Bush Hunting Sika Stags.

Hey guys this is my first post on this forum, I have had some unsuccessful bow hunting trips and whenever
I did take the rifle it was big stags only. My brother Jere (bushmanjere) and I were getting ready for a
hunting trip this weekend, we couldn't decide if we should take our bows or rifles. Dad said he
was running out of meat so rifles it was. Since this was going to be my last hunt until the stags were
hard early March next year I decided to take a meat animal.

After the 4.5 hour uneventful drive after work we walked into our fly camp in the dark. We had a
couple days of awesome weather so we wanted to make the most of it waking up early. There was a
thick fog in the bush which made spotting the winter sika even harder. I spooked a stag just 15mins
from camp, didn’t get a look at his head but his marks showed he was a mature animal. I carried on
walking down the shaded side of the hill while watching the sunny eastern facing slopes as the sun
filtered through the open beech. Conditions were perfect with a slight breeze coming up the hill
towards me while the fog was lifting showing a pearlier of a day. It felt great being in familiar sika
country. The next couple of hours showed sign here and there while I spooked a couple less then
50m away. I had a good cat and mouse game with one of them for 10mins but she wouldn’t come
out of the thick shit.

I came to a really sunny open patch of beech, I knew there had to be a deer in there somewhere,
after searching for a few minutes a decided there was nothing there so carried out only to hear an
alarm whistle and see a hind and yearling trotting away, I got the rifle up but not quite quick enough.
Sure enough they were both sitting down behind a big beech tree, smart little buggers.

I tracked them for a bit but decided to leave them and try and get them on my way back. A little
while later I saw a bit of movement down in the gut around 80m below, I thought it must be one of
the many birds flickering around but then I saw a big dark hindquarter behind a bit of thick crap, I
was certain it was a stag, he was a little nervous and started trotting through the beech this time I
had the rifle up and waited for him to move into an open patch, I gave a little squeal which stopped
him in his tracks, I steadied myself for the 80m free hand shot, hitting him in the shoulder and
dropping on the spot. It was my first shot at an animal with my new bullets “Hornady 139gr SST”
very impressed with them.

http://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/...ps03a98c68.jpg



It was just a little spiker but prime venison. After taking a few photos and gutting him, I cut out the
eye fillets, backsteaks , hindquarters and one forequarters to cool down while I carried on hunting.
1 hour later I headed back to the spiker and boned out the rest of the meat. With a heavy day
pack I headed up the steep hill back to our fly camp. I saw that Jere was back, he also had a pretty
successful morning I’ll let Jere tell his story..........


"Leaving camp at day break saw me stalking through some nice open beech forest, I spooked a deer
not long after leaving, but never caught a sight of it. After that brief encounter the morning slowed
down, without seeing or hearing another deer till 10am, I stopped to make a brew and decide my
next course of action. My plan was to sidle my way towards the main ridge, then climb up and drop
over the other side. About half an hour of sidling I was standing on a steep shitty little spur looking
across. A slight movement caught my eye, as a stag came wandering down the other side on a
slight angle towards me, a got a brief look at his head, and didn’t notice anything too special, all of
a sudden another stag following the first showed itself. Straight away I notice the wide antlers with
tops, this lifted the heart rate a notch or two!!! They were moving at a quick pace, and I decided
to cut them off, they heard my movement, and started to go back the way they had come, I gave
a quick squeal, which stopped the smaller stag in a small shooting window, at the shot he dropped
instantly. Another shot was then fired at the larger stag, which took off instantly. I heard a small
amount of thrashing which made me hopeful of a hit, but showed some restraint and made my way
over to the 7 pointer. Making my way up to where the animals were hit showed two clear blood
splatters, and after a quick search a massive blood trail was found. By far the easiest blood trial I
have ever followed led me straight to a nice even 8, which had gone about 60m. Forgot my camera
for the trip, so decided to gut them, and carry them to the main ridge, later came back with the bro
for a photo session".

http://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/...psbb2c2a11.jpg

http://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/...psdee7a9c4.jpg

http://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/...psc69e7405.jpg









With packs boarding on the 40kg mark the car was a welcome site after our 7.5 hour walk.

We dropped the jaws off for aging, will be interesting to see which is older,

Not too bad for a weekend hunt.

Ben.



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Cool! Nice one guys

Nice work, would love to get into Sika country one of these days...

Cheers for sharing.

Just having another read of this, jealous man. How long is that 8?

Haha, its not that long only around the 25inch mark, it would actually lose points for being overspread, prob 3inch wider then longer. Looks cool tho.

Nice bunch of stags there :D

Sika sure have pretty little faces huh!