Got a text friday arvo from a mate, saying he had rabbits bouncing around everywhere munching on his vege patch, and did i want to come out and remove a few. Perfect timing, as my 4 year old daughter had been asking to head out for a rabbit shoot (she's never been before, but id been priming her up)
A couple of hours later the 17HMR was dragged out of the safe (first time for a while) and we had the first few fluffys on the ground - Lucy seemed to enjoy it and wasnt fazed by any of it, first thing she asked was 'can i see the blood', a cool evening out with her and some great firearm safety lessons learned.
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I had also had arranged a leave pass for Sat night and was planning a quick fly camp up a Ruahine river (new spot for me) over the weekend. The forecast was for fairly strong winds, but i was going anyway. Had a few family commitments with the kids on Saturday morning, so didnt leave home until 2pm Saturday, walking up the river it was blowing a bloody gale, and i wasnt filled with much hope.
Found an area with plenty of fresh sign, so found a reasonably sheltered spot not too far away, and pitched the old Huntech Biv, and proceeded to have a poke around and continue to check out the area a bit more. The wind was blowing 40 bastards by now and gusting all over the show like a crazy womans shit, so i was pretty much wasting my time, but was good sussing the country out. Light finally faded to black and nothing had been seen.
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Returned to camp for a hot brew and to get the Absolute Wilderness Butter Chicken to soak up a bit of water. The night was rough and bloody noisy, but the little 2 man bivvy stood up well again. The alarm sounded at 5am and i awoke to more strong winds, and a bit of rain beating on the fly as well. I very nearly rolled over and went back to sleep, but thought to myself "dont be a dickhead" and dragged myself out of the fart sack and pushed off for a hunt, with very little confidence i must add.
The wind was coming strongly down the river valley, so i stalked slowing up river into it, i'd only gone about 300 yards from my camp when something burst out from behind some lupin beside me, a velvet stag bounding up onto the next river terrace, a quick "hey" from me stopped him for an instant, he looked straight at me about 25 yards away, my rifle was being shouldered and safety released, before i could pull the trigger he was on the move again, with his head, neck and front shoulder now just disappeared behind a scrubby little bush, my crosshair was on him but too far back for a kill shot, i quickly swung the rifle and estimated where his neck would be behind the little bush, and let off the shot. It all happened extremely fast, and for once i did some very quick thinking and it was my one and only chance and gave it a crack.
On the shot i caught a glimpse thru the scope that looked hopeful, and then saw what looked like a leg kicking up. I approached straight away to find a poleaxed stag with a broken neck, shot straight thru the middle of it, love it when it all comes together! The 150gr NBT spat out of my M595 in 284win did the business well, killing him almost instantly and bleeding him out all at the same time.
Its now 5.45am, and the hard work begins.
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A good lesson, even when the weather is shitty, and you think you might be wasting your time, you just never know your luck, If you're out there, theres always hope.
All in all a bloody neat weekend, and i look forward to getting Lucy out there after a deer now.
