havgunwilltravel
Active member
We have been having some pretty ordinary weather over here the past couple of weeks and whilst i don't mind hunting in it, the bigger issue is getting in and out of some of our locations with heavy snow drifts, big timber to cut up when it falls onto the tracks and high river levels when they need to be crossed.
So when a small window opened up at the tail end of a cold front this week a mate and i met up and raced into the hills. We were headed into an area that gets a fair bit of pressure but there is always a few deer to be glassed up. Eventually it was time to shoulder the packs and push into our area. It's just a slog, plain and simple getting into this location and there was a few river crossings that needed to be navigated. We managed to find places to cross safely although a few were on the dicey side of the coin.
The day was wearing on as we came to the area i wanted to camp and as we were seeing a few deer we knew it was time to get set up and lighten the loads. A stag honked at us near our campsite and all we got to look at him was nice big fresh marks in the soft soil that he left behind. With a tail wind heading in the direction he went we let him be and contoured higher up to do some glassing. A hind and yearling were glassed and not much else so we kept pushing further up valley.
It was getting down to the last hour of daylight and we knew it was the best time of the day to find a stag heading to his feeding grounds and we topped a ridge to glass onto some river flats. As i was setting up the 15's i kept scanning the country below and noticed a pair of deer on some green pick. One was obviously larger in body size and i assumed it was a stag and a hind. I was set up quickly and the 15's told me he was a younger stag around 4.5 years, but he had a relatively poor set of antlers. Wonky in the beams on his LH side, small inner on one beam and pretty much non existent on the other side.
Unfortunately in this area most guys like to shoot the mature trophies, which is fine, as we do as well, but they tend to leave the poor genetic deer or malformed animals and with a good deer population these types of animals can always find cycling hinds to mate with. Most of the hunters let these animals walk, and it doesn't do the overall herd genetics any favours.
He was 600 metres away and a leading ridge underneath me would take me opposite him so i scrambled off the lookout and dropped elevation fast while i knew he was in a good location to kill him. Along the way i had a hind in front of me stare at me from 40 metres and i jogged at her trying to scare her quick without giving her time to honk and alert the stag, but it didn't work and she barked loudly before bolting off. A quick check on the stag showed his head was up but he resumed feeding. No doubt the raging river kept a lid on any noise coming to his ears. Soon i was 285 metres from him, i got a prone rest, dialed up 2 moa on the Nightforce turret, waited for him to turn side on and sent a 190gr VLD behind his shoulder. Hearing the thump and watching him tumble off the cliff was reassuring.
A quick climb down had me offloading all my gear at the river and looking for a wide section to cross over to where i could see my stag on the other side. Eventually with the help of a sturdy stick i got over, took a few pictures, sorted out the stag and butchered him up.
It was a journey getting back across the river to all my gear then a decent climb up out onto the spur where my mate was hanging in there glassing other deer and i flicked on the headlamp as we met up. He hadn't seen any other stags so we contoured around back to camp eventually getting there an hour after dark pretty worn out.
Daylight found us glassing a new system and straight away we spotted a few stags and hinds, but none were what we were looking for.
There was a young stylish deer that was beating up trees trying to let the other stags know he was in charge of the situation.
And then we watched a big malformed stag fight with a nice stag that was a year or two off being a good one to shoot and after the battle he sulked in a patch of timber.
We had the malformed stag in the crosshairs a few times, but with a full load from the previous days stag it was pointless shooting him.
As the day wore on we changed position a few times to mix up the angles and glass into all the terrain we possibly could we noticed heavy clouds building and snow falling not far above us. The decision was made to race back to camp, pull it down and head out whilst the going was good.
It was a scramble as we had planned on staying in another night, but we were pushing our luck with the weather and it wasn't the place to be if it deteriorated and we knew another cold front was on the way. So with heavy packs we kicked over the heals and commenced the 5 hour hike back out.
Making the 4wd just on dark as heavy snow was falling we were glad we pulled the pin and even more happier when we climbed out in the 4wd through deep fresh powder. A high point allowed us to look back into the valley we had left and it was black and stormy down in there and so much a better deal we were in the warm truck with a cold beer, stag in the back and trying to work out just when we would head back up to sambar country and hunt the deer that are so special to us.
So when a small window opened up at the tail end of a cold front this week a mate and i met up and raced into the hills. We were headed into an area that gets a fair bit of pressure but there is always a few deer to be glassed up. Eventually it was time to shoulder the packs and push into our area. It's just a slog, plain and simple getting into this location and there was a few river crossings that needed to be navigated. We managed to find places to cross safely although a few were on the dicey side of the coin.
The day was wearing on as we came to the area i wanted to camp and as we were seeing a few deer we knew it was time to get set up and lighten the loads. A stag honked at us near our campsite and all we got to look at him was nice big fresh marks in the soft soil that he left behind. With a tail wind heading in the direction he went we let him be and contoured higher up to do some glassing. A hind and yearling were glassed and not much else so we kept pushing further up valley.
It was getting down to the last hour of daylight and we knew it was the best time of the day to find a stag heading to his feeding grounds and we topped a ridge to glass onto some river flats. As i was setting up the 15's i kept scanning the country below and noticed a pair of deer on some green pick. One was obviously larger in body size and i assumed it was a stag and a hind. I was set up quickly and the 15's told me he was a younger stag around 4.5 years, but he had a relatively poor set of antlers. Wonky in the beams on his LH side, small inner on one beam and pretty much non existent on the other side.
Unfortunately in this area most guys like to shoot the mature trophies, which is fine, as we do as well, but they tend to leave the poor genetic deer or malformed animals and with a good deer population these types of animals can always find cycling hinds to mate with. Most of the hunters let these animals walk, and it doesn't do the overall herd genetics any favours.
He was 600 metres away and a leading ridge underneath me would take me opposite him so i scrambled off the lookout and dropped elevation fast while i knew he was in a good location to kill him. Along the way i had a hind in front of me stare at me from 40 metres and i jogged at her trying to scare her quick without giving her time to honk and alert the stag, but it didn't work and she barked loudly before bolting off. A quick check on the stag showed his head was up but he resumed feeding. No doubt the raging river kept a lid on any noise coming to his ears. Soon i was 285 metres from him, i got a prone rest, dialed up 2 moa on the Nightforce turret, waited for him to turn side on and sent a 190gr VLD behind his shoulder. Hearing the thump and watching him tumble off the cliff was reassuring.
A quick climb down had me offloading all my gear at the river and looking for a wide section to cross over to where i could see my stag on the other side. Eventually with the help of a sturdy stick i got over, took a few pictures, sorted out the stag and butchered him up.
It was a journey getting back across the river to all my gear then a decent climb up out onto the spur where my mate was hanging in there glassing other deer and i flicked on the headlamp as we met up. He hadn't seen any other stags so we contoured around back to camp eventually getting there an hour after dark pretty worn out.
Daylight found us glassing a new system and straight away we spotted a few stags and hinds, but none were what we were looking for.
There was a young stylish deer that was beating up trees trying to let the other stags know he was in charge of the situation.
And then we watched a big malformed stag fight with a nice stag that was a year or two off being a good one to shoot and after the battle he sulked in a patch of timber.
We had the malformed stag in the crosshairs a few times, but with a full load from the previous days stag it was pointless shooting him.
As the day wore on we changed position a few times to mix up the angles and glass into all the terrain we possibly could we noticed heavy clouds building and snow falling not far above us. The decision was made to race back to camp, pull it down and head out whilst the going was good.
It was a scramble as we had planned on staying in another night, but we were pushing our luck with the weather and it wasn't the place to be if it deteriorated and we knew another cold front was on the way. So with heavy packs we kicked over the heals and commenced the 5 hour hike back out.
Making the 4wd just on dark as heavy snow was falling we were glad we pulled the pin and even more happier when we climbed out in the 4wd through deep fresh powder. A high point allowed us to look back into the valley we had left and it was black and stormy down in there and so much a better deal we were in the warm truck with a cold beer, stag in the back and trying to work out just when we would head back up to sambar country and hunt the deer that are so special to us.
