A day bushhobbiting with my boy

My boys have been asking me lately if we could go deer hunting in the bush.
Sure thing, wait till I have a free weekend and we'll go for a look.

Saturday afternoon I say who's keen for a hunt tomorrow, Ryan (17) says a very affirmative yes. Josh (14) says what time are we waking up, 4AM son, um nah that's too early.

Asked @Micky Duck if we can head to his best spot and he says no problem and even passed on the latest info he had. If you ever want to meet a good guy, Mickys one of the best.

Got to the carpark half an hour later than I wanted to, partly because we got to bed too late so set the alarm 15 minutes later and partly because a teenager was involved.

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Up the creek we ventured and was very happy with the amount of sign we were seeing. Further up we popped up onto a ridge that leads to a couple of very productive clearings, loaded with patchy broadleaf trees over a lush bed of jellyfern.

Nothing seen here so we settled in at the top of the clearing and watched quietly for 25 minutes as we had a bite to eat.

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After packing up we crossed a spur which leads to another similar clearing but nothing was seen there either. Slowly down an adjacent ridge hoping to bump into something but apart from seeing a good amount of pig sign in places all was quiet.

Near the bottom of the ridge we stumbled upon a nice 5 point cast antler and Ryan said "we should look for the other one because I've seen YouTube videos where they shake them both off at the same time"

Sure enough within 20 seconds he's holding up the other one with a big smile on his face. A couple more grassy clearings passed then we dropped back into the creek and stopped for a cuppa and a biscuit.

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On the way out we climbed out of the creek and followed the ridge back out towards the carpark, Ryan heard something run off but it wasn't seen at all. Very good amount of pig sign in this area too.

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Got back to the car just as the forecast rain was starting to fall so we managed to stay dry apart from the sweat that had dampened our shirts earlier in the day.

All up a good day out with my boy, better than sitting at home doing nothing.

great stuff mate...I reckon I could just about put X on map for all them photos LOL.
those bits of bone look VERY good for a young stag...heres hoping one of us can catch up with him with headgear still attached....
really awesome you getting out with the lad......he has a good teacher and thats really promising for the future,wont be long till he shoots a deer and then look out,he will be into it.

Nice spot there Rumpy n son.Better luck next time.

Good stuff!

Great read we'll done

Yeh those casts look pretty good , especially in a couple of years time. Quite amazing you didn’t get a look in with all the sign about but that’s hunting , next time it maybe different so good luck for the next outing.

You son got his trophy for the trip and memories made