A FIRST FALLOW DEER EXPERIENCE

FEATURE Jarrod Wilson

I was excited to be heading to my first branch camp with the ADA. I’d spent the weeks leading up to it on Google Earth, studying maps, marking interesting locations and trying to come up with a game plan to give myself the best chance. Given we were looking for fallow deer in relatively flat and open bushland, I knew there was a real chance of at least seeing deer up close.

My goal, being new to deer hunting and not wanting to set myself up for disappointment, was to see a deer in the bush on public land - a victory for the weekend.

Rolling into camp at lunchtime on Friday, it seemed like I was almost the last one to arrive and people were keen. A small crowd was already gathered around a fallow spiker hung from a small tree - this was my first chance to see a deer being butchered.

I drove a short distance and parked near an interesting area that I had marked on my map. With the wind in my face, I continued along the 4WD track on foot. The bush was dry and I thought it would be a good idea to cover some ground on the much quieter track first. I only made it a few hundred metres before I started seeing deer prints crossing the soft bare soil, a good sign, I thought.

At one point, I noticed a very clear game trail crossing the track and I decided to follow it, which led me to a large area full of fresh sign from deer on the move. I continued to explore for the next couple of hours until dark; I hadn’t seen any deer but I had found somewhere that gave me confidence that I was on the right path.

The next morning, I decided to try a different approach and drove further as I had heard around the campfire that a few deer had been taken in some of the other surrounding state forests. The morning went by uneventfully and very little sign was found. I returned to camp planning to rest and have a serious ‘go’ at it later that day.

Waking from a midday snooze, I saw one of the more experienced members returning to camp with what looked like some decent antlers on the back of his vehicle’s tray. This was all the motivation I needed; there would be plenty of time later to hear the story, right now I needed to get back out there!

Putting together a quick plan would have me walking through the area I first found with all the sign and ending at last light near a dam and some fringe country that I believed was the destination of the game trails in the area. I had two kilometres of flat ground to cover and three hours before last light, so it was easy to pace myself and pay attention to the bush around me.

Around two hours into my hunt, I came up close on a couple of kangaroos that hadn’t seen me and I took this as a little win for stalking. I stopped 50 metres from them as I didn’t want to send them crashing off at prime time. Carefully glassing the area, I noticed the kangaroos move off, which got my attention because the wind was on my side and I hadn’t made any real movements. As I was about to continue, I noticed movement to my right and saw what I thought was an emu moving along a trail. I’d seen emus earlier but this emu seemed to be carrying sticks. I lifted my binoculars and my heart started racing - what I thought was an emu’s head bobbing along above the scrub was actually a pair of antlers!

The buck was moving parallel to me and the scrub was high enough to obscure his body, but this also made it easy for me to duck down and shadow him until I could find somewhere to set up for the shot. A short distance ahead, I spotted a burnt stump and thought this was the spot. I raced forward and raised the scope to my eye to see a fawn, followed by a doe, and then the chocolate fallow buck moving toward a small break in the cover.

Because of the small window of opportunity, I didn’t have time to overthink it. He was now moving away at an angle, so I placed the crosshairs behind his shoulder and squeezed. The 150-grain projectile from my 7mm-08 hit and I saw his back hunch: from all the videos I've watched, I knew that was a good sign. He took off but went down within metres.

Walking up to him, I couldn’t believe it was all over so quickly. A moment I had thought about for the past year was over in seconds and all was quiet again.

The light was beginning to fade, so I did my best to get some photos before the real work started. The bombardment of emotions shows on my face in the few pictures I managed to take.

I’ll be honest and admit that I struggled to make the first cut and thought about going back for help, but looking back now, it meant a lot that I was able to pull myself together and get the job done.

Two hours later, after butchering and carrying out in the dark, I returned to camp finding everyone settling in around the fire. I held the head behind my back until I got closer and said “Sorry I'm late, I was a little busy” as I held him up to a round of applause and congratulations.

The genuine happiness for my efforts and my deer is something I’ll always remember. I could never have imagined a better way to get my first. A special thanks to everyone who gave advice and shared their knowledge with me, from hunting to caring for the meat that will be enjoyed by my family.

Thank you, ADA Geelong!