Thread: First public land deer, and a near disaster

Well done and yep darkness changes things a lot, don't ask how I know though.

Well done. Always learning.

Good stuff, well done on both accounts, disaster averted and some tasty venni

Funny how often the deer are looking right at you, happens to me all the time.

In my experience the pigs don't bother with them until they are almost liquid.



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Back wheels in one lump and front end boned out into daybag takes care of all but a big stag. There are a couple of really easy ways to carry out back wheels. Like giving the kids a shoulder ride is my usual method. There is another way with two long strips of skin as straps...haven't seen that first hand.

Block and tackle as mentioned is light and about as bulky as a muesli bar so can be useful, especialy for those of smaller/lighter stature. Couple of things stood out for me though. A decent knife wouldn't go astray. Even a Mercator pocket knife, which some on here rubbish, is good for dealing with a couple of deer without needing a sharpen. Secondly, as others have stated, you take your gear with you. Gut the animal and leave propped open, it'll be alright left overnight for retreival the next day or take what meat you can comfortably carry - don't be greedy.

That was a good outing , lots of learning and plenty of meat to enjoy at the end , well done.

A red hind on the ground is a surprisingly big animal, stags even more so. The most important thing to get is a photo, everything after that is a bonus. Well done.

What an awesome yarn! Your wife is a keeper! Lots of learning. Two things I always carry, a Buck sharpening steel (might be a diamond sharpener?) The handle unscrews and the steel goes inside. Small and light. Back in my day Boy Scouts always carried 2 or 3 metres of cord on their belt, I still carry a bit of strong 6 or 8mm soft nylon cord with me, even when rabbiting. You can thread they cord though the hock and carry, or drag, a heap of rabbits. Also handy to secure the deer or goat to a tree while you gut it or joint it on a slippery slope.
Good hunting, good shooting and good meat recovering, well done!

Originally Posted by Hugh Shields

What an awesome yarn! Your wife is a keeper! Lots of learning. Two things I always carry, a Buck sharpening steel (might be a diamond sharpener?) The handle unscrews and the steel goes inside. Small and light. Back in my day Boy Scouts always carried 2 or 3 metres of cord on their belt, I still carry a bit of strong 6 or 8mm soft nylon cord with me, even when rabbiting. You can thread they cord though the hock and carry, or drag, a heap of rabbits. Also handy to secure the deer or goat to a tree while you gut it or joint it on a slippery slope.
Good hunting, good shooting and good meat recovering, well done!

Yes my wife is a keeper. Now she's extra keen to get her own deer!

I'm thinking about changing the edge of my knife. I have a Svord skinning knife that was a gift from my hunting mate. I want to keep that, but it has a convex edge. I haven't figured out how to sharpen it well, so may end up making a bevel edge so I can sharpen it in the field.

Originally Posted by Eat Meater

Yes my wife is a keeper. Now she's extra keen to get her own deer!

I'm thinking about changing the edge of my knife. I have a Svord skinning knife that was a gift from my hunting mate. I want to keep that, but it has a convex edge. I haven't figured out how to sharpen it well, so may end up making a bevel edge so I can sharpen it in the field.

not sure if you have the same where you live but we have a chap here in Naki with a van and a sharpening business will come to your door plug into power and for about $8 a knife bingo he is a master most of his business is chefs he can reshape to well worth it every now and then

Nice! Its all learning and you are wiser now. Also you will get a hundred different bits of advice from us all. Try different stuff and see what works for you. Heres mine.

A havalon scalpel blade knife as an extra will solve the blunt knife problem with minimal extra weight. Im kind of of the same opinion as Barry that a block and tackle is of limited use Unless you want to hang the carcase overnight. Just practice leg removal and Boning out the legs. That way you can take the best meat and leave hocks etc behind if needed.
You should be working on having a load of about 30kg including meat and your gear.

Reminds me of a story my brother tells.

He took a mate deer stalking for the first time when he was at Uni.

His mate shot a stag and was over the moon! So much so he wanted to take the whole thing back.

Well that lasted about 10 yards and he was forced to accept my brothers advice that boning out the back steaks and taking the hind quarters was a much more doable idea, he also still wanted to keep the head as well.

They were somewhere in the Ruahines so fairly steep going, anyway by the time they got back to the carpark he had discarded everything but one back steak.

As you noted shooting them is actually the easy part.

Originally Posted by 7mm tragic

Reminds me of a story my brother tells.

He took a mate deer stalking for the first time when he was at Uni.

His mate shot a stag and was over the moon! So much so he wanted to take the whole thing back.

Well that lasted about 10 yards and he was forced to accept my brothers advice that boning out the back steaks and taking the hind quarters was a much more doable idea, he also still wanted to keep the head as well.

They were somewhere in the Ruahines so fairly steep going, anyway by the time they got back to the carpark he had discarded everything but one back steak.

As you noted shooting them is actually the easy part.

Yep, it was my first so I wanted it all.
I used to criticize people who said they only took the back steaks and back wheels of a stag, but no longer. Now they have my respect for their strength...

Congratulations on stalking your first deer in the bush. That's an awesome achievement. That must have been a pretty big hind! Loved the detail, spiders are so helpful (when they are not close to me).

Un suppressed or otherwise, the noise of a round fired into the ground doesn’t carry very far in the bush, better to send it upwards.