Thread: End of year trip

I had one last trip out for the year this week before silly season starts in earnest. So loading up the ute I headed and hour and a half south, pulling into my first choice the carpark already had 4 hunting vehicles, so decided that 4 groups in one valley was too many, I moved to my second choice an area I have not been into before to find the carpark empty.

Shouldering my daypack I headed in using the walkway for the first half hour before heading off bush, didn't seem to be much sign around initially despite this being an area supposedly holding goats and deer. I wandered along following the river going slow watching all the grassy clearings, eventually I came to a sandy riverside beach holding a lot of deer prints that looked to maybe be a day old as the edges were just starting to crumble.

Two hours in and the sides are crowding in, the rocks are getting bigger and slippery so I stop to eat my evening sandwich, as the evening arrives I turn around having seen or heard nothing, the wind is swirling every which way.

Literally 20m from the walkway track end I stop for one final time and stand totally still listening to the birds and just enjoying the peace before walking out to the mad world beyond, as I take the first step I hear a deer take off up the hill from 10m away, the bush was so thick I never even got a glimpse.

So ends my hunting year of 2025, the year in which I tried so hard to get my first Solo public land deer and failed. I will be back in the new year.

Happy holidays everyone Happy Jack.