Aussie_hunter_JD
Well-known member
Been doing a fair bit of hunting this rut (April in southern hemisphere for reds and fallow). Been incredibly tough, we're going through a pretty dry stretch, not sure if that has the deer spread more thinly over the landscape. Anyway, didn't find a red worth shooting second year running but had better luck on the fallow. I ducked over to the neighbouring state of South Australia and ended up hunting one specific buck for 3 days. He had a mob of 10 does which made getting into range challenging. One morning be was very vocal (fallow croak) and I managed to get into a position where they'd cross to their bedding areas. 9 of his 10 does spent half an hour within 50 yards of me as they ambled along. The doe he was chasing was a little further out but he never really left the bush.
Next day we found another mob of maybe 8 does, and in the grey light i thought i saw a buck. We managed to close into 120 yards but he was nowhere to be seen so i figured I'd got it wrong in the early light.
Headed toward where we'd seen the buck i was after the previous two days and as we almost made it and were beginning to cross an opening I heard a sapling being thrashed from a thick stand of new growth redgum. I stopped my friend and threw up the glasses immediately seeing a doe moving. Quickly i dropped down and using my pack for a rest waited. Within a minute he stepped out at 150 yards and stopped finally in a clearing! 1 shot from the 275 rigby with Norma oryx handloads and he didn't make it 10 yards. Great end to a challenging rut hunt.
Interesting note, as i headed back for the ute i passed where we saw those deer earlier. And there was the buck I'd seen first thing. No clue where he'd disappeared to in the time it took us to close that gap.
In terms of fallow he's certainly no giant, in fact more of a cull. His spellers (palm points) are few but long, the preference is for lots of small ones and he had palm clefts which is considered a big fault in fallow. So the property owner was happy to be rid of a cull and i was happy with a esky full of meat and a beautiful cape.
Next day we found another mob of maybe 8 does, and in the grey light i thought i saw a buck. We managed to close into 120 yards but he was nowhere to be seen so i figured I'd got it wrong in the early light.
Headed toward where we'd seen the buck i was after the previous two days and as we almost made it and were beginning to cross an opening I heard a sapling being thrashed from a thick stand of new growth redgum. I stopped my friend and threw up the glasses immediately seeing a doe moving. Quickly i dropped down and using my pack for a rest waited. Within a minute he stepped out at 150 yards and stopped finally in a clearing! 1 shot from the 275 rigby with Norma oryx handloads and he didn't make it 10 yards. Great end to a challenging rut hunt.
Interesting note, as i headed back for the ute i passed where we saw those deer earlier. And there was the buck I'd seen first thing. No clue where he'd disappeared to in the time it took us to close that gap.
In terms of fallow he's certainly no giant, in fact more of a cull. His spellers (palm points) are few but long, the preference is for lots of small ones and he had palm clefts which is considered a big fault in fallow. So the property owner was happy to be rid of a cull and i was happy with a esky full of meat and a beautiful cape.
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