anywhere.
I boosted across gully completely out of sight and snuck up on her.
Problem was she wasn’t there anymore

Thought I'd go back to see if I could find the stag again this afternoon, but I never really got there because this happened! I started to see some good deer trails and a few trees that had been rubbed down by the stags. So I began my stalk when I saw a tree that looked really kool (looked like a stag had rubbed its antlers and ripped a vine off it, which left an imprint on the tree). I took some photos for my wife and when I looked up I saw two pigs straight ahead. By the time I raised my rifle they knew what was what and took off. I tried to go after them but it was pretty tight through there. So I retraced my steps and tried another way. Shortly after, I heard a short sharp squeal. Then another one. I figured that one or two of them had been separated when they scrambled away from me. I managed to close the gap and saw them feeding and managed to actually shoot the bloody thing! There were five of them there and I contemplated shooting another one but they were making a hasty departure and didn't want to push my luck. Unfortunately, I think I got the runt of the litter, but nonetheless good to be on the board.

Learnings:

- I need to be more flexible with my plan:

A cold day meant I had a later start to the hunt than I had initially planned. However I did not shorten my intended route and was still hoping to get up to the stag I saw last time (which was some ways up the hill). The new route meant I was covering new ground and I started to see good sign. This created a dilemma as I was cutting it close to stalk this area well and also get to the stag (should have just decided to stalk slower and go back for stag another day) and possibly moved too quickly than I should have.

- I need a better/sharper knife

- I need more practice at butchering (I was really hoping no one was watching the hackjob I ended up doing).

Ignore the rain and hunt all day. I was buggered but happy bringing back the spiker to the hut as the others were hut bound.

On my last hunt yesterday afternoon I managed to stalk on to a hind that was bedded down about 40-50m away. We looked each other straight in the eyes. I put the bolt down, safety off as she gently stood up. I raised the rifle as she turned and faced me front on. It was like a stand off in a western classic, except I had all the advantage (or so I thought). I aim at the base of the neck/chest area. All the knowledge gathered from reading tips on the forum to watching youtube videos clunkily settling in the forefront of my brain as I go to squeeze (or did I pull?) the trigger. Bang and a clean miss. Again.

Learnings:

- I most definitely need more time at the range: I could have sworn I was steady, had my breathing right, pulled the trigger at the right moment etc., however the outcome would suggest otherwise. I am now doubting my ability and if my rifle is shooting well.

- Carry a map and compass AND have positional awareness. I had a complete blue dot failure, however I was pretty comfortable I knew where I was and had good identifiable features I could use to locate myself on a map. I also had good catching features that meant I was not going to get bushwhacked.

- I am either fortunate enough to hunt where there's lots of deer or my bush stalking skills are getting way better. I could have had 4 animals don in my last 3 outings had it not been for my poor shooting.

Going to the range this afternoon. I will re-sight in this rifle as well as my new rifle and get some much needed time working on my shooting.

If the shot felt good and your gun is accurate you might be hitting the deer ,spend an hour or so look8ng for any sign of a hit,blood,tracks that look od,you might be surprised,deer rarely drop where you shit them.

Originally Posted by nots0sane

Attachment 279321

On my last hunt yesterday afternoon I managed to stalk on to a hind that was bedded down about 40-50m away. We looked each other straight in the eyes. I put the bolt down, safety off as she gently stood up. I raised the rifle as she turned and faced me front on. It was like a stand off in a western classic, except I had all the advantage (or so I thought). I aim at the base of the neck/chest area. All the knowledge gathered from reading tips on the forum to watching youtube videos clunkily settling in the forefront of my brain as I go to squeeze (or did I pull?) the trigger. Bang and a clean miss. Again.

Learnings:

- I most definitely need more time at the range: I could have sworn I was steady, had my breathing right, pulled the trigger at the right moment etc., however the outcome would suggest otherwise. I am now doubting my ability and if my rifle is shooting well.

- Carry a map and compass AND have positional awareness. I had a complete blue dot failure, however I was pretty comfortable I knew where I was and had good identifiable features I could use to locate myself on a map. I also had good catching features that meant I was not going to get bushwhacked.

- I am either fortunate enough to hunt where there's lots of deer or my bush stalking skills are getting way better. I could have had 4 animals don in my last 3 outings had it not been for my poor shooting.

Going to the range this afternoon. I will re-sight in this rifle as well as my new rifle and get some much needed time working on my shooting.

Yeah looking at all that pulled hair, picking you hit that animal.

What ammo are you using? If you dont get an exit there can be very little to zero blood.

I shot a deer last sat, perfect front shoulder shot with a 130 eldm going about 2600, bullet sized entry, fist sized hole through near shoulder, internals all complete mush, zero blood trail.

She only went 20m or so but took a good amount of time to find her. They can run in some funny directions when on the last dash.

base of kneck chest area the colour of that hair I think my first quess would be you have clipped across the front of its chest - forget the kneck go further back behind the shoulder or middle of shoulder - unless the kneck is all you can see - and as others have said blood trail or at least give a good look - mark where you last saw the deer - toilet paper hung up is good or bend some fern leaves over - at eyeball height so you can see it thru the trees - this gives a point of reference to come back to - as a general rule deer hit hard head down hill so start there - (but not always downhill) work slowly in semi circles looking for prints blood hair guts anything fresh from your deer - give it a good go - its when they start heading uphill and the blood runs out thats not good at all - my last blood trail was for my mate - he went down hill looking so I sidled along and no blood just a small piece of coughed up lung fallow spiker was another 50 meter further along the face he had not gone down just headed around the face -- real bad is dark blood and fresh grass from gut bag - wait a good 10 mins and start trailing hopefully the bullet has done more than a gut shot - gut shot deer will stop eventually and you may get a killing shot at it - but you need to stalk otherwise they will bolt again -hunters have lost good stags gut shot and the only way they have found the stag is next day with a dog or go back week or two later and try and smell the carcass

Originally Posted by Nick-D

Yeah looking at all that pulled hair, picking you hit that animal.

What ammo are you using? If you dont get an exit there can be very little to zero blood.

I shot a deer last sat, perfect front shoulder shot with a 130 eldm going about 2600, bullet sized entry, fist sized hole through near shoulder, internals all complete mush, zero blood trail.

She only went 20m or so but took a good amount of time to find her. They can run in some funny directions when on the last dash.

yes can be hard to find lost a fallow spiker looked and bloody looked - had seen him take of and heard a solid whack - came back to where he was and heard a gaspy noise from the long grass on the side of a sheep track snuck up and heres the little bugger lying in the sheep track - head shot and venison - first shot had hit him a little far back and just clipped lungs

My learnings last hunt:

Taking a young fella along for the ride is wins all around,
he gets to go out hunting, enjoys the experience, takes a home the spoils of the chase,
I don’t have to do all the heavy lifting
Everyone is happy

I learnt thermals aren't as lame as I thought they were, bloody handy even when looking for downed deer in the scrub