EASTER SUNDAY HUNT

FEATURE Glenn Schofield

Ben and I had two choices: stay at home and hunt for Easter eggs or head to three local adjoining properties to hunt fallow bucks. At 4.25am on Easter Sunday I received a text “RU up?” “Sure am” was my reply.

Thirty minutes later the Prado was loaded and we were off on the hour-long drive to our local properties where we have been asked to cull deer. Arriving 45 minutes before shooting light we parked, hoping to hear croaking along the range but were greeted with silence.

We doubled back to the entry gate and geared up just inside so when we drove in all we had to do was don backpacks, grab our rifles and head off. The farmer’s dogs were onto us. Cursing them in the darkness we moved off. They continued barking for 20 minutes after we left the car.

As daylight arrived so did the fog. We easily slipped into our routine of one moving and one standing glassing. We find this an efficient and effective way to search while continually moving.

After 40 minutes of climbing, searching through the gaps in the fog, we were both surprised when a doe barked from the opposite side of the gully that both of us had been glassing. Locating her, we glassed to see if she had any companions, but she was on her own. We watched her move off through the fog until she disappeared into a patch of scrub.

We continued climbing and then I spotted two deer below us in a gap in the fog. Turning to Ben I gave the thumbs up. Two does turned into five and then the buck was spotted chasing another doe. They were 500m away and the wind was in our favour. The game was on!

We held a quick war council, with Ben saying “You saw them, it’s your shot” while I responded, “It’s your property, it’s your shot”. We watched them for a couple of minutes and decided the best course of action was to quickly contour around the top of the gully and try and head the deer off and get above them.

Ben led the way along a cattle pad. Getting in to 300m of where we had seen them they couldn’t be located. Meanwhile the fog had lifted and offered no more cover. We decided to wait until we could locate them again. A couple of minutes later, we spotted the does moving up the gully towards cover and us. Crouching down in the long grass, we spotted the buck trailing them.

As the buck approached to within shooting range, Ben shuffled forward a few metres to close the distance and open a shooting lane, then slowly stood ready for an offhand shot. I was watching the buck through my binoculars as he approached thinking “Not yet, not yet”. The buck turned broadside and stopped. I thought “Now!” and Ben fired. Reloading he covered the buck but a second shot wasn’t required as it had toppled over.

It was high fives and fist pumps after a great conclusion to fantastic hunt that had gone to plan. Before moving in we dug out the range finder and ranged the shot at 140m.

After photos I left Ben to the hard work and continued on for a quick ‘recce’ of the next property, but not spotting any deer or hearing any croaking, I returned. Ben had finished field dressing the deer. Loading up we contoured back to a spot in the shade under a lemon tree that we could drive to. Ben headed back down to get the car and I headed back in to retrieve the last of the venison.

Our deal with the farmers is that we split whatever we shoot with them. The farmer was very grateful and offered to get us access to the next property along the range. We couldn’t believe our luck, a buck on the deck, access to another property and heading home for a feed of Easter eggs.