Wifey took the kids away the other weekend to meet her brother and his family in Queenstown. Unfortunately for me, it was my turn on the weekend roster for shifting breaks and feeding out so I had to miss out. I decided to make the best of it though and take a sunrise stroll around my family's forestry block before getting into the day's work. I don't often take the liberty of doing that, on weekends I usually feed the kids and let mum lie in till I head out the door, but with no chocolate porridge to make, the hunt was on!
I parked down the very bottom of the block at the access gate, thinking to myself, 'there's no-one waiting today, make a morning of it!' For me, half the fun of taking the rifle out is the walk. The exercise, the sweat, the silence between footfalls and the sense of being present are all a part of what makes the occasional success all the more sweet. It was about a km to where I thought my best odds were, an easy inclined walk up forestry tracks to the base of a pasture and scrub face above the trees. I hit my regular glassing spot right at first light and after 5 or so minutes, began picking up animals. The nearest pair were a fat looking Hind and her big healthy weaner son at about 650 yards.
After I had checked the rest of the offerings for that morning out I decided the Hind would make a good eater. Numbers around the area have been climbing lately and taking the top off the breeding herd is becoming necessary to prevent them from becoming too problematic. I dropped back to the tree edge from my vantage point and began stalking around the face to close the distance. the wind was playing silly buggers so when a good rest presented itself at 350 I decided to take the shot. If you have read my other yarn on here you will know the last time I took a 350 yard shot, it didn't go that well. With those events playing in the back of my mind, I made sure I ticked off everything one by one. Checked the range, still 350. Checked the dial, set at 350. Checked and adjusted the focus. Got comfortable on my rest and waited. The hind turned broadside, the wind ebbed, I let my breath go and squeezed the trigger.
I lost sight of the Hind after the shot, but was pretty sure she was down by the confusion the young fella was exhibiting on his way to join the rest of his mates on their way to the treeline. There is a heap of feed around in this block at the moment and I was confident he would be fine. I might even bump into him again in 6 or 8 years with a bit of luck! I watched them disappear and started over to where I had last seen the hind.
She had made it about 10 meters from where she had been when I fired. I was rapt. It was great to prove to myself that the rifle and my process were capable of the desired result outside my shooting range paddock. I set to work on the field dressing and when I got to the heart was pleased to see my shot placement had been spot on, nearly splitting it in two. With the full animal dragged to the nearest point I could get a quad to later in the day, I took some time to sit in the morning sun.
This Bachelor life is alright I thought, but I'm looking forward to telling my family about this when they get back!
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