Fallow hunt at Shelley Camp

FEATURE Stuart Smith

This year it was time to start teaching my son, who is about to turn 13, to hunt deer. We haven’t sorted his Junior Licence out yet so he’s only spectating, but time in the bush is time in the bush. Teaching him about where deer are likely to be, how to drop into a system and manage where your scent goes, and to spend lots of time looking and little time walking. Branch hunts are a great way to do this.

Having seen so many deer, both sambar and fallow on the July Melbourne Branch hunt at Shelley Camp, and with me having taken a sambar hind, my son Zeke had an unrealistic expectation of what deer hunting is usually, or often, like. This time we decided to chase fallow instead of sambar, although what he really wants is a red stag.

Taking him out of school for the Friday we got an early start on the trip to Shelley. Arriving at the camp just after lunch we unpacked and settled in. The blocks we had drawn were different to last time, and with all the rain I thought it smart to go and check out the access and poke around on the Friday so we could get an early start in the morning.

The first block was easy access, but the undergrowth was quite thick. I’s obviously grazed by cattle sometimes, with a seasonal lease and there was sign of recent feeding. There were some huntable gullies, but overall the block wasn’t that appealing, so we decided to check out the other block. Access to this block proved impossible the way we were going, we instead ended up spending 45 minutes helping a couple recover their trailer, which had slipped off the track and nearly taken their car with it. With that information we decided that, since the block we had success with on at the last branch hunt wasn’t allocated to anyone, we would give it another try Saturday morning.

Saturday turned out cloudy and as we arrived at the same parking spot as last time the surrounding forest was all misty, unlike the sunny warm slope of last time. We spent two hours carefully contouring back and forth but there was no one home. When we got back to the car a new plan was made to drop into the next gully where we had seen lots of fresh sign last time, but no deer. The wind was swirling around a bit now and gusts were shaking things up a bit. The sounds of creaking branches, falling twigs and large drops of water being shaken from the trees had us glassing and stalking in on nothing on several occasions. Fog and cloud rolled in and visibility dropped to around 20m, at which point Zeke decided he’d had enough so we took the long way back to camp to check out the next block over. 

On Saturday evening I headed out for a stalk on my own (screen time won for Zeke), deciding to check the fringe country on the block we’d driven back through. This area was much more open with lots of little gully systems. There was lots of sign to be found with fresh prints and scat along the many paths leading both towards the pasture and across through the gullies. Approaching the lip of one of the gullies the wind swirled around and a small herd of fallow scampered up the opposite slope. A doe stopped close to the top giving me a 70m off hand shot. She bolted at the shot and I spent the next half an hour following her up. I found the spot she bolted from and running prints for the next 30m but there was not a drop of blood to be found.

The next morning saw my son and I back in that same fringe country. The wind this morning was coming from the other direction, which worked perfectly for checking out the sunny north-east faces of the gullies. We parked further up the track than I had the previous evening, which let us drop into the system without stinking it up. Contouring around we slowly checked out several of the gullies looking across at the sunny patches on the opposite side. Zeke spotted the fallow at the same time they busted us. Three young bucks bolted up the opposite slope and stopped. This time I got the job done, putting one through the engine room of one of the bucks. 

The carry out was an easy one with the car only 250m away, straight up the slope. It was my first buck and first fallow, so we took the head and skin as well as the meat. Zeke wants a Euro mount for the wall with the skin. Zeke still moves a bit too fast, and he’s still a bit too noisy, but he’s coming along well. He also still has an unrealistic view of how easy deer hunting is and I’m going to see if I can keep it that way, no pressure!