Probably

I was messaging a good mate @Rusky the other day. He’s one of the (if not the) most ethical, considerate and thoughtful hunters I’ve met. And an exceptional spearo to boot, so he's alright by me. We were comparing notes around our recent, consistent hunting failures. I’d mentioned trying not to get down about watching hunting youtubers who post consistently successful hunts, and he rightly pointed out what had been nagging on my mind. “No one posts unsuccessful hunts”.

So, in the spirit of “stuff-uppery” I wanted to share my pain around a recent hunt.

It was just after lunch on a relatively cold winter’s day in the Kaimai. Kai was working ahead siddling energetically along a face. My thinking and experience was that at this time of year that the bigger animals should be tucked up in deep ledges facing the sun. Well, that was the theory - the reality was often haThe thermals however faint were working in my favour, but it was awfully still. The ground was damp under foot. The supplejack and keikei jungle made quiet, subtle stalking extremely difficult. I’d chosen one too many of these still, sunny days to hunt recently, favouring my comfort over concealment.

Kai had slowed right down as we came across fresh droppings of a decent size. Yes, an animal ahead. He pulled back from his usual 10-20m place of work in front, which meant something was close, and he started to windicate. Game on. It felt “right” for a super slow stalk, and about ten paces later he locked up winding a gut about 10 metres below. We spent the next few minutes dead still. I’d move a foot at a time, spending precious moments placing each on terrafirma so as not to make a sound. Kai was firmly indicating ahead, then placed himself on a sit. There was something just below. There was a bit of a gap ahead, the supplejack intersected it, and the jumble of brush meant sitting still was the best option.

And so we sat and waited. And waited. It’s such a pleasure watching your pointer sniffing away anxiously, living out what he was bred to do. It’s taken me a long time to learn, but there was no point in pushing into the gut below, it was just too noisy. Moving isn’t always productive. So we continued to wait. About 5 minutes later we heard some rustling. Kai wanted to move off the ledge, but I kept him on a sit. Then, sure enough, about 20 metres ahead a branch on a tree moved up and down, probably 5 metres off the ground, as if being pulled. We couldn’t see what was pulling on it due to the foliage, but we both knew what it was. An animal, possibly on its hind legs chewing on leaves for lunch. Assessing the situation, in my gut I knew we just had to wait. And hope.

Attachment 278410
The two possible shooting lanes

There were two narrow shooting lanes about 20 degrees below us through a patch of punga, interweaved by supplejack. But doable from a stable seated shooting platform. The hope was the animal would step out. And then he did. A large hind quarter siddled through. A big animal. A stag. He stepped past the first lane separated by a single punga and glided broadside through the second - about 2 metres or so wide. To be honest the speed at which he moved suprised me. He was unaware. A little faster than I anticipated, I quickly lined up the red dot just behind his front leg and squeezed a round. At the recoil he flinched - and looked in our direction, surprised. Then he turned and bolted straight toward us. I remember his sambar like rack, with big heavy antlers at the peticle as he charged, like a bull might, below us. Quickly I placed a second round into him front on, then he darted to my left and away, two more rounds fired in quick succession from the Browning lever action. And then silence. We had him. Yes. We had him.

Stoked. Patting the dog on a job well done, I kept him on a sit. We were going to wait this out, possibly for 30 minutes before trailing him. I was 99% sure he would be down just around the corner, most likely double lunged, although the front on second shot would have done some damage also. I just knew it. Over three years of hard hunting and this was the first large bodied, heavy antlered, mature Kaimai bush stag I’d gotten onto. I don’t hunt the farm fringes, so doing it tough, a gnarly character bush stag, caught unawares outside of the roar, would be highly treasured.

We paced 20 odd steps to the point of impact. No blood. But, he was heavy bodied animal so I expected nothing for a while. We started to trail, expecting to find him piled up in the next 50 metres or so. Nothing. We trailed along and down for another 100m or so until Kai locked up peering down on a sunny, fern covered face below. I stepped forward only to hear a crash and a loud bark as an animal bound away. We trailed for another 150 metres down toward a stream, where the animal tracked back up behind us. I lost it - both the animal and my mind. Just gutted. My head swirling, I opted to go back to camp. I should have gone back the next day.

A week later with the encouragement of another good friend (cyber stalker/Hunting Forum commitment issues) I went back. Based on the description we reckoned it was piled up dead within a few hundred metres of the general area. Surely we could find the decomposing stag. I spent three hours with the dog siddling, climbing, slipping, falling and generally getting stuck in deep kei kei for no return.

We had a late start the next morning, sore from the day prior. With coffee and a nice cooked breakfast on board we found an excellent trail straight onto the exact area where we’d shot the stag the week prior. Kai moved in confidently, then suddenly locked up. We were on, and only metres from the original spot. Dead still we heard movement just metres in front, but couldn’t make out hooves below the log and deadfall ahead. Then a bark, and a scamper. Surely not? We trailed the animal for a couple of hundred metres into a gully. The hoove marks weren’t huge. I pushed away in my mind the sight of smaller fresh droppings and marks. Over the next two hours we had two more additional contents at really close range, before putting the animal up. At the final contact my suspicions were confirmed by a hind and yearling ghosting away. Bugger. That was me, done.

No doubt there will be those who question my choice of a lighter calibre for close range hunting. The reality is I am hunting over a dog, and I don’t want to rely on subsonics. That and I do not enjoy shooting heavy recoiling, louder, larger calibres. I have come to value precise shot placement. That and I know a 223 round will go through an inch thick steel plate at longer distances than I hunt. If anything, my shot may have been further back than hoped due to the unexpected pace of the animal through the gap. I checked the zero, and interestingly the first shot with tape over the muzzle resulted in a bit of a flyer a few centimetres of zero of a rest at 25m - but would have still hit vitals. But the rest were within MOA. I wondered if tape or an extra squirt of oil down the barrel had put the first shot off? Regardless, I just knew he was piled up dead somewhere, double lunged.

It’s not exactly the kind of area you can grid search, particularly with a dog who is likely to pick up the fresh scent of an animal on the move through there. But, for what it’s worth could I have placed a better shot? Probably. Could I have waited for the animal to move back into sight? Probably. Should I have flung a “meep” (fawn call) to stop the animal in its tracks before firing? Probably. Would I have taken that same shot again. Probably. I guess I’ll never know.

Attachment 278411

Good on you for the honesty. Maybe a Barnes type pill will give better penertration...but maybe no better results. You spent good amount of time looking.no one can expect more than that.

possibly two deer and your dog took you after the fresh one ??? sometimes though it just does not all come together you gave the trail a good go- the fact you did not find blood is the worry

Thanks for sharing. For what it's worth it's my fuck-ups that tend to linger in my mind longest. I could give you much more detail on the last couple of animals shot, hit and lost than any amount of instances of "bang flops". Must just be the way different minds work. Now about that nice fallow buck I hit at 240M with the 223 but couldn't find . . . . I'm still analyzing a dozen ways I could have achieved a different outcome!

The hunting successes are oh so sweet but the losses, thankfully much fewer, leave lingering pain and regret. A great pity you didn't find your stag as your dog sounds very good.
I don't have the benefit of a dog but have had luck finding shot animals that seemed to have disappeared. Shot what I thought was a Sika hind ( turned out to be a stunted spiker ), saw it drop and could find neither hide or hair when I got to the spot. Hour and a half of fruitless searching had me almost insane. Couple of times I gave up, walked away only to turn around and try again. The final time walking away I stepped over a root or branch among low growth on a deer trail. Something made me stop to examine it. Parting the growth I saw a deer's leg and pulled it up to retrieve my animal. I couldn't believe how such a small hole could conceal a whole animal. After that was on cloud 9 all the way back to camp.
Some losses will happen in a hunting career unfortunately, just like other shit that happens in life. More important is to stay positive, keep going and enjoy the rewards of hunting.

always a good idea to mark well where you start blood trailing to give you a reference point to come back to even just some toilet paper hung up - do sweeps in semi circles extending them out - if you have a mate and find some blood then leave them at last spot and move them only when you find new - and trust the dog

Honestly with a well trained dog, tracking a shot animal is a completely different game than when hunting on your own. You take the dog to the exact spot where the deer is shot and he will follow the distress pheromones that come from the interdigital gland. I always mark the spot on gps, and the trailing is super interesting as you can see the deer marks as the dog trails. This gives you an indication as to whether the deer is walking, trotting or in full flight. Yes you do blood trail, but to be honest you are following the dog. He's going to focus on that injured deer unless another is directly on the same path. @Barry the hunter you are exactly right. Trust the dog. The amount of times he's tracked in a different direction to what my brain tells me the right way to go is...

Bush stalking with wind all over the show,looked up n across face in one of few clear spots n saw two hinds departing.i up and had crack with .308 at about 150 yards....don't do that often n can't ever recall doing it at a deer.... One staggered then they out of sight. Dog n I scrambled over to where they were,but of blood,up and across a bit.big pool of bright red blood maybe two cup fulls. Awesome this should be easy..... Umm where is it dog??? Meg heads up hill. Don't be silly you old bitch,deer go downhill when wounded.... Hour spent crawling around in fern looking.not even single other spec of blood. Meg kept wanting to go uphill....and as that was easiest way home,that's where we went. Hello,another blood spot..then hundy yards ahead a deers neck weaving sideways in the fern( Stevie wonder impersonation) up and missed headshot....FFS..reload and plug hind through shoulders. Upon gutting her.big hole out of rump.... One of the few deer I've carried out to car whole in last ten years.3-400 yards downhill through crownfern n crap. May??? Have found it without dog...maybe but probably not. Definitely would have found her quicker if I had listened to the old bitch to begin with.

The ol' shot at a deer n thought I hit it.....

None of us like to make mistakes. But it happens and we are always learning. Its a great idea on forums like this to share such events, as it does lend some humanity and reality too the image we portray. I like to do so at times too, because I think its important we dont just share our successes.

Funny you talk about the dog following the hit deer . My now 5 year old dog must bend the dog rules as she would always pull off a blood trail to track another deer it would drive me mad . All I can think is she is a greedy bitch and wants to shoot another deer as she knows the bleeding one is already dead.
Any thoughts?

She doesn't know her job is to find dead deer.... I'm not allowed to find a deer I have shot if dog is with me.no matter how obvious it is.the dog HAS to show me.....this is vital in my opinion as the dog learns right away your thick bugger and need to be shown....so you can do knife thing and dog gets yummy stuff.

Keep hunting the same area, eventually youll find it!

Six hour slow mooching around in area I know very well today.never saw,heard or bumped a thing...other than thisAttachment 278484 some days you need to catch fish,other days you just need to go fishing....today was like the latter. Just felt great to be alive.

Attachment 278485 one of my favourite places on this earth to stop for lunch.