I had promised a friend to help him for a day with lamb spraying and drenching so I "invited" nearly 16 YO James along to help, with the promise that if we had time we would go for an evening hunt.
As we rode over the hill and saw the assembled mobs of sheep waiting to be drafted and dealt to I said to Jame's "I hope that you brought a torch". His face dropped as the thought of not having time for a hunt dawned on him. :) But as it turned out we were finished by 5.30pm and had plenty of time to head off for hunt.
The days work was great for James - especially him learning that you work all day and keep going - although I did catch him doing some "gate leaning" which he got a Grandad shivvy along from.
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The truth is though that he is turning into a big strong lad and I'm very proud of him in spite of his teenage traits.
I'm building a hut out the back of the farm (along with the help of Brian- well he is really the builder and I'm the apprentice) at the moment so Jame's next job with me will be painting it in the new year once the build is finished.
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So we headed off on the other side of the farm where there is a big scrub block for a hunt at about 6pm. It didn't take long to spot deer in the neighbours inspiye of it by now raining. I took James to a couple of spots for a look and we ended up under a high point in the scrub that gives a good view across several ridges. It was drizzling quite heavily and James was restless but GD thought it would be a good chance to teach some perseverance so I whispered (several times) that we would stay-put and see what appeared.
While James was fiddling around with the scope on my 270wsm cleaning water off it (always fiddling :) I'm working on getting him focussed) I shifted position a little bit and straight away spotted a spiker that had just come onto a small clearing. I ranged it at 184 yards. So I sneaked down to James and whispered to quietly chamber a round into the xbolt, leave the bolt up and shimmy along the ridge 10 yards where he would be able to see it.
One thing I don't like (you see it on youtube) is the shooter getting a hundred instructions from the observer, so I just told him to quietly get into position and shoot it when he was ready. I did interfere actually, I leant over and wiped the lenses of the scope with a lens cloth.
The stag was quartered towards us, and while I was thinking James looked a bit awkward the shot rang out and the deer poleaxed to the ground. Big grins all round.
You can see the dead animal in this pic taken from where James shot it.
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James was very animated and wanted to get down to see it but I calmed him down and said that we would just sit for a while and see if anything else appeared (he wanted to give his deer to his mates and I wanted another one for the soup kitchen I donate meat too - it was just before Christmas).
After five minutes I led him to a new spot (he was rather disconcerted that we were going away from his deer) and as soon as we got to to where we could look out eagle eyed James said "I can see 2!". I had to use my binos to see them :) I ranged them at 650 yards and James was all over me wanting a shot...""no James, you have shot one. GD is going to have one shot at the smaller velvet one. If I miss, that's it". "If you miss, hand the gun to me" Jame's retorted. "No, one shot at it" I said.
So, I missed. And they disappeared into a creek. "Now lets get my deer", James said. I replied "No, we will sit here for a few minutes because those 2 might re-appear. Keep watching through your binos".
And sure enough after a few minutes of watching one climbed out of the creek and onto a little ridge. Range 500 yards, TBR 475 because of the down hill slope. I chambered a round into the 270 wsm and set the elevation and in so doing saw that I had made a mistake with the first shot by several MOA - no wonder I missed.
At the shot James said "you missed" but I said "just wait". I had seen a bit of a shudder from the deer at the shot. Without moving and after about 15 seconds the deer toppled over. It was a high lung shot - 129 Barnes LRX.
So James and I discussed what our next move was, and then I told him what we would do :)
We cut back and retrieved his deer first because that was going to be the biggest carry.
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We left the bone in and took the 2 back wheels, a shoulder, back steaks and inside steaks. James was a trooper and took the 2 hind legs and me the rest. He did a great job with the carry. So much more willing and stronger than 6 months ago. Proud GD.
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Once that was done we went and retrieved my one. "I think its down here James". "No GD, I think its around here more"
So James went his was way, and me mine. Soon, I hear "Ive found it GD!". He was right.
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It had bowled down the hill and was in an excellent spot to retrieve it from so I cut it up while James lugged the legs up to a track where I could get the quad to. Easy peasy, that one.
Loaded up with 2 deer a lad and a dog we headed for the woodshed which we got back to at 10pm. During the 2.5 hour drive drive home I noticed James texting his mates and it occurred to me that it was the first time he had been on his 'phone all day. What a trooper -that had been a bone of contention on our last hunt - he didn't get off it all trip and I had given him a bit of a stir up about it.
The next trip for him will be hut painting. And I'm guessing that there will be guns and deer involved in that too. :) But thankfully now, not cell phones.
