Thread: Good Bugga

Well i haven't written a story for a bit but i think this is worthy of a shout out.

Flicka, myself and son Alex went for a quick overnight/morning hunt. We were due to be home by lunch so nothing big on the menu. Well instead of getting up at stupid o'clock we stayed the night over there in my truck. At not much past stupid o'clock (4am) the alarm went off, we got ready and headed to our spot which was an hours walk. Nearly there and after a few breaks we bumped into a guy standing around in his long johns not long after making his way from his small tent. We stopped in to see if he was ok for us to join him for the morning (he was there first so only courtesy) he was more than happy and said it would be great to have some experienced guys with him (I think he was referring to my son!!) anyway I introduced myself and it turns out we had met at the local deer stalkers club the Wednesday before (small world)

Anyway we head out for first light and start glassing.....and glassing..... and glassing. Alex was found under a bush asleep so i woke him for some breakfast. The morning had been a bit claggy so glassing was a bit intermittent. So we were just starting to put a plan b together after not seeing anything for 1.5 hours when our friend says "There's one" we all get our eyes on it and he turns to me and asks "well which one of us shoots it??" Im like "buddy you were here first and you saw it first you get to shoot it but we will come and help". He was pretty stoked. So we start to pack up and he turns to me and says "I have a deal for you, I will let Alex shoot it if you take me for a hunt and a learning session on another occasion" Man how could you turn that down. So the deal was done.......well almost. We at this stage were 750m from the deer, we had to drop in elevation unseen (4 of us) cut down some meters and then try and set up closer for a shot. Long and short we managed to scrub off 650m. We set Alex up at 100m with our new mate the deal maker on back up, Flicka on camera and me getting Alex sorted. We had to be a bit careful as the wind was a bit dodgy, anyway the animal had not moved from when we first spotted it (sitting) and blissfully unaware a 12yr old boy was out to ruin its day. We were all set and Alex let the .284 fly, well the shot could have been better but the deer took off like lightening into the scrub, the look on Alex's face was one of a kid who had been licking an ice cream only to lick it off the cone and onto the ground. A quick look at the footage and we were all happy of an ok hit. We left Flicka at the shooting spot and made our way around to the clearing it was shot on. As i got to the clearing i notice a massive amount of blood and fur so was stoked to tell Alex it looked like a good kill shot, just then our mate yells out " oh my good, what the hell" Took me a bit by surprise but asked what was up, he then proceeds to tell me its the most amount of blood he has seen in a blood trail. I head into him and sure enough it was a blood trail even a blind man with dementia could follow was almost like a high pressure hose had gone through. Some minutes and about 30m later the blood goes from siddling to straight down (the sign we like to see) and sure enough here it is.

The cut up was done and the load share and walk back to his camp and then the car complete. Happily handing him half of the spoils and confirming we would be in contact to keep my end of the deal. For the gift of allowing Alex to shoot a deer when he has only shot 1 public and a couple of private animals himself is huge and the favour will be returned for sure.


Any way here is a pic of Alex and proud dad with his first public land deer and first Red deer



Hamish