No question, deer populations can get out of control in some environments and need to be managed.
The wet winter has made farming hard and its a real bugger when deer are scoffing the top off the next paddock the sheep are going into all of the time. It was a 'phone conversation about that that resulted in me driving 3 hours so that I could cull a few for a farmer and give the rest a good telling off.
It was drizzly and muddy beyond belief on the farm and the tracks slippery to navigate but nothing that the new quad tyres couldn't cope with. I know the property very well and pretty much knew the area that the grass thieves would appear out of the scrub for thier evening nosh up.
I got myself concealed on a good look out spot where I could watch about a km of scrub edge and waited the last 1.5 hours of daylight out. About half an hour before dusk the first few reds appeared on te scrub edge about 800 yards away so I started sneaking down to get within shooting range. I wanted to be under 300 yards. I had a good breeze into my face and reasonable cover to stalk down through. I sneaked around a steep face in the scrub and quietly peaked over a spur I thought I could shoot from. I could see 16 reds all settled out on the grass. What looked like the lead hind (a big aged looking hind) was the furtherest away at 287 yards. The rest (all hinds and children and one spiker) were scattered about with the closest at about 200 yards.
So I set the 20" Mauser M18 (6.5 PRC) up on the bipod and settled in for some shooting (it could hardly be called anything else). I then ducked out of sight and sound and rang the farmer on my mobile 'phone..."I'm watching 16 reds, how many do you want me to shoot?", I asked. "17", came the reply. :)
Back to my set up rifle and a wipe of the lens and I was ready for a shot. The big hind hadn't moved so I line up on her shoulder and heard a satisfying whop at the shot but I didn't see her go down.
Deer ran every were and mostly towards me up an open creek rather than straight back into the scrub. Maybe the suppressor confused them. Maybe because there was no longer a lead hind. In the panic and confusion I counted 19 deer.
The spiker stopped on the side of a face in the open and he dropped on the spot at 250 yards. Then a 2 year hind ran around under me and stopped at about 80 yards which I drew a bead on but left, thinking that 2 were enough and the rest wouldn't be back for a while and I would be back by then. But a young stag was silly enough to appear right on the quad track that I needed to come down and just stood there, so he copped one in the neck. Scanning with the binos I could see that the big hind had only gone about 15 yards before tipping over. Three for three with the 124 Hammer Hunter projectiles. 287 to 100 yards.
Here's the young hind down below me.
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So I trudged back up the hill to where the quad was parked and got ready to go and collect the 3 deer. I was in steep hill country and it was now dark. I had a long night in front of me.
I drove right to the young stag so dealing with him was no trouble. A quick gutting job and I hoisted him onto the back of the quad and tied him down.
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Sore neck
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I got to about 100 yards from the hind. She was in the mud and a real mess.
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I dragged her onto a bit of a better spot and disassembled her and carted it all to the quad (one shoulder was ruined). There was mud everywhere.
Next I walked the few hundred yards around the face to the spiker. He was shoulder shot and both shoulders were ruined, so I took the rest of him and carted it to the quad as well.
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I now had a whole deer, 4 hind quarters, a shoulder and all of the back steaks and inside steaks back at the bike. It was parked in a creek that I had to travel down and then pick up a track for the ride back to the ute. That trip would take about an hour. It took about 30 minutes to tie it all on and to sort my gear before I got going.
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Traveling up the creek.
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One good thing about the short winter evenings is that Im not so late home, but I still had a bit of work to do. Back at the ute I had to sort my gear and shift the deer from the quad to the ute. I got home about midnight. It was a clear night at home so I biffed a wool pack over the deer and left them on the ute. I was up first thing in the morning and drove out to Brian's where he has an excellent butchery set up and wash down in his old dairy shed.
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It took me about 3 hours to break everything down and get it ready for its next trip to feed people far more needy than me.
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I kept the back steaks and inside steaks for myself and friends.
So ended a big day or so but rewarding and fun. The farmer appreciated the deer being thinned a bit and so did the people who received the meat.
That was all 2 weeks ago. A few more have hit the deck since then too. :)
