Its been ages since ive got out hunting and ive been going a bit mad but a few weeks ago managed to get out for a day hunt so it was up at 5am sunday to go pick up the father in law and head out to his mates farm where weve been a few times seen a few reds but not shot any. On arriving at his house its obvious no ones awake so i give him a phone call let it ring a few times and hang up. a few minutes later he stumbles out "oh fuck ive slept in" yep you sure have.
We arrive at the spot later then i had hoped and the sun was just starting to come up so we quickly got our shit together and headed toward where we knew the deer usually hang out. We reach the top of a hill about 600m away from the bushline and i have a scan with my binos and spot one... then another......then another 3 all out in the middle of the paddock. We drop down a gut that leads up to the bushline and boost along it as fast as we can without running into any of the million goats out there. Halfway to the bushline i look up with my binos and see a stag looking right at us 200m away but he just carries on into another patch of bush without any commotion. We reach the bush and move along it with the plan to pop out close to where we saw the group but when we get there and crawl up to peek out theres nothing there. I tell the old man im gunna drop back into the bush and come out another 100m along and he decides to stay there. Coming up to where i plan on climbing into view theres another mob of goats sitting right under a tree i want to use as cover so i slowly move up and they thankfully move off without going nuts. As soon as i get to the tree i hear running hooves and a yearling pops out in front of me 20m away so i let out a little MEH and it slows down looking at me so i let out another one and it carries on trotting but turns side on. Up with the .308 and boom spineshot drops him where he is. Jonny eventually wanders over so I tell him where the goats were heading if he wants some more meat. He wanders off and I start gutting the deer with a little folding Gerber I got given when I bought my duck licence from H&F that I hadn't tried out yet. After 5 minutes of hacking I was wishing I had taken my usual knife from the truck this little folder was crap. Halfway through my butchery I look up to the hill behind the main bush and there's 2 yearlings running around like headless chickens so I get Jonnys attention but they disappear into the bush. An hour or so later and Jonny has shot 4 goats and gone back to get truck so we have a feed and hot drink and decide to go for another walk in the bush see if we can see anything else so he grabs his .22 and I grab the .223 I bought for my Mrs that she hasn't fired yet and I've only had a few shots from on some hares. 100m walk from the truck in the bush i spy a nanny so headshot that (woo first real blood with the .223) then deal with it. Carry on through until we reach the end of this patch of bush and I look down and see a deers arse trot off below us I the direction we came from. I give jonny the gun and tell him to make sure he places his shot properly if he sees it and we stalk down and follow the direction of the deer. Lots of good sign makes it easy for me to follow where it went and after 10 minutes of stalking I spy a yearling 30m away in the bush staring at us and another right behind him. I grab jonny and point to where it is but the blind bugger can't see shit so for the next 30 seconds I'm describing where it is to him and pointing so while having a staring contest with the deer. 30 seconds and my patience is up so I tell him to give me the rifle. Crosshairs up just as the deer turns to walk away he takes one step the turns back for a last look. Boom smack him in the neck just below the chin and he drops. The other one trots a few steps and stops and by now jonny has spotted them so I hand him back the rifle but it carries on into the bush so we leave it for another time. This time I grab my usual knife out of the truck and make quick clean work of the deer then it's a short carry back to the hilux and off home to hang it all in the shed
Awesome day first deer with my new rifle and first deer with a .223 (told my Mrs she needs to hurry up and use it)
Hopefully will get back to the spot before the stags drop their headgear for a close inspection and see how good they are
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