May it be the first of many
Today I got up early and headed away for a hunt.
left the old gal Meg at home in a sulk ,took young Poppy as both dogs together just isnt working,the old gal cant wind properly with young lass jumping on her or licking her chops,cutting her off as she walks etc so made hard call after last day out...one at a time for now.
Poppy was winding well last time out so I had high hopes today.
made the call to NOT go back up to my usual bush hunting spot,time to change things around so took the trebly and headed into the tussock country.
forcast was for cloud....reality was light misty rain,this spot has produced for me before in these conditions so all good.
headed off up track and just kept walking,right past boundary marker..hmmm this looks a bit weird??? realised my error but as wind was correct we went with plan B and headed in from other end of area we wanted to hunt,hunted up ridge into clag and sat down hoping for a clearance of visibility,hadnt even got billy out to boil and cloud moved and BINGO ,fallow stag with spikes only....
not a heck of a lot of option to stalk closer without loosing all contact with it in tall tussock and trying to jump it up for snap shot with fixed 6x not ideal so a careful straight on approach was order of the day...closing distance to 200 yards I realised we had been spotted,Poppy flapping ears possibly alerted young stag,he simple sat down behind tussock and kept peering at us through leaves....these fallow arent dumb,Ive seen them do this before and a fallow head through scrub isnt easy to spot... looking ahead I made a spot maybe 150 from deer,if could get to there,it would just have to do.
got there and got comfortable on hill side,no chance of prone..would be shooting off knees,now to get stag to stand up..5 mins wait,nope just kept peering through tussock fronds,tried whistle..nope..more whistles,nope,just turned his head and stayed hunkered down...tried yelling...nope,same reaction...got binos back out,yes difinately still there but only head visible....got steady as posible and aimed through light screen of tussock at centre of face.... pop goes trebly..always surprises me the sound it makes after years using the .223,its just different,might be waitaki can too. deer got up and hopped away slowly while Im frantically reloading ..not that quick with break open single,deer slowed,lined up pop thump and deer dropped out of sight. reloaded and waited watching for movement...nothing.
walked down to where deer last seen,confident Poppy will find it with help.. the vegetation was tit height..oh crap,this could be needle in haystack,wet tussock isnt going to give me much help..we moved into area it shouldve been,Poppy moved forwards and out it jumped,bounding over tussocks.I fired at head (took off one spike....done eggzachary same thing twice before!!!) stag dropped out of sight again....not confident it was down for count reload and move forwards again..crazy thing,as Im lining up on fallow Mr wallaby was seen out corner of vision 10 yards away.... cheeky hua.
Poppy was winding but not sure what was going on,we got past where I thought we should be,turned around and headed back..I kept encouraging Poppy to go find it... she was bopping around looking,scenting..early days. then I spotted fallow head poke up about 40 yards away,Poppy had stopped out of my line of fire so up came trebly and ended it properly...much easier when deer is stationary.... confident it was all over rover now,walked Poppy in and sent her ahead..she is really impressing me as likes to be within 5 yards of me,perfect for a bush hobbit,her nose finally got good whiff of animal and she darted forwards and poked head through tussocks...then bolted back to me...FARK THATS A HUGE RABBIT!!!! she hasnt seen a deer before and has only seen me shoot hares...she was happy to go back again..with Dad to back her up..then the Labradore kicked in....hmm I can posibly eat this....
lots of praise,lots of pats... out with knife and got 99% of usable meat off animal,Poppy decided she really really likes fatty bits of fallow venison,so much so I was worried the knife was going to poke he in face at times...well mannered and polite but very keen for another wee bit please...
loaded up pack and wandered back the 8km to wagon...
didnt even stop to make a cuppa tea...grass was long n wet so didnt really want to sit down in it and try to clear spot for boilup.
got out to car and rang mate in fairly,put the billy on please, dropped off some venison for him to enjoy and got to smooch his wonderful dogs
all up a great day out and I have high hopes Poppy is going to be great companion on the hill,she is the most "birdie" dog Ive ever owned and with natural point already there and staying in close...hopefully I can encourage the bits I want and dont cock up the rest.
time will tell.

will try to post photo later.

Outstanding hunt Elvis. “Trebly”…is that a .222 mate?

I’ve tried shooting rabbits through knee high tussock…almost bloody impossible mate. All you can hope for is to see their ears, then come done about 3”-4” and hope for the best. If you can’t see them, ya can’t shoot them. For you to be able to spot and shoot a fallow spiker through chest high tussock is no mean feat…you done good, even if it did take 4 shots. A young spiker would be lovely sweet meat too mate.

Sounds like Poppy is getting there, although Meg, being grumpy like she is, mightn’t talk to you for a few days.

TREBLY...Triple duce... the humble 222remington a fine wee cartridge if ever there was one.
Bakail break open single,suppressed with a waitaki can and topped with a M8 6x leupold that has had top turret fitted..beautiful glass.

2 weeks ago we headed up to small farm pond,I shot two mallard drakes and meg retrieved them both with Poppy watching..nothing else came in so no chace for her..then we got hit by mongrel wasps..and went home
2 days ago Poppy n I went down to another dairy farm with river running through it..we got a mallard out of tangled willows a pukeko and a hare.
today we went back to same property..first up two mallard drakes in tangled willows,she didnt see first but saw 2nd one..got to it,up onto far bank and waited till I came around to her..bit praise,then got her onto first bird by chucking small stick towards it...picked it up,swam waded back to me..big praise,lots of sniffing and into the bag..out into open paddock and pukeko flies out int ocentre of paddock and lands..weird behaviour...I stalked in close and it took off,shot it and sent Poppy,she was half way back with it and hare jumps up rigght beside her..she kept coming and as soon as out of line I shot hare,took 3 rounds but whos counting??? ..gave her praise and took pukeko and sent her towards hare,she retrieved that too.... big praise now....
off to other end of farm.... shot mallard the npukeko then another mallard that fell out of sight in long grass paddock long as in 6-8" high.. we collected first bird..she went n got pukeko..we got over two electric fences and an irrigator concrete bridge and started grid search of paddock for last bird.. I had done 3-4 lines out n back with Poppy zooming all over like a zoomy thing,I kept sending her away to find it and kept walking grid watching her,she was maybe 30 yards away at full spped the nstopped like had hit brick wall,turned nose questing then shot off 10 yards upwind and picked up bird...mates I was absolutely stoked..HUGE praise HUGE fuss..bird went into back,pair of mallard came over head maybe 35 yards up,I fired at drake,saw pellets remove feathers from both wings as bird checked in flight,both flew off..Ive learnt to watch...the ygot maybe 200 yards,drake not in sight and hen zoomed down hard int opaddock across road...hmmm
went over and saw ducky looking blob where thought she went down,and magpie looking at another ducky looking thing that then flapped wing 50 yards away..tied Poppy to fence,crossed road n two fences and picked up my pair of fat mallards....
Poppy sat perfectly watched me ,no whinging no fuss..my gun,bag n coat were with her.
missed a pair of paridise ducks with 5 rounds on way back to wagon but couldnt care less
this wee black bitch is going to be a dynamo..she doesnt care about blackberry thorns when has snos full of duck scent..she not too keen on big loud BOOM of shotgun but is cleaver..when she sees me getting tense while stalking up..she stops and waits..PERFECT..we have suffered for year with dogs trying to rush up to see whats about to be shot..pain in the arse... far nicer if dog sits n waits... will be VERY careful as Im aware she could go gunshy if I do something dumb.. but she looking really good so far
no photos other than dead ducks..and my phone settings need to be changed as quality makes them too big for on here...will sort that.
Im as happy as a pup with two peckers

Sounds like a very good pup there Elvis! Not to mention one heck of a way to spend a day!

Outstanding days hunting mate…guess I know what’s on the menu for the next day or so…dare I suggest duck.

Pics too big mate…either email them to yourself or download free pic resizing software off the net…works for me mate.

Excellent experience.
Thanks for sharing mate.

try again

Oooops...Photo bomb.

dont them big brown eyes just melt your heart though??

She looks like she could do with a visit to the hairdresser mate, bit of a trim. Apart from that, she looks great, and ready for another session in the bush or around a lake with you.

thats how a GWP or a beardie are supposed to look.... built in sun shade LOL.

she found a porker I shot a couple of months back..I knew where it was but let her do "her job"
today was one out of the bag...slept in wagon at roadend last night,could see 27 deer in one patch all of 2ha big..safe as houses on farmland..I call them the dirty dozen as 12 lived there all last summer. had good sleep,up at 04;20 had dingoes breakfast and headed off,trudging up the valley. by first light I was inside hunting block a mild 7kms stroll to wake a fella up!!!!
walked quietly up a creek in mostly open country,this is boundary of block,sure enough spotted 3 and then another 3 fallow sneaking away on opposite side of valley..the huas know they are safe as thats private land..the 6-7 pairs of canada geese nesting in creek/river between us and the flock of nesting seagulls were not doing me any favours but wind was good downstream so we kept on...got to within 400yards of start of hill,had seen a few other deer also away on safe/private land plus a good mob of tahr bulls.... then Poppys nose got all busy..different from when she wanted to investigate the birds,and she was determined,so I kept her in close and got binoculars busy,sure enough there was one of them peski fallows who knew better than all his buddies and he was right where I had hoped,well inside block boundaries and up wind all of 250-300 yards away and hadnt seen us..... you beauty Poppy...she let me know something was about..perfect,we stalked in closer,keeping in higher tussocks until were about 150 yards away,the nsat down watching deer..he knew something was up but couldnt work us out being upwind from us. as the huas are prone to do he sat down with head neck sticking up watching us..then decided he had seen enough and quietly moved off..perfect,I could now see his entire body,followed in scope and let a 55grn sierra sp go. bit of a pop/thump came back and deer jumped...reloaded and watched..he got all of 20 yards and seemed to pile up,hard to tell when tussocks are as high as deer is!!!
marked the spot,praised dog for staying quiet and sitting. off we went,she now wanted to zoom ahead..nope not happening,stay with me...got up to within 75 yards of where I thought it should be,had good field of fire should it get up,so unleashed the zoomie monster....holy smoke does she bound through tussocks with glee,cast out to left of where I had marked deers fall,she hit its scent trail and straight to it,looked at me and proceeded to scrag its arse.....YABBADABBADOOO!!!!!! she kept looking up at me tail going flat tacker and kept giving dead deer a wee chew
got to her and heaps of praise..heaps of pats..... you little ripper.
did the poohs n wees thing,carried it all of hunred yards then realised I was being a dork..... had a 8.5km trudge ahead of me,put deer down and quartered it,not forgetting both back steaks and eye steaks.... it all fitted in my day bag and was a little lighter without all the skin n bone.... 18kgs it weighed.
did take photo but its pretty much a dead ringer for the fallow above...it was all of 20 yards away from where we shot that one.
to say I am stoked with Poppies progress is understatement. she is so keen to please,just wants to be beside me,getting a pat or cuddle,she puts head on me when glassing like she trying to look too LOL.
Her nose is fantastic.... if I can keep her focused onto what we after life will be awesome for next 10 years God willing.
Meg is getting on now,she still my bush dog,still loves the hunt but really slows down when gets home afterwards,we might get another 2 years with her if lucky,Poppy will fill a huge hole when Meg goes,getting the replacement early seems to have been good choice.

here goes

Sounds like you may well have hit the jackpot with Poppy mate. Not only a grea5 companion, but an outstanding hunting dog as well. Onya Poppy.