Thread: Blooding the new toy...

I recently aqquired a left handed M595 Tikka 7mm08 with the intention of cutting it down into a bush gun. Last week it arrived back from DPT with a shortened barrel and a new suppressor fitted.

This weekend I had to work, plotting our forest for MPI. With 30 odd plots to do in 2 1/2 days I was not going to have alot of time for hunting, but threw the rifle in just in case.I was keen to go for a walk as soon as I arrived home, but I had to get some work done and ended up spending a few hours measuring trees. By late evening I'd had enough so headed down to the paddock to sight the rifle in. 6 shots later and I had a 100m zero, good enough for me.

With about 40 minutes of light left Pip and I headed off to a spot close by that often has the odd deer visiting at this time of year. Stalking into the breeze we didnt see anything at all, not even much sign, until we hit the last grassy corner in the block. Plenty of sign was scattered in the grass but no deer were there to be seen.

As I was about turn around and head back to the truck Pips attitude changed completely, her nose indicating to me that there were deer in the native, hopefully about to come out onto the grass. We backtracked into some cover with a new plan of waiting the few remaining minutes until dark.

We'd waited only a couple of minutes before I heard some twigs snap and sure enough one by one four deer walked out of the bush into the grassy clearing 30 yards away. In the dim light I could make out two mature hinds, a young hind and a spiker and as I was there to christen the rifle I chose to take the spiker . However before I could chamber a round things quickly changed, the lead hind saw me, bolted up the bush edge and dived back into cover.

Pip panicked a bit and let out a yap, the first time she's ever done that. Thankfully for me it stopped the two last deer and in the fading light I managed to sqeeze off a shot at the smallest one. At the shot it dived into the scrub, but crashing branches and bracken fern confirmed to me it was down for good. I sent the dog in first and she lead me straight to it. Turned out it was the young hind I'd shot and not the spiker, so I was a bit disappointed. I felt a bit better when I gutted her and found she wasn't in calf.


Rifle, dog and deer;




I was lucky I had taken Pippa and trusted her nose, as without her I'm sure I'd have turned back to the truck without waiting for the deer. As a result it was a very rewarding hunt.

I didn't get the chance to do any more hunting over the weekend but the following evening we caught a (mature) guy with his rifle and dog on our side of the fence stalking a deer. He was known to us and had talked about hunting on our farm in the past. As a result he'd been told that if he wanted future access he needed to ask. Seems he's deaf.

The scary thing is, he wasn't not far from where I'd been hunting the night before...sad when you can't hunt your own property without the thought of being shot by a poacher running through your head.


Cheers
JoshC

Nice looking rifle, that deer should cook up well.

Well done Josh and don't worry too much about not getting the spiker. he will be a trophy in a few years

Good dog, well done on the deer, shame on the poacher.

Originally Posted by Rushy

Well done Josh and don't worry too much about not getting the spiker. he will be a trophy in a few years

Cheers mate. Yeah I know, but under the circumstances I prefer to risk shooting a spiker this time of year than a hind in calf, or worse at foot. We have spent the last 20 or so years trying to build the herd up, and try to keep tabs on ugly stags. It is difficult to do in the type of country it is, not to mention the ones that are shot unlawfully, but we have noticed definate improvement in general antler quality over the years which we suspect is from better animal selection and better feed quality from fertilising.

Originally Posted by JoshC

Cheers mate. Yeah I know, but under the circumstances I prefer to risk shooting a spiker this time of year than a hind in calf, or worse at foot. We have spent the last 20 or so years trying to build the herd up, and try to keep tabs on ugly stags. It is difficult to do in the type of country it is, not to mention the ones that are shot unlawfully, but we have noticed definate improvement in general antler quality over the years which we suspect is from better animal selection and better feed quality from fertilising.

A yearling hind is not likely to be in fawn but I understand and applaud your rationale.