My son Ben and I headed north of Newcastle for our Australia Day weekend hunt. We knew it was going to be hot but decided we weren’t going to catch or shoot anything staying at home. Arriving at the farm, we called in to see the farmer. Keith advised he had recently seen ‘Two reindeer together with horns this big’. Obviously his words, not mine! He also let us know that a couple of wild dogs had been spotted in the area over past weeks but to date had been too quick for anyone to get a shot at.
On arriving at the campsite we did a quick set-up then grabbed a cold drink and ducked down for a fish and a swim. It was a pretty hot session and we caught and released 10 bass and dropped another four in under 45 minutes. We only kept one pan-sized fish for Keith.
That arvo we separated and saw 16 chital hinds and calves including one calf that let Ben approach to within 15 metres. As this was a stag-only trip, we just observed them, hoping that a stag would show — but without luck.
The next morning was foggy and the reduced visibility made hunting difficult. I managed to catch sight of two wild dogs but was caught out of position and unable to get a shot away. We also saw another four deer but none were stags. At this point no fresh rubs had been seen, either.
That arvo I went left and Ben went right to our respective sit-and-wait sites. Just before 6 pm and while it was still pretty hot, I had settled into position overlooking three shooting lanes when I heard ‘boom’ and seconds later another shot. I prepared in case anything came my way, but nothing eventuated.
My immediate thought was Ben had seen the dogs or had shot both the stags. I wandered over to locate him and found him next to a stag, so congratulations were in order. He had slowly breasted a rise, giving a glimpse into a shadow-covered basin surrounded by thick scrub. While advancing to reveal more of the basin a hind had spooked to his left. Moving quickly forward to get a better view of the basin, he'd spotted a stag in hard antler 80 metres away.
The stag was watching the hind and hadn’t seen Ben, so he raised the Tikka for an offhand shot. The first shot had knocked the stag off his feet, but as he was struggling, a second shot was required. We took plenty of photos and field dressed the animal before heading back to camp to celebrate.
On Monday morning while still in my swag and an hour before daylight, I could hear a calf calling its mum from across the creek. Despite both of us being up before daylight, neither of us was keen to go for a hunt as we already had a carcase to deal with and also had to pack up camp to be on the road. We decided on a quick hunt before the traffic got too thick.
Ben went left while I went right, and just on shooting light Ben was sitting and waiting when an old black wild dog loped through the clearing he was watching. It stopped to sniff something, so he ended its marauding ways with a shot from the 7mm-08.
That last morning, I hunted an area we generally leave alone and was surprised to see several deer out feeding right on shooting light. As the light strengthened, I spotted a nice stag with 10 hinds and calves. Although the stag was on the property we had permission to hunt on, he was only 75 metres from the neighbour’s house and close to the boundary fence. I put the crosshairs on him but passed on the shot and watched as he and his hinds fed back into the lantana.
Contributed by Glenn Schofield.
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