Taking the "Boss" hunting
I have taken Nadia to a few Long Range shoots in the past & she has shot pretty well considering she wouldn't have fired 100 rounds.
I had the opportunity to take her for a hunt yesterday, the weather was average to be polite but she isn't able to go with me very often so we went anyway.
We got to Ks place nice and early after driving through rain :oh noes: but no fog :)
We went up to our usual possie stopping on they way to have a look over some crops.
We saw in the early light a 50-60lb pig through the misty/fog, the binos picked it up but the Leica range finders didn't want to know (a trend for the rest of the day) :(
I grabbed my PLRF10 & it said at the first attempt "don't panic boss it's 441 yards" we decided to leave it in peace so as to not disturb the Deer.
It was great to see it way out in the middle of the crop.
We stopped to glass & heard a roar & another & another, Nadia hadn't heard them before :cool:
We had an idea where he was but weren't sure.
We stopped a little further along closer to where he might have been but were constantly thwarted by light rain & foggy/misty/cloud.
We sat in the vehicle for a while to get out of the weather.
It began to clear again so we went further along & finally found a Deer to look at, unfortunitly she was moving rapidly across the face.
This was strange, it soon became apparent why when a biggish stag emerged from the scrub, action stations, 21 degrees, 786 yards, but not slowing down.
I got in behind the 338 Imp but couldn't see much with moisture/haze on the front of the NF, everything was wet.....BUGGER....
He had a good head & was probably the earlier vocalist.
Then just for a change we lost visability again....he will keep for another day, hopefully soon :)
We went back to another spot to see if we could catch sight of him again, but no luck.
The weather then got fairly crappy & we sat inside again, after about 20mins we had just about had enough but there was a bit of blue coming through so we stayed put.
We spent time glassing & we finally found another hind, she was a fair way away so we closed the gap.
The terrain was a little concerning regarding retrieval so a plan was hatched.
Nadia & I would close the gap from 960+ to something slightly easier for Nadias first shot at a deer.
We had to walk up in full veiw with K left behind with the spotter & radio, if she buggered off "so be it" was the decision.
It was pretty steep climbing up the paddock with both of us stopping for a rest & to check if she was still there, several times :)
I had to find a suitable shooting position as the angle I knew was going up with every step.
We got to a semi do-able site & set up/had a rest.
She was looking our way but not concerned, 23 degrees up & 525 yards away, I did the necessary calculations & Nadia tried to get into position.
This was not an easy task with wet grass & lying on an angle behind a rifle, sliding down the hill....
Finally we had it sorted, I was getting concerned about visabilty again as it was starting to rain & the mist was coming.
Nadia had her in the scope, even though the angle wasn't perfect I decided she should take the shot.
I was spotting with the Leicas but not in the best position to spot as usual.
On the shot a Deer took off at a great rate of knots to the right, but we heard the impact ????
I got K on the radio to see what had happened & he said "it's all good mate she is rolling down the hill", the other one had been behind her out of our site in the scrub.
Nadia was stoked she had shot her first Deer to add to a couple of rabbits, not too bad for a "city girl" :cool:
We waited to see if the other Deer would materialise out of the vegetation as the mist moved in & K brought the vehicle up the paddock.
It was not to be though, K & I went up the hill to get the Hind, the retreival wasn't as bad as we first thought so it was all good :thumbsup:
The shooting position.
http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/...1stHind003.jpg
The "after match" photo with the happy camper.
http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/...1stHind008.jpg
The 300 grain Gen II hit her a little back again, but still in the ribs, there was obviously a little more wind than I realised coming across the valley/down.
Then it turned right & went past her fillets following the back bone going through her H bone before lodging under skin beside her tail, it weighed 137 grains after leaving the muzzle at 3050 fps.
http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/...GenII003-1.jpg
http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/...300Gen2001.jpg
It shows a nice mushroom & worked very well :cool:
Time was marching on & we had to get back to town, we stopped for another look on the way out & saw a little pig in the paddock at 2.00 in the arvo :cool:
Then I found a BIG bodied stag up another gully, after we got closer he was 980 odd away, we got better look with the spotter, which revealed a fairly crappy small head, so about average for Nelson :ORLY: as we were out of time & retrieval would take at least 2 hours he was left for another trip.
It was a great day, seeing some animals & getting Nadia her first Deer, amazing really as only a month or two ago I hadn't shot a big game animal beyond 450 yards.
Thanks to K for the opportunity to be to hunt like this & put the toys I have been shooting steel with at LR for a few years to good use fulling the freezer :cool:
