some photos from temptation valley

pigs were no more than 30 yards away...photo taken out window of truck.
the dirty dozen live up in that paddock,were seen all last summer and still there,can be up to 30 of them,both reds and fallow,now Angus is a young bull thar who has mobbed up with cattle..unfortunately havent seen him for last 6 months but saw him regularly before that..all three lots of animals perfectly safe from me..but you can see why I call it temptation valley. I would hate to think how many animals would be seen using a thermal device.

Who owns the land where all these critters are feeding mate? Is it private or public land? If private, you may be able to come to some sort of a deal with the owner. Not sure about how you would gain access to public land over there though.

the critters are on private land and owners/managers are VERY hot on people on there ....signs all over the show and any approach met with firm NO. never mind they do drift into danger zone at times....I just need to up my game somewhat LOL.

Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained mate. Do you service them through work mate? Might be a way of gaining an in with them. Offer to assist with helping alleviate/repair damage done by poachers.

not through work..but I do hear you...a door knock at some point might work..will ponder it some.

spent 4 hours up hill today in beautiful open bush..stalked carefully into wind and when it got strong and swung around I turned around and headed back via another ridge system so wind still favourable for hunting..nothing seen or spooked,either the stags arent yet roaring or they dont like my north island accent as nothing heard at all.
still it hit my reset button ,really enjoy a day wandering along with musket in hand. left dogs at home as a no go block for them.

Today was a bit of vindication for all the time I spent last winter learning a wee funny piece of bush .
took mate for a quiet walk in there today,its gorgeous bush mahoe/whiteywood with broadleaf/grissalinia and five finger all over the show so five star deer tucker galore.its open understorey means at times we get 50-80yards glimpses of visability right down to 20-30 yards when it gets thicker. under foot there is a heap of dead leaves so its cornflake crunchy some times and super cushy when slightly damp.
we were in super ninja mode ,slow careful stalking with LOTS of stopping to look all around...to give you an idea how slow..we covered 3.5kms in a little over 4hours. the backbirds left us alone today although one did do comacazy towards me,I didnt think it was going to turn,didnt deviate till about meter from my face,seen one smash into side of Meg my big black bitch a year or two ago so are weary of them. they are pain as give off alarm calls when disturbed...going slowly gives them time to see you and move off without panicing.
we sidled around slowly till had enough then dropped down to lower level to stalk back along hill face,hadnt been down low for long and found a nearly dry wallow/mud patch with fresh footprints,also some fresh deer pooh so were going slowly and quietly,I looked uphill and saw arse end of deer.froze...brought up rifle...cant see front end,whispered to mate"stag just up here" he could see NOTHING... I kept looking through scope,screwed it up to 4x (1x4 pigplex loopy) still not enough to shoot.could see entire rear end but no shot..so moved one step sideways..then had sunlight on scope,moved tiny bit more..theres neck..yeah nah..not with .222 and only one shot...right there is shoulder,centred X hair and poleaxed him...when hit his legs went out from under him and dropped on spot..raced up reloading and fired 2nd round into back of neck close to head. yabbadabbadooo
took a few photos,will try to upload later.
we took our time cutting up stag..post rut he wasnt in bad condition really.two good backsteaks,two eye fillets both rear quarters,both front quarters,the one bullet went through was still half salvageable .
we hung the meat up in trees and boiled the billy again.
finished our cuppa and finished boning out legs into our packs.managed to decapitate deer no worry. short walk down to easy open country and short walk back to car.
happy campers indeed
stag is OLD....head definately going backwards 6 points with 7th broken off,tops are shrunken short but timber is heavy.
the mate who came duckshooting with us this year has generously offered to boil out skull for me.
this is one stag that means a lot to me as genuine bush stalked stag with good mate beside me.no thermal gear,no rangefinder twiddle n fiddle just two blokes mousing along in the bush with wind in faces enjoying being alive. the big fella upstairs was smiling down on us today,that stag would have done it hard this coming winter and probably not survived the following one.
his meat will end up as sausages and head will find home on garage wall.

here goes

Good job mate…you have achieved. It’s good that you didn’t decide on a “Texas Heart Shot”…up the “tan track” to the heart.

As an aside, I’m surprised the wee trebly (.222) has enough grunt to drop a stag of that size mate.

yip it sure punches above its weight class... I used a 63grn sierra semi point,which is an old school soft point and one of the few that are blunt enough to stabilize in a 1;14 twist.....seems the bakail may have 1;11 so even more options there,normally it feeds on speer 52grn hps but being in the bush I poked in something slightly heavier...so far touch wood. everything I poke trebly at has died very quickly. three fallow,two big pigs and now this stag...I only carry it as its shorter n slightly lighter than my other rifles LOL.

Does you Baikal make a decent group with the Sierra 63 grn SMP? I love that bullet, but cannot use it in the Baikal, only in the Sabatti. The Sabatti will also perform OK with the 45 grn bullet. Maybe I'm using the wrong powder for the 63 grn SMP in the Baikal... what's your load?

Win 748 and confession time.wouldnt have a clue how it groups...rifle sighted in with 52grn hps and anything else seems to hit close enough at the short ranges I use it,that I've never bothered to check on paper.

My favorite 222 load with the 63 grn SMP is with an old Belgian powder PCl507 which is very close on the burning rate list to 748 Win. I use 21,0 grn, but as said: OK for the Sabatti, not good enough (for me) in the Baikal.