MORE SNAKE ISLAND SUCCESS

FEATURE Sam Sheppard

A chance sighting of a hog deer stag crossing the Princes Highway near Rosedale in Victoria, was a random trigger to make me think about entering the hog deer ballot that had come through on the ADA email only a week earlier. Prior to that I’d never really given hoggies much thought and had always been predominantly a sambar hunter.

Fast forward to the night the ballot was drawn, I was trying to watch it live but gave up and went to sleep. The following day I read through the names, looking to see if any of my mates had been lucky enough to be drawn but never thinking I’d see my name, as you always hear the stories of those long-time entrants that have never been chosen! So, it was huge surprise to see my name listed in the Period 3 hunt on Snake Island!

A lot of emails and supplying of information to GMA and Parks Victoria, and finally everything was in place to be able to hunt hoggies on Snake Island.

An education weekend on Sunday Island was offered and seemed like a good way to pick up information and potentially meet other hunters drawn in Period 3. I’m really glad I attended and highly recommend it to anyone drawn to hunt hog deer that hasn’t chased them before. The knowledge that was passed on was invaluable, and everyone appreciated the people that gave up their time to pass on information about the deer, their habitat, hunting techniques, caping and butchering, and even boating safety tips for those hunting Snake Island and Boole Poole.

Finally, the day arrived to head to Port Welshpool and get the pre-hunt briefing done before heading over to Snake Island. Most of us met at the Welshpool Pub on the Saturday night and got acquainted over a few beers. Sunday dawned bright and sunny with good conditions to head to Snake. We attended our briefing and got issued out tags and permits, then headed off.

I chose to go in my own boat, whilst others utilised a charter service to get to and from the island. The incredible tidal movement in the Port Welshpool stretch of water, and numerous shallow sand bars, makes for some difficulty navigating out to the island (my scouting mission in February had resulted in a 10 hour stint of sitting high and dry on a sand bar, but that’s another story!)

Unfortunately, we had a midday low tide, meaning there would be a bit of waiting to get over to the place I’d chosen to leave my boat anchored for the week. By 5pm I had navigated out to Snake Island and had my boat anchored in ‘The Gulf’ and my homemade rickshaw loaded up with my gear, gun, and water for the week. A quick detour along the beach to help other hunters, Stephi and Mark, unload their boat, then it was time to hit the tracks and head for camp close to my chosen hunting area.

A few kilometres of towing the rickshaw along sandy tracks (and a frustrating bit of bush bashing when I missed a track leaving the beach) was enough to ensure a good night’s sleep.

The next day dawned bright and shining, and myself and the other two hunters, Damien and Anthony, that were hunting the same end of the island with me, made our ways to our hunting spots. Damien off to Cow Swamp, Anthony to Rifle Range and myself to The Elbow. I found myself bush bashing frequently, as the track in is almost completely overgrown. Each time I popped out of the thick melaleuca and tea tree I would spook hog deer feeding on the small grassy strips of old wheel tracks. Seeing them was great and gave me some confidence I was in the right area, but the thickness of the tussocks meant once they were gone, there was no chance of hunting them or even seeing them again.

I eventually made it to the waterhole I was hoping would be the main focal point for the deer in this area, and found it was well used, with multiple tracks leading to it and a huge number of prints. The only problem was the dense bush around it offered no easy way to sit back and observe it, no tall trees nearby to sit in and view it from some height, and I wasn’t going to try and drag my ladder in through the overgrown tracks. Feeling a bit disappointed in my chosen area, I scouted around there for most of the day, looking for any clear pockets where I could watch for deer feeding from tussocks into clear grassy patches, but had no luck. I bumped five deer for the day including a handy stag, but none presented a shot and were gone in seconds. I made my way back to camp needing a Plan B.

A few texts that night to a couple of guys I’d met on the education weekend had me heading to a different spot the following morning. (Big thanks to Daryl Adams for sharing his scouting info to help me out!) There are lots of spots to hunt on Snake Island but being mindful of who is already in an area and not wanting to scent up spots and ruin others’ hunts is a real consideration.

Next day I headed to a smaller area with a clearing only about 250m long, and some large trees around it. I’d brought a climbing rope and harness for this scenario and had myself 10m up a tree in no time and then pulled my bag and gun up after me. I settled in and got comfy and started glassing the area. Multiple game trails, much thinner and shorter tussocks, and some nice clear feeding areas gave me a lot more hope for this spot. I spent 6 hours in the tree and on two occasions I watched deer undisturbed feeding through the clearing. Both were very small juvenile deer, but I now had some confidence that I was in a spot that had deer and I had the advantage of elevation and no scent trail. As the day progressed, the sky gradually darkened until a mini storm front hit. Torrential rain and strong winds saw me scrambling out of the tree and hiding behind it, putting on my wet weather gear. Thinking that would be my hunting done for the day, I started hiking back to camp.

Part way back to camp I bumped into Damien sheltering under some trees. He had seen no deer for the second day in a row at Cow Swamp and was considering other options. Another hunter Zach had shot a great stag on Day One, and Anthony that we were camped with, had shot a beautiful stag off Rifle Range only a few hours prior to the storm.

The weather backed off as we were speaking and it started to get that real ‘magic hour’ feel to it. I decided to head back to camp, dump my bag and go straight to Rifle Range, knowing Anthony had departed and no one else was going to be hunting there until the following day. I never made it that far, as when I was almost at Eye Swamp (which is where we had camped) I spied a deer slowly exiting the tea tree and picking at the fresh, wet grass in a little clearing near camp. I quickly dropped to my stomach in the little clump of bracken next to me.

I watched and quickly assessed it was a mature hind and in very good condition. Quietly I chambered a round and got ready for her to turn on a better angle for a shot. She knew something wasn’t right and went on alert, but still kept moving towards me. Eventually she went back to feeding and turned enough to allow an angled shot through the chest. She dropped on the spot and I couldn’t have been happier! Stag or hind, they’re all trophies from Snake Island! I took some quick photos and then hiked back to camp to get my rickshaw and load her up. I gutted her before putting the whole carcass in a large game bag to prevent flies and ants getting to the flesh and headed back to camp for some celebratory drinks with Damien.

The next morning was a 4am wake up to get packed up and hike back to the boat anchored in The Gulf, and make it off the Island on the 8.30am high tide. The Mangrove Track is very undulating and the extra weight of a deer made for a strenuous return trip. Hitting the shoreline was a relief but that feeling was short-lived as I had anchored the boat on a mid tide and had to wade out almost half a kilometre to retrieve the boat and bring it in closer to load up, plus the wind had picked up to 35 km per h and 50 km per h gusts. I got the boat loaded in record time and was out of there. What should have been a 30-minute trip back, took an hour and 40 minutes with 1 metre chop and white caps the whole way back to Port Welshpool. I arrived saturated and cold but happy to be back on the Mainland.

Tavi from the GMA arrived about 30 minutes later to do the official checking of my deer, and then it was home time for me. The horrific weather meant I wasn’t going to head straight back, and to wait it out until the following day would’ve only left a small window of time to hunt before we were all due to return.

Hunting Snake Island was definitely an adventure that I would love to do again, and I highly recommend to everyone enter the ballot for a chance to experience something different and very rewarding if you manage to take a deer. All up my group managed to harvest five deer but even the ones that went home empty handed still had a week to remember.

The venison from the hog deer was amazing and I’m tanning the skin as my trophy from the hunt.

Big thanks to the ADA, GMA and Parks Victoria and the Blond Bay Hog Deer Advisory group for this opportunity.