Thread: So it begins.....

Confessions of a wannabe

So - had my first proper hunting trip out. Bugged out from work early friday arvo, got my gear together, jumped in the wagon and headed up to the valley. Plan was a gentle 6(ish) k hike in to the hut, dump my backpack and go see what I could see. However that didn’t account for a couple of problems that soon presented themselves

• Problem 1: F*** my bag seems heavy!!! Actually, this problem is one that actually improved overnight - I am just out of practice carrying a pack! Having said that, there are a couple of things that I can change to drop a couple of kilos. (Means more shopping - awesome!) One of those is changing the bag itself, which will also help with
• Problem 2: I was making more noise than Thor on a night out with the boys. My pack was squeaking, creaking and generally making a nuisance of itself. Not exactly the cool SAS killer demeanor I was going for. If there were any deer in the vicinity, they had probably fallen over laughing which was why I didn’t see them in the long grass.

However, neither of these things compared to

• Problem 3: My boots no longer really fit. My beloved Karrimor KSB’s that I bought nearly 20 years ago are going to have to be retired. Within about 3k I was slightly uncomfortable, and this is one problem that was not going to sort itself out any time soon. By the time I got to the hut, they were basically two suede and cordura sacks of pus and blood so I lay down and cried like a little girl.

Once the retired couple at the hut had stopped looking at me funny, picked me up off the ground, made me a cup of tea and told me to HTFU, I taped the crap out of my feet, grabbed another pair of socks and tried to forget about it. I grabbed my essentials, and wandered off for a bit of a hunt.
I say wandered off - thats probably an apt description because as I quickly realised, I have NO idea what I am doing. I was trundling around looking serious in case any trampers came past, thinking to myself such useful things as “If I was a deer, where would I be hiding?” or “that looks like a tasty patch of grass, I wonder if I should hang out here for a while?” What I hadn’t realised was that the couple at the hunt could see the direction I had gone, and apparently a deer legged it away from the other side of a little copse when I entered it! Ho hum, all going to plan so far….
Then it happened.
I saw a deer. A fallow.
Raised my rifle, took aim and…… decided against because apparently shooting a deer up the arse when its running away from you is not considered terribly sporting. Go figure.

So the evening hadn’t turned anything up, but there was always the morning.

6am today.
Crap it’s cold. Its OK, I’ll just stand here for 20 minutes and let my eyes adjust. 20 minutes later I decided screw that, turned the torch back on and continued walking to the little high spot over a clearing I had picked out the previous night. Then, I turned the torch off again and was treated to a spectacular misty sunrise. No deer, but a nice sunrise. I did see one quite small rabbit, but I decided against a shot because I thought
a) it will basically vaporise on the business end of a 308
b) if there are any deer, there won’t be after I do that.

But really, that was it. I went back to the hut, packed my stuff up, and headed slowly back to the car. I told the couple at the hut I would be going slow in case there was anything to shoot, but the truth is it was really because my feet hurt too much.

So - not a terribly exciting hunting story, but my learning points were:

• Despite sucking, I really enjoyed myself.
• I need new boots
• 2 Minute noodles with salami and mini babybel works surprisingly well as breakfast.
• Deer move faster than paper targets, and they also have eyes and can spot you before you spot them. (damn them).
• I’m out of practice load lugging, but it’s coming back quickly
• 20 rounds is probably overkill for one night out. Did I think we were going to be attacked by herds of suicidal deer?
• My gear selection actually wasn’t that bad. I didn’t really overpack, I used just about everything I took although there are a couple of items I need to upgrade/ refresh (sleeping bag, pack) and with readily available streams I probably don’t need to carry as much water with me.
• My beautiful new svord hunting knife is GREAT for cutting up salami
• I’m looking forward to the next time.
• Did I mention I need new boots?