Rather than stay at a hut Brian and I decided to sleep amongst them to try for a decent head. So Brian went one way and I went another with our packs a bit heavier than usual 'cos we had our PJ's, life giving meds and vital age related stuff on board. Our intention was to look for a head and to not shoot for meat (yeah, right). Even though I needed meat for a bbq for the disabled and a soup kitchen.
Bella and I found a nice spot in the tawhine so we got our camp ready for when we returned in the dark. Camp was 20 mins walk to where I wanted to start hunting. I was going up to a high point at the head of a big valley full of scattered and heavy scrub and tawhine. Probably about 400 acres. I could work my way down off the high point onto the ridge looking down and across as the evening progressed.
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I headed off at about 4pm but it wasn't until 6pm that deer started to move about. Hinds, heaps of them. By past shooting light I had seen about 25 hinds and only one stag. A spindly 7 pointer. Frustrating. I covered the full length of the valley (about 3 km) and back again.
My .223 has a day/night 'scope on it so when I got back towards the top I put it onto night mode and decided to shoot a hind for the charity (did I say I was frustrated?). In night mode you cn shoot for about an hour or so after last shooting light without having to turn the IR on. I had marked in my mind where a few hinds were in a gully when I could last see through the Bino's so snuck (stumbled) down to the head of it without using my torch and than scanned with the 'scope. Yup, there were 2 about 230 yards away - exactly 230 actually, 'cos the 'scope has a range finder and ballistics too. Real modern shit for an old man. Bella is wonderful and just potters with me keeping out of the way but as I lined up she decided she needed to have a closer look at what I was doing and decided to lick my face. Me pushing her out of the way and re-setting myself alerted the deer but it was too late for them. I flipped a hind over with a chest shot. The 74grn Targex dropped her on the spot.
https://youtu.be/QZrUZlxKR1c
I could now get my torch out and have a look around and figure out the best route for the "recovery". In the old days we just used to "go and get them" but nowadays its a "recovery". It took about 30 minutes to get around and down to where I thought it was but I couldn't pick it up in my good torch, so I had to turn to Bella the pup. Without a line on her I let her go and she disappeared into the scrub. I wasn't sure where she went so I backed up the hill and shone the torch around and soon picked her up standing over the hind up a sharp little gully about 150 yards away. Good girl Bella!
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I started working my way around to where I saw her but got a bit bamboozled down in the gutter and had to send her off again (by then she had come back to me). She trotted along and led me to it.
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I boned the legs out and let them cool while I took the back straps out, chucking Bella tit-bits as I did. Then it all went into my pack and I started the trudge back to camp.
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An hour or so saw me back at camp. I had coffee from a thermos and a cold petrol station pie (true). Bella had yummy K9 dog food and water. My therma rest thing went down during the night and Bella growled at shadows so I didn't sleep much.
Bella guarding me from tawhine shadows and the bright twinkly things in the sky. Grrrr....
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We were up at sparrow fart and after an Up and Go drink for me and some K9 for her we were off in the dark. Same place but the reverse direction because of the wind. Long story short - more hinds. 15 odd of them and one spindly stag. They all started moving back to the cover quite early and I was a bit frustrated, so you know ... the meat instinct kicked in. In the head of a little gully I was skirting a big hind trotted out by her self and stopped at 140 yards. Why not...I shot from a sitting position...bang. I hit her a little high in the shoulder and although she dropped I gave her another one in the neck.
The 'scope was still on night mode from the last evening so even although it was about 8am the vid came out in B&W instead of colour.
https://youtu.be/51bfiN7yWIM
While all of this was going on another 2 hinds ran out and stopped on a rocky slip about 240 yards away. I was standing so quickly wound the scope back down to 5 power and dropped one. I honestly can't remember where I aimed for but she dropped with a neck shot. I forgot to turn the vid on.
No trouble finding the first one and as we got close the hind made a funny sort of loud death gurgle. Bella got the fright of her life and shot back up the slope with her hackles all standing. It took a bit of encouragement to get her to come down to me and the deer. Once she had a sniff of it she was as good as gold. Another learning experience for her.
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I dealt to her and carted the legs whole and back steaks back up to the ridge and then followed the ridge to drop down to the second one. Bella showed me where to drop down and then went down to it. I repeated the same performance as on the previous one and then got the legs etc to a spot where Brian could collect them on the quad when he came to collect me later. This all took 2 hours.
The second one.
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The trudge back to the camp wasn't difficult because I had no meat to carry but I was feeling a bit weary. By 11am I was packed up and carted my pack to a where I had arranged to meet Brian. He trundled up about 45minutes later. He had seen a lot of deer too but no decent heads. he saw more stags than me though. Brian had shot a young hind for meat.
Attachment 246243
We got back to my truck parked down in a creek about an hour later and were back at Brian's 2.5 hours after that. All the meat went into Brian's chiller and I was off home. It was bed at 8.30pm and apart from getting up for a pee several times (it's an age thing) I slept like a log through to 8.30am. My wife said I snored like a drain.
