FEATURE Hasan Mani
I grew up hunting game birds in Gippsland and had always seen sign of hog deer and bumped several in my time while hunting ducks. Hunting hog deer never really interested me as the season was at the same time as the duck and quail seasons. Then my hunting companions started mentioning how delicious they taste and how challenging they were to hunt. I was only two species away from hunting all of Australia’s six deer species so the challenge was on!
After learning of the existence of the Blond Bay Hog Deer Advisory Group who, in association with Parks Victoria, the Victorian Game Management Authority and Australian Deer Association, run an annual ballot to hunt hog deer in some of Gippsland’s reserves, I started entering the ballot. On my third attempt I scored Snake Island Period 2.
I was out for dinner celebrating a family birthday when I received an email from an unknown address stating “Congrats Hasan Snake Island period 2”. I thought this was a joke as it was a one-line message from an unknown sender and ignored it until I was bombarded by phone calls and messages from mates congratulating me on being drawn for Snake Island. They had been watching the live ballot draw. I couldn’t believe it until I watched the draw myself. That night the research started.
I searched for information on Australia’s smallest deer species, where the island was and what I would be up against. Zach Williams then created a Facebook message group for all Period 2 hunters so that we could communicate with each other and keep in contact.
I started contacting hunters who had been there before to learn from them so that I was as prepared as possible. Their help was invaluable, and I can’t thank them enough for their advice and guidance.
Luckily, I was able to attend the ADA Hog Deer Hunter Education weekend in January on Sunday Island, where all attendees were educated in the habits of these beautiful animals and the laws, regulations and hunting techniques. The education weekend was fantastic with plenty of information shared.
I spent the next six weeks preparing for the hunt, training, purchasing and packing light-weight camping gear and making a ladder stand. Unfortunately, my love handles were too big to fit in between the handrails of a platform ladder so I changed strategies and commenced making a rickshaw to carry my gear. Fortunately, I had met a Period 1 hunter on Sunday Island who was building a ladder stand. One thing led to another, and I borrowed his ladder stand and bolted it to my rickshaw – a massive thanks to Ian Hunter and his son Clayton.
Fast forward to February when I hit the road with all the gear I’d need for the week-long hunt. I arrived at Port Welshpool to the mandatory pre-hunt briefing and collected all the required permits and tags. It was good to finally put faces to the blokes I had chatted to for the past two months.
Some of us decided to take the charter boat to the island and others took their own boats, so we said our goodbyes, wished each other luck, and made our way to Port Albert to catch the charter.
Here we go! Anxiety and excitement are now kicking in; this is for real now and we are making our way to Snake Island. Seven of us were dropped off on the island, five hunters and two companions.
I was dropped off near ‘Bullock Swamp’ with four others and the remaining two went ashore near ‘Bale of Straw’. We had four rickshaws between us and started to make our way to the tracks to find camp. One rickshaw didn’t even make it off the sand and broke immediately, another made it several hundred metres before also breaking. Conditions were tough! The tussocks were tall and wide making it difficult to walk, let alone drag a rickshaw. We therefore decided to camp near our drop off location to scout the conditions further in. My rickshaw and ladder stand were still in good condition, however, given the state of the tracks, we decided to keep them all at camp.
Camp was six kilometres from my hunting spot at ‘Big Hole’ so that night Anthony Scalici and I made plans to get up at 5am the next day to pack our gear and food and water for two days and walk to our hunting areas. We wanted to have a crack before the weather changed.
At 5am we packed our gear for a long, difficult and heavy hike. After a few rests along the way, we made it to a spot about a kilometre from both of our hunting spots. It was 8.30am so I quickly erected my tent and dumped my gear in preparation for the day’s hunt.
After wishing each other luck, we headed to our hunting areas. Shortly after parting, I heard a shot and ran to a nearby sand dune thinking that a spooked deer might pop up. Nothing came past but Anthony had shot a nice stag while on his way to his hunting area.
I congratulated Anthony over the phone and continued to Big Hole, a beautiful wetland that was full of waterfowl and cattle. The tussocks were as tall as the cattle and clear feeding areas were hard to see due to the height of tussocks and bracken. I sat in the shade between the tussocks and paperbarks but being so low the vegetation made it difficult to see much. I now understood why having a tree stand or ladder stand would have been so beneficial.
At 12.40pm I heard another shot and Shane Coleman had taken a stag at Bullock. Congratulations mate! Anthony and Shane got the charter boat off the island that afternoon and checked in their deer the next morning.
After speaking with Anthony and other fellow hunters I decided to make my way from Big Hole to Rifle Range mid-afternoon. Conditions were much better at Rifle Range. The vegetation was still tall, however there were clear views into the swamp and feeding grounds. Once again, I sat in the shade between tall tussocks and paperbarks glassing and resting.
Come evening, flocks of waterfowl were landing in the swamp and then I noticed two hinds feeding along the water’s edge. Then the wind started to swirl and the hinds made a run for it. “Bugger me! What am I going to do now?” I thought. Luckily, cows started making their way towards the paperbarks I was sitting in front of and I used them as a distraction to move to a better spot where the wind wasn’t blowing my scent towards the swamp and feeding ground.
At 7.30pm another two hinds came out and started to feed. I glassed them, contemplating “Should I take one?” then I remembered it was only Monday and to be patient. Shortly after a little spiky came out feeding close by to the hinds. “Here we go” I said to myself and watched him feed. I now started to get more excited. My plans were working!
At 7.50pm a big stag chased the spiker away from his hinds, “No way” I said to myself and quickly double-checked it was a stag with my binoculars and grabbed the gun. I waited until he stopped to feed and took aim and squeezed the trigger. I couldn’t see if he dropped or ran off, but I was confident as I heard the thump of the bullet. I moved silently through the tussocks glassing as I went and there he was, having dropped on the spot.
I grabbed my gear and made my way to him. It was 8pm now and there were only 30 minutes till last light. I looked to see if there was a passage to the other side of the swamp but excitement kicked in so I started to wade across. Luckily, the water wasn’t deeper than my boots.
I couldn’t believe it, I thought he would have had antlers around 12 inches long, however, I underestimated and they went 14.5 inches. I was over the moon.
Now the work begins. I thanked the hog deer and paid my respects to him prior to attaching the tag. I quickly took my happy snaps and made my video calls back home before I started to gut him.
I turned him into a backpack and walked across the swamp again. For the next couple of hours, I leap-frogged the deer and backpack along the track back to my camping spot. Along the way fellow hunter Zach bumped into me with his successful hog deer harvest. We congratulated each other and continued our ways back to camp.
At 4am I awoke to back and leg pains but motivated to get my deer to the checking station as the weather was turning next day. Leaving my deer and 10 litres of water in the tent I made my way back to the main camp. Zach had booked the charter boat to get off the island that morning, so we decided to help each other to get our gear onto the beach in preparation for the charter boat. Massive thanks to Zach Williams and his mate Nathan Criste in assisting me get the rickshaw and gear across to the beach.
I hadn’t had a proper meal for two days at this point, so I decided to sit on the beach, make a few phone calls and eat food to gain energy to carry my deer and the tent to the beach. After speaking with the checking station and boat charter I organised to get off the island that afternoon.
The hike back to the deer was long and hard - the tracks were over-grown, the ground was sandy and the day very hot. I quickly packed the tent, threw the deer over my shoulders as a backpack, grabbed the water and started the long and painful hike back to the beach, stopping in the shade every few hundred metres for a drink and rest. After a couple of kilometres, I was exhausted so laid down in the shade on the track using the deer as a pillow. “C’mon” I said to myself and got back up and kept pushing forward, “one step at a time” I said to myself and continued my journey back.
Phone reception was very average on the island, good in some areas and poor in others. I eventually made it to an area where there was good reception and the phone started to ring again. Eventually, I bumped into fellow hunter, Ryley Patterson, and his mate Jordan Cousins. They were on their way towards Bullock which was on my way out and they helped carry my deer out the last two kilometres to the beach. Thank you very much legends, it is greatly appreciated!
In total I walked 18 kilometres that day packing out gear and the hog deer!
After a couple of cold refreshments on the beach the charter boat arrived and I began carrying my gear to it - the tide was low and the walk out to the boat was 100m each way. What a journey!
The weather started to change with the wind picking up so that the ride back was rough and wet but freshening. I was back on the mainland by 4.30pm.
At 9am I met the GMA officer at the checking station and began the process. My stag weighed 30kg and the antlers measured 14 inches on one side and 14.5 inches the other side with 12.5 inches spread. He was aged at 5.5 years old. I was over the moon with these results. While at the checking station I handed over the rickshaw and ladder stand to a Period 3 hunter. Best of luck mate!
I dropped off the deer at the taxidermists and I look forward to seeing the trophy head hanging on the wall with my other trophies.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who helped me through this journey to success, your assistance is greatly appreciated, and it has been a pleasure meeting you all.
I would also like to congratulate and thank the Blond Bay Hog Deer Advisory Group, Parks Victoria, the Victorian Game Management Authority and Australian Deer Association for organising such a successful and eventful balloted hunting scheme, hopefully this continues for many more years.
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