well the last four deer,Meg hasnt had to do a thing...two easy yearlings close to car,then a fallow up in tussocks,then another in same place a week later,we did let Meg "find" that one,even though we knew where it was....
off again tomorrow to see if can get another mate an animal with rifle he bought a year ago and HASNT FIRED YET!!!!!

todays effort...and now she can help carry it out.
backsteak in each side...AND ...AND ....AND even got SWMBO to carry front quarter ,so I had much lighter load with back wheels and off cuts.

take 2

Boy, those teeth are really clean!

It's fun to have helpers.

Elvis, you're lucky that I'm not your dog. I'd think: when you treath me as a mule, I would act as a mule and close my ears and hunt for my own pleasure...


don't mean that because I know the value of a hunter/dog-team and anything they can do together will strengthen this band!

I hope Meg got some choice nibbles from the stuff she had to carry out mate.

went out for a roar/rut hunt...slept in wagon at road end,5 other vechilles there last night,,thankfully they all went home,did get spotlighter drive up and back about midnight...the place gets hammered.
woke up at daylight and the dog turned off cellphone alarm and went back to sleep(that my excuse and Im sticking to it) we got up and headed up in the wet bush,killing wasps nest within first 50 yards was good start to day.
there was very little vocal activity and still little sign of much deer movement.they arent stupid and have abandoned the easy front country...so we just keep going,up to lookout...no deer there so up further into my big jelly fern clearings. bit of fresher sign,stopped and had my brunch,packet of pebbles candy from the rat pack. got up,re sorted our gear and headed up hill for 10 yards,then changed mind and dropped down jelly fern clearing a bit and took first semi decent deer path out towards next clearing...only traveled 75yards and looked ahead and spotted yound hind looking at me...that'll do Meg...up with the Howa,oh the new /old 3x M8 loopy is awesome,put the X on chest and squeazed off (X because I mount scope on piss so its at 45degrees not up n down) the 170 grn speer hit like hammer of Thor and deer died on spot,dropped quivering,being reamed through chest tends to do that...no much for Meg to do finding this one,but I still made it her job....needless to say she jumped ontop and plucked hair off its bum...
took my time boning animal out ,all four quarters,back and eye steaks perfect..lost ZERO meat....dont carry out neck meat from way back in boonies and round had exited flank after punishing lungs and liver...
Meg sat still whle I fitted her pack,then just layed down waiting while I finished the knife work.... she got to carry maybe 70% of front quarters,I got to carry the rest.
2 hours plodding saw us back at wagon and off home...the cold beer in chilly bin was tempting,but drank vanilla coke instead...being tired,had I had even the wee stubby would have been asking for trouble driving.

Sounds like another great day!

A great yarn and a great hunt mate. Both you and Meg did well.

My good mate Allen / @amlnz decided he was free for a hunt today so we set off from mine at 0stupid hundred and headed up to my favourite bush stalking haunt knowing it would be hot....Holy smoke it was over 20degrees all day with only a slight breaze to give any relief. Meg ,my big black bitch is getting long in the tooth but mates,she did us proud today,Tilly must have had a word in her ear while sleeping,she kept in range and behaved. we bush bashed up through some real crappy country to begin with.no animals were hiding in there,well if they were they hiding really well. we got out onto open bit with a clean clear creek...Allen whipped out his jet boil and boiled the billy for a cuppa....primo.
Meg drank heaps from creek,we set off again and checked out a wee side track that sometimes holds animlas,no dice there either,so back on with packs and up to "the lookout" bit of a stop and chinwag there,nothing played ball so back on with packs and slowly started stalk up hill,the wind had been forcast SE but was very light,at that point it was up our jacksee and sure enough a couple of hundred yards up spur crashing off ahead,2-3 deer moving off in hurry,Meg gave a wee whine but stayed put and shutup.... I said a naughty word or three under breath,a deer there would have been easy carry...oh well onward and upwards,semi hoping deer had gone in that direction,Ive tried following up spooked deer up there too many times to bother anymore.
we got nearly up to jellyfern clearing Meg winding but no real strong point...a young stags head n neck appeared up above us,but the old fart was too slow,and the young gun was behind me with no shot and poor visibility.... more naughty words said.Meg was good girl and kept mum and stayed with me... we cruised up through JF clearing,stopping for a snack and cold water.... NORMALLY there is water running a couple of hundred yards ahead..not today,wee seeps were mud n no more. over the years Ive spooked over a dozen deer in this 200 yard stretch of bush and managed to shoot half that number.Meg knows it well and today she was really on point...nose questing and indicating to head downhill.I said to Allen "Ive got to trust her on this" so we slowly stalked own hill @RUMPY always tells me to trust the dog and slow down you silly old fart... so today we did just that.
we stalked down maybe 3-400 yards,sign was all around us but meg couldnt really get a solid fix,3 times coming down she was really keen but then lost scent on breaze,that is untill we got well down face and approaching some big windfall.nose went straight up ears pricks,her body launguage was SCREAMING at me..deer right here...its right plurry here you old fart dont muck this one up....I got Allen on high alert and we moved forwards,a head and neck appeared ahead..no chance to muck around,up went the HOWA, the wee 4x on neck,steady,look out of scope,yip thats him,line up well and fire. deer dropped out of sight.I said t oAllen thats either hollywood shot or a miss,then deer broke to our left from where Id fired at deer,a running shot was all offered, didnt drop deer,but then I spotted deer stationary in direction it was going,lined up on shoulder and fired,my mind going haywire,was it one two or three deer. shot felt good. then in same spot the plurry deers head came up..so reloaded AGAIN and fired AGAIN...
said to Allen thats a definated dead deer now....... he headed down towards it while I headed towards where first shot had been directed...yip Ive got a dead one...then Allen found blood...hmm running shot was good,then Meg pounced on stag,it was still moving so Allen called her out of way and head shot it again...... Mayhem......
I cut throat of mine then headed down to him.... did same and had a wee look around for 50 yards just in case third deer was around,no blood and Meg not interested....still not 100% convinced there isnt a dead deer rotting under ferns but 2 good stags is more than enough for two lads to carry out on hot day....we got stuck in on knives,Allen learning the tricks of the job...third time hes been with me to see,he did fair share of knife work today... with heavy packs we staggered homeward,2hot prickle KMs of hard graft,we did stop for another cuppa.
got home and I did the knife work sorting steak for him and sent him homewards with chillybin full of primo venison cooled by frozen dogroll.
bit of a bugger the chance for him to shoot didnt happen,thats bush hunting. a good mate and our batting average is back to 100%.

Another good day!!

Well done Elvis, and you’re right when you say “that’s hunting”. On a few occasions I’ve been out with a mate and not had the chance to fire a shit whilst he’s emptied his magazine. The young fella is learning good lessons mate, lessons that will stay with him for a lifetime and put him in good stead for the future. Who knows, he might even bring you some venison when you can no longer get out and tramp the hills.

dead right Vince..or he can carry it when Im to old n worn out...feel it today,got knee wrapped up as must have twisted it yesterday,giving me absolute shites everytime I move it...but it will come right,always does,better it crap out in protest once Im home than halfway up hill...being a member of LandSAR I certainly do not want to have to call for help...would never live it down.

got a txt Message from Al the other day...the circuit breaker in his garage had tripped out..all that lovely venison and other met in freezer is stuffed..... I nearly cried.
oh well excuse to go out hunting again,must always look for the silver lining.

great day bush hobbiting
RUMPY and myself went out for a wee wander this morning,Meg the big black bitch came along to keep us on track.
got to hunting area right on first light.we tied boot laces and headed off up hill...barely 300 yards from leaving car I looked ahead to see young hind looking at us from under 50 yards away,I cocked rifle and put Xhairs on her...safety catch still on,flustered I sorted it and fired...clean miss AGAIN....needless to say we looked for 20 minutes and even dog wasnt really interested....useless prick she kept muttering under her breath...
so I put rumpy on point and we carried on,Meg happy to be out n about me with tail between legs.
along some nice grassy edge country and up wee creek we headed,RUMPY spotted yearling but was too slow on the draw....he headed off for another look for it but alas it had evaded his best efforts,so we carried on up track then up ridge...at one point I spotted movement in ferns ahead and Meg was very keen...we stalked in carefully but I think a bird must have unhooked a hooked up fern causing it to swing as nothing was spotted and our eyes were on spot as we staked in.... never mind we carried on.Dan the master ninja doing best mouse impersonations in the cornflake conditions. up up up we climbed slowly carefully...slowly looking all around,Meg was behaving really well and kept in behind me,but still let us know when nose was picking up scent.... we kept climbing slowly and I let Dan know when we in my hot zone.... been really productive spot over the years,taken a LONG time to work out how to stalk it... we carried on creeping up ridge,then up comes the trusty Ruger bolt goes down..and folks,Dan doesnt often miss,today was no exception. good solid hit on hind up ahead of us,she ran 20ish yards uphill before doing death dive in some windfall. Meg stopped on whistle and stayed with us untill released to search,took her a bit of time before finding hind,we knew where she was but its the dogs job,so we made her do it.... then sorted hind,and cup of tea..Dan makes a plurry good cuppa tea....
leasurely butchering session...now thats always funny too as we pushing each other out of way to get on with it...no standing back with us fellas,get stuck in and get job done.Dan broke it down and I boned it out hanging quarters in handy tree to make it easier,and cleaner. no breaking plastic bags today...good old pillowcase did the job nicely.
Dan took lions share of meat as wanted to make up batch of snags,my freezer looking healthy alread so more than happy with back steak,eye fillet and one rear legs worth... a good walk down hill and another cup of tea in creek,then another half hour spent searching for the deer I missed,just to make sure(new rifle I hadnt previously fired is my excuse and Im sticking to it)...back to car and homeward
plurry good day out with a good mate.
he always chips me about going too fast when stalking,and you know what?? he is plurry well right,just dont tell him I said so