EARLY SEASON HUNT

FEATURE TROPHIES

This was our first big trip for the year. Shannon, Clint, Ben and I were off for a 6-day hunt for fallow deer, reds, pigs and goats. Leaving home at 7.30 am, Shannon and I arrived first at the last town before the property. We had to wait 20 minutes for Ben and Clint to arrive. After a late breakfast we all left town and headed out to the property. After a meet and greet with the property owner we unloaded our gear into the hut that would be home for the next six days. While unloading our gear we spotted a few different mobs of goats way up on top of some bluffs. We went for a tour of the property, with Hector pointing out likely and unlikely places to find the game we were after.

That first afternoon our plan was to split into two groups and head to separate high vantage points and glass until dark. From our separate positions that afternoon we glassed up all of the four species of game we were targetting. Things were looking positive for the coming days.

Up an hour before shooting light and after a few strong coffees we headed out. This morning Ben and I headed back out back to our afternoon position for a short glassing session. Nothing was spotted so we decided to walk the creek flats to gain access to the head of the gully.

Shannon and Clint headed high to continue to glass a separate valleys, with the hope of spotting a fallow buck or red stag.

After an hour’s climb Ben and I split up near the head of the gully. I got onto a fresh rub line, with scat and tracks on a game trail. Ben headed further up the gully and thought he could hear antlers clashing. When he stalked in it was one of the biggest pigs he has seen, the noise he heard was the boar flipping rocks and logs while feeding. The wind had been good for the stalk in. At 40 metres he felt the wind on the back of his neck and the boar looked directly at him, the only shot he had was an offhand frontal head shot. He fired and the boar reared up from the impact and a mob of pigs erupted from under the shade of a nearby tree. His pig headed downhill a fair sign of a good hit but in the steep terrain and brushy scrub he was unable to locate it.

Clint and Shannon spotted fallow and red hinds and some big pigs but nothing close enough to stalk.

Early that afternoon Ben and Shannon headed up into goat country. After a hard climb in the heat they got into position and were watching multiple mobs. A larger billy emerged out of the scrub on the opposite face. Ben generously offered Shannon the shot and he gladly accepted. Resting his rifle on his pack back he waited until the billy turned broadside and squeezed off a shot with his .308 Norma Mag. After a difficult approach in the steep country, they located the billy. They were inspecting Shannon’s billy, another mob of goats filtered over from the opposite side of the ridge. Ben left Shannon and stalked in to 50 metres as they filed past. Another good billy was amongst them and Ben took him. After taking photos and sitting down having a breather in the shade, a boar emerged from the nearby scrub for a drink in the creek below a 10-metre bluff. Ben stalked over to the top of the bluff and took him at close range. While walking out, Shannon spotted a buck high up in the bluffs in goat country. After a few long-distance photos of the buck, they headed down.

Up before daylight the next morning we all headed in different directions. Shannon and I headed up high. He was after the buck spotted yesterday and I was after pigs or goats. We left the car right on shooting light and two minutes from the car I spotted two pigs. As I closed in, they moved over a small rise out of sight. I stalked into within 15 metres and fired at the biggest black and white sow, which took off and disappeared. The second pig doubled back and at 5 metres, too close to use the scope, I pointed the 7mm-08 and pulled the trigger for a perfect shoulder shot. After a quick search we were unable to locate the first pig so we continued on. About 100 metres further on we spotted the first pig still on its feet and moving although very slowly obviously hit hard, I went in and took a finishing shot.

We climbed for another half an hour before splitting up, agreeing to hunt until 9.00am then contact each other via a UHF call before heading back to the car. I got onto a mob of goats soon after separating but, as it was still early, I was unwilling to take a shot and risk jeopardising Shannon’s hunt for his buck. I trailed the mob for 45 minutes as they fed along. Fifteen minutes before our agreed UHF contact, I took the largest billy and unfortunately hit him in the neck. He dropped on the spot but didn’t make for a good photo. Shannon didn’t make contact with his buck that day.

That afternoon Ben and Shannon back packed up into the back country for a fly camp to be in amongst the game during the peak hunting times. While packing in they put up a good stag 10 metres from them that erupted from the deep shade of a tree. Clint followed them up and hunted another gully system, taking a nice billy that unfortunately fell into a location that he was unable to retrieve. I had the arvo off so I could put in a big hunt in the morning.

With Ben and Shannon fly camped Clint decided to glass the gully that the deer had been located in. I headed up to hunt the deer sign I had found a few days earlier.

Clint was glassing from just under the ridgeline so he wasn’t silhouetted. Right on shooting light he spotted three red stags on a grassy ridge moving back into cover. The biggest was a 3x3 and smallest a spiker. As Shannon was after venison for an upcoming ADA sausage making day, Clint decided to have a crack for the spiker.

Clint headed down into the creek and up the other side using the timber for cover. As he was preparing to take the shot, he thought he heard a croak but wasn’t sure. He then heard the clash of antlers. Searching through the binos he got onto a fallow bachelor herd back in the creek bed he had stalked through 20 minutes previously. Backtracking and getting into position he started evaluating each buck. Deciding on the best he fired and the buck dropped on the spot. It was showing signs of recovery so rather than risk losing the buck he shot it again for insurance. Thirty seconds after his last shot another shot echoed down from the top of the ridge that Ben and Shannon had camped on.

The same morning, up early after the fly camp, Shannon stalked back to the area. They had put the buck up the previous afternoon while backpacking in. He spotted three bucks crossing a saddle and as the biggest was his PB and wanting meat he began stalking in. Clint’s two shots echoed up from down the valley and put the three bucks on high alert, so wasting no time Shannon took an offhand shot and had his best buck to date on the deck. Both Clint and Shannon shot their bucks thirty seconds apart.

That morning, I stalked the fresh stag sign I had located a couple of days earlier. I hunted and found more fresh sign but the stag was moving back into cover before daylight. When I finally lost his sign, I was close to the tops. I pushed on to the tops as a bank of fog rolled in and was rewarded with the sight of goat hill peeking through above the fog.

Clint was going home today so he elected for a quick hunt along the creek with the hope of getting a pig. Ben, Shannon and I headed up to glass the area that Clint had taken his buck. We spotted three fallow does and pigs up high, but nothing close enough to go for. An hour after daylight Ben and I headed up into goat country. We stalked in going higher than earlier in the trip. We could hear a nanny in distress and I said to Ben she was injured or on heat; it was the latter. Using her bleating as a beacon we closed in. It was thick and steep. The billies had her under the shade of a fig tree. There were a number of billies under the tree making it hard to get a clear shot. We were surrounded by goats; a black nanny had spotted us so we were pinned in the open under a blazing sun. After 30 minutes pinned down in the sun, we tried to move into some shade but couldn’t, as we had goats 15 metres from us. A big white billy walked into sight below us and looking very impressive. I said “take him", Ben fired and the billy dropped. I then moved forward and got into position to view the goats as they filtered through an opening as they escaped. Goat number six moving through the opening was a reasonable billy so I took him and we let the rest go.

We were all pretty worn out from the previous 5 days of hard hunting however Ben, Shannon and I still headed out before daylight to be in position to glass the valley most of the deer had been spotted in. After an hour of glassing with only a single doe spotted we called it quits for the trip. We all returned to the hut well satisfied with our effort and results.