My Dad taught me everything I needed to know when hunting and had me trailing behind him in the bush from 4 years of age. These days the tides have turned and Dad is pretty slow with buggered knees and hips thanks the rugby and dirt bikes. They (my parents) have been flat out building their new house and I have been at Dad for some time about dragging him out after Sika as its been far too long since I shared a hunt with him.
Fortunately we finally made it happen mid July as I dragged him away from the house build while mum visited my wife and kids for a few days. Snow once again was threatening our plans but luckily it held off enough for us to get amongst it this time. Last year I gave Dads rifle, a Sako Battue .308 a spruce up. He's had that rifle since a was a wee tacker and with a factory 19 - 20' bare barrel and 1-4.5 magnification scope it accounted for many deer in the bush. I got hold of it and got it chopped and suppressed at 18" and added a nicer but plain jane leupold 3-9x40 scope. No frills needed for Dad. It was a somewhat tricky decision to chop the barrel of such an old beautiful rifle but I can tell you it is soo much more pleasant on the ears now! I grew up watching flames come out that short bare barrel lol.
Anyways, I digress, the weather wasn't flash on the first morning and we had to change plans on our intended hunting spot due to clag. Moving to a lower altitude bit of steep scrubby country it didn't take long and we spied some animals. We closed the gap as best we could to 280 yards and got Dad setup with my mate Brad on backup. Dad was to shoot the young stag and try get his first Sika stag while Brad would try knock over one of the hinds if possible. Dad squeezed off a round and made a beautiful shot square through the shoulder of the young stag. The hinds quickly scampered and Brad never got a shot unfortunately. We dropped down into the steep gut and bashed up through the scrub to find him. After a wee bit of a search the dogs finally tracked him down. We never operated range finders during my childhood as we mostly bush hunted but I think this is probably one of Dads longest shots if not the longest on an animal (had him shooting long on gongs using my 7mm rem mag no worries).
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That afternoon we went back to the spot we had intended to hunt that morning. The wind was strong and it was bloody freezing. I managed to nail a silly hind on the way out with my 7mm rem mag but the only other animal we saw was one scarpering through some manuka below us. Not long before last light we decided to do the same as the sika and go hide away from the freezing conditions!
The next morning we cruised out to some more remote country. The weather was again average as it drizzled on and off. We stalked our way down a nice ridge and spooked a very cunning stag in the process. Getting right down in the valley we setup and did some glassing. It didn't take long to spy a few hinds and yearlings so Brad got setup and nailed a hind at 370 yards with his 6.5 CM. After some brews and a warm lunch to try and re build some body heat in the cold we climbed back up and looped around to another nice little gut. After some glassing we spied a hind and yearling who seemed spooked and a lone spiker further down. The cold was getting to Dad so he opted to go for a walk. Not long later a series of shots rung out so me and Brad threw our gear together and headed around to give Dad a hand. Following his footprints we soon tracked him down as he desperately waved us in. The young stag he had shot was still on the go and he needed help. Right as we turned up the animal appeared 100m across from us. I crouched down and Brad proceeded to take a rest off my shoulder on the forward slope and with one last shot stopped him from getting away. In his haste to get moving and warm Dad had left his spare ammunition in his pack that had been with us. Theres always room for stuff ups even for the most experienced! Dad was pretty annoyed with himself but also pretty chuffed and so was I. This trip really was about getting Dad onto some deer and we had succeeded.
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We arrived back right on dark that night and the weather had started to clear. The Inreach forecast said we were in for a rock solid freeze overnight and a cracking good morning which if true would hopefully drag the little buggers out to get some much needed sun.
The last morning of our trip was pretty exciting and as expected, the sun brought the deer. Right as the sun was rising, Brad spotted a wall hanger 8 point stag in a location we could shoot him. Long story short we stuffed up closing the gap, spooking him and his hinds over the rise never to be seen again. I watched in disbelief as his beautiful big C tops disappeared over the skyline. Its fair to say my lip dropped hard..
We spotted a few more animals as the sun warmed the faces and Brad again spotted a long antlered cull looking stag out sunning himself at 950 yards. The conditions were awesome so I decided screw it i’m going to have a stab. The breeze was running lightly from right to left and the stag was facing this direction so if my projectile drifted too much it would be a humane clean miss. Getting setup after capturing all the inputs for my ballistic solution, I squeezed off a shot with with the rem mag. Elevation was bang on but as suspected the round drifted forward of him, a good clean miss. The stag spooked and I tracked him through the scrub in my scope as Brad and Dad worked to relocate him and get the camera back on. Finally they found him and Brad started re ranging for me. Guessing where he would stop, Brad ranged a clay pan at 810 as I juggled keeping the stag in my scope whilst adjusting my solution to re dial. Sure enough the stag stopped right where we hoped. Adjusting for wind I squeezed off another shot and watched as the round impacted and the stag lurched forward. My first impressions were that he was hit based on the way he lurched forward but the footage had us contemplating a miss.
After motoring over there with Sako I was struggling to identify the ground once in location. I found some fresh tracks and handed the rest over to Sako. She tracked into some thick scrub and dragged me down towards a swampy creek. I was just about to break the rule of always trust the dog when I thought bugger it i’ll jump in for a look and low and behold there he was dead as a door nail no more then 40m from where he took the shot. Sako you little beauty! It was a somewhat consoling feeling knowing that beautiful 8 pointer lives another day to spread his genes and this scrubby fella no longer can. To top it all off we heard a stag let out a hee haw roar not far away and Brad nailed another hind to make sure we kept the numbers in balance while I was away on my recovery mission. Despite messing up the big stag I was on a high and it was a super cool way to finish off an awesome trip with Dad.
Im not sure the best way to add videos on a forum post so I will just put links to my facebook page.
First stag Dad shot: https://fb.watch/6PDsQ_Pfui/
My long range stag: https://fb.watch/v/JYPNeNRB/
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