As Paul Simon wrote, Today was a Mother and Child Reunion
Well after being nearly a month since my last proper hunt and having put on a xmas baby it was time to hit the hills, give the legs a work out and try and leave said xmas baby behind.
Having finally convinced myself that the only time I need to get up at dumb o’clock is for one of my “other spots” where you have to beat the crowds and catch the deer heading for the scrub before the crowds arrive, so a leasurly 4.30 alarm call and leaving at 5. Drive for 1.5 hours and another 1.5 hour walk before I hit “deer zone”. Once there we were challenged with very dry leaf litter but made the most of it. Heading up the main ridge I finally made it to the turn off and had to summons old Sneaky Pete so as not to alert the whole area that me and my mate were here to ruin someone’s day. After 5 mins the first sign of deer, a real nice fresh stag turd. This is the same area I shot a hind out of a mob of about 8 animals including a velveting 10 point stag so hopes were high. On we pressed checking the usual spots, stopping and listening, getting on edge when Fern started fizzing only to not see anything. We get to the end of our beat and came up empty handed………..what to do…. Me and a mate did a bit of a reccy on another trip in here so I threw caution to the wind and handed it over to fern, following her nose and every step, then all of a sudden the sound no one wants to hear…….the clatter of hooves going over a slip not far from us but with no chance of a view of the escaping deer……..fuck.
Oh well I threw Sneaky Pete away and hit that “reccy if something jumps out it will either scare me or get a bullet” mode or both. We continued to push through some nice areas albeit very dry, in and out of creeks to no evail. The aim was to head to a ridge opposite the one I had come up and follow it down to the creek and out. Anyway we come around the corner , Fern hits the brakes and gets into her fizzy commando crawl…..alright so what the fuck did I do with Sneaky Pete, may need the bugger again. Had a think for a bit and though “oh well made enough noise getting here” and the deer will be long gone, so left old Sneaky Pete where he was and carried on with an eye to the ground and an ear open for the sound of escaping deer. I look at the GPS and it shows a wallow we found on the last visit only mere meters away so I am on track to where I want to go. Picking my way through the game trail of gravel and dry leaves I look up and see it, I had to take another look for all the noise I was making and yup, it’s a damn fawn, I swear it was looking at me going what the fuck is that thing and why are its eyes the size of dinner plates. Now all in a split second im like……”cant go home empty handed, its still looking at me, not like im taking the hind and leaving the fawn to starve, boys will give me shit”, too late boom 140g berglars do the job, reload and watch it hurtle down the face only to see mum now come into view, taking several steps towards me and stopping to look back to see where her baby was…..boom too late and she takes a burglar to the neck, you can see him in heaven…….assuming you believe in that.
Anyway so here I am, poor old Fern wondering what the fuck was going on and now the fun of boning out a neck shot hind and taking the best bits of the young one. I carry the fawn back to mum for a family photo before cut up. I also decided to take the pelt off the fawn.
Well fuck me that was a dumb idea…….fuck the bags a bit heavy….tripple fuck its hot.
Anyway long and short of it and 2 hours sees me back at the truck with 99% of the trip down hill (note to self…. trim toe nails …..ouch)
So there it is, first of the year and pretty happy, I am sure I left some of my xmas baby behind too which is freaken fantastic. Also got to try my xmas present out on something other than xmas cake!!!!
Anyhoo enjoy the year guys.
Hamish
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