First hunt for 2022

Took the family up for an overnighter as mr 7 1/2 was chomping at the bit. Chose a spot an easy 45 mins from the car. We arrived about 6pm set up a camp and had a bite to eat. By the time I was ready to go have a nosey around 8pm the lad was fast asleep in the tent. Mum stayed watch so the hound and I set off. The wind was fickle and I spooked a deer inside the bush edge. I gave up on that about 8:50pm and changed direction straight into the wind up the side of a tussock clearing.
It just had that feeling so put the dog on my heel. Two steps stop and look and so on. A few moments later I could see a set of beady eyes looking at me from twenty metres away. Rifle up , safety off. Couldn’t quite see the shoulder in the tussock so guessed a bit. At 20 m it didn’t matter. The 140gn BT did the business.
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The bullet entered exactly where I’d Aimed. I recovered the projectile inside the skin just in front of the hip bone. Massive damage and instant death.
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Job done. Arrived back at camp before dark, Cleaned up and had a cuppa with mum. Good times.
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Goal this year is to shoot more deer than last year.

Great goal for the year! I like the damage the projectile did there, there’s no need to ever carry shoulders!

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Originally Posted by craigc

Great goal for the year! I like the damage the projectile did there, there’s no need to ever carry shoulders!

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@craigc no need at all. Some muppet left the dog food at home so Ruby had the better shoulder for dinner and breakfast:)

@Nathan F So no rivers around ? You will need to start carting in a bucket of water ,so you can at least dunk the deers head in it next time :wtfsmilie::P:thumbsup: I take a shoulder shot as often as l can over wasting neck chops .Well done mate ,the old Lab is looking smug,doing the Look at me ,l am the son now look :thumbsup:

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Originally Posted by bunji

@Nathan F So no rivers around ? You will need to start carting in a bucket of water ,so you can at least dunk the deers head in it next time :wtfsmilie::P:thumbsup: I take a shoulder shot as often as l can over wasting neck chops .Well done mate ,the old Lab is looking smug,doing the Look at me ,l am the son now look :thumbsup:

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@bunji yeah no water ! How about that. Should I have taken a shovel to bury offal ?

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Originally Posted by Nathan F

@bunji yeah no water ! How about that. Should I have taken a shovel to bury offal ?

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Or you could just put a Eel in the bucket of water :P:thumbsup:

My eldest daughter is still a mad keen Hunter at 28 yrs old with 1/2 dozen guns in her safe ,when she was around 4yrs old l was away a lot guiding Overseas & back then l was into hanging heads in the trophy room & she would look on in amazement at what turned up & as always a 1000 questions on everything . She went through the Daddies Girl stage & would not leave my side ,refusing to go shopping in town with her mum ,instead wanting to "help" me working on the farm .The Farm dogs loved it & they were her "pack" surrounding her as she walked the back blocks ,knowing mum would have stuffed her pockets with treats, anyone growing up farms knows eating mud ,grass & getting multiple face licks a day is the best immune system builder there is . She learnt from those early days to never touch a gun in the Farm truck Cab etc & to respect them, back in them days all wood Pop guns were the go & she never went any where with out hers much to the In Laws disgust .:P

She would get up bleary eyed & still half a sleep to go hunting, never complaining & falling a sleep for the drive out as soon as she got in the heated Tojo cab, usually with a half chewed piece of toast on her lap ,to go through the whole trying to wake them from the dead again once we arrived at the hunting grounds .

She watched Game animals dropping at the shot ,being Gutted & cut up 100's of times & to save another 1000 questions l would sometimes lay out the guts on the ground & use a stick to at first point out where different bits were inside our bodies & what they did (l figured this would be a good way of also teaching them later on where to aim & what we were trying to hit & why ).

She now credits those times & learning about how body parts function & there purpose, in her choosing to become a Veterinarian & due to her mum having Horse Stables & a riding school on the farm to specialize in, EV ,Equestrian Veterinarian Care. So it amazing how these early trips can be so formative with them .

Enjoy & embrace these days in the field with your little man ,in my experience in years to come you will look back at them with a tear in the eye more often than you care to admit :thumbsup:

@bunji yes nice one. Time sure flys by way to quick. The boy doesn’t know it yet but I’m taking a week off at the end of the month and we’re going on his first chopper trip. We will be camping out and doing it right. The last 7 1/2 years have gone way to quickly. Time certainly is precious.

@Nathan F Good One ,it reminds me of a trip we did that with our little huntress when she was 7 , the missus & l still laugh at . By the time she was 7 she would crack the shits when l went away guiding & not talk to mum for a day or so & go out the back verandah with her Pop Gun & just sit talking to the dogs who would lay in a group like they were at Kindy. So the missus (who loves hunting ) decide we will get Gran down to baby sit the little sister & we would take her & do a fly in trip to Stewart Island at Mason's with my Little Bro,the theory being if it was too much for her we could just take her fishing etc for the 4 days.

As we came in to land her eyes were as big as saucers as it dawned on her we were not joking about landing on the beach & within 10 minutes of her setting up her bunk & us getting the gear unpacked ,she declared she wanted to live there . BUT what we discovered was just being a little person with attitude , when we were stalking through Fern choked dunes & gullies etc she could not see any thing because the Ferns etc were at her head height & then as we moved through with her in-between me & mum ,the Ferns would smack her in the face every time ,the look of disgust she would give us would make us both giggle ,so in the end l would set up some branches in the fork of a tree over looking a clearing & sit her up there like a Magpie .

To this day she still swears we did it deliberately & were trying to put her off wanting to go away on hunting trips,the teachers use to tell us she never shut up about it ,but we wonder what version she gave a good hunt or Child abuse . :wtfsmilie::P Your Little Man will not stop talking to the kids at school about your trip if he is like ours & they drop it into conversations with any adult, much to the old lady at the shops shock for months afterwards :P:thumbsup:

My lads are nearly 51 and 49.
Our relationships are founded a lot on our outdoors experiences together and it all prevails to this day. Hopefully it will until I shuffle off.

The 3 of us have a text group and it is chocker with outdoor stuff. I guess that its a little bit competitive.

Last night I texted a pic of a young hind I had shot. The older son came back with a pic of he and his family camping out on the coast. This morning I received a pic of younger son and his 2 sons boating from Foxton to Kapiti Island for the day. Then pics of his 2 sons diving for paua off the boat. Back came a pic of older son's son in a wet suit on the coast and paua cooking on the barbie. Then a cell phone call from off the boat to me from 14 old grandson buzzing because he had seen a stingray while diving for the paua. I rounded it out of a pic from last night of 3 hinds. Its gone quiet, but tomorrow is another day.

Its constant. It's beautiful. And to all the Dads' out there who see their children growing up so fast, it need never stop.

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Originally Posted by Tahr

My lads are nearly 51 and 49.
Our relationships are founded a lot on our outdoors experiences together and it all prevails to this day. Hopefully it will until I shuffle off.

The 3 of us have a text group and it is chocker with outdoor stuff. I guess that its a little bit competitive.

Last night I texted a pic of a young hind I had shot. The older son came back with a pic of he and his family camping out on the coast. This morning I received a pic of younger son and his 2 sons boating from Foxton to Kapiti Island for the day. Then pics of his 2 sons diving for paua off the boat. Back came a pic of older son's son in a wet suit on the coast and paua cooking on the barbie. Then a cell phone call from off the boat to me from 14 old grandson buzzing because he had seen a stingray while diving for the paua. I rounded it out of a pic from last night of 3 hinds. Its gone quiet, but tomorrow is another day.

Its constant. It's beautiful. And to all the Dads' out there who see their children growing up so fast, it need never stop.

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Awesome. Love that. I’ve just got to keep fit and strong for another 10 years then I will have my own packhorse ! The boy is 7 1/2 wears small mens clothing and is headed for 6ft5”. I’m grateful to have sheep and cattle as well as a regular supply of venison. They take some feeding !!