Stormy Questions

Looking in the freezer to see a shortage of meat doesn't mean quickly running up to the supermarket and buying meat in our household. It means its time to organise a hunt and go find ourselves some meat.
   Being a bit too cold for our kids down here in Victoria at the moment i decided to go with a couple mates this time around. Its never hard getting a couple mates together for a hunt.
  I was second to arrive and Dave already had the campfire roaring which was very welcoming. Not long after Lou joined us and we began to plan our hunt.
   By the time we had settled we only had about an hour of light left which we decided to use and quickly grabbed our stuff and headed to the nearest gully to glass over.
   It had been raining on and off all day and continued to do just that whilst we were sitting there. Lou had the gun as he has never shot a deer before.
    After sitting for 20 minutes or so i noticed some movement behind a small bush only 80m away. Quietly telling Lou he slowly raised the rifle and sighting up the young sambar stag. Squeezed the trigger of his .270 it stumbled briefly and then ran off.
   Having seen his shot placement we new he wouldn't have gone too far. Usually we like to sit and wait for 5 minutes or so but with light disappearing fast we had to go looking straight away.
  Only 30 odd meters from where he was shot we seen him still standing but bleeding out. We waiting there for little over a minute and he dropped.
   Quick high five to Lou and we decided to carry the gutted deer back in the fading light to our camp. Where we hung it and started preparing the deer to take home. And just as we were nearly done skinning it when the heavens opened up, so we quickly finished and scampered inside. Where we stayed all night due to the storm over head. It rained most of the night but having already got our meat animal we weren't too fussed about not being able to go out on our originally morning hunt if rain persisted.

 

We all awoke to a massive crack of lightning around 5am which Dave and Lou decided against a hunt when the sun come up and we all went back to sleep.  Well nearly all of us, i couldn't sleep. Never hunting deer in a storm i was up wondering how the animals react. Do they bed down? Or are they not phased at all? I kept asking myself these questions right up until noticing some daylight outside.
   I couldn't not know so i grabbed my gun and my bag and started to make my way up the mountain.
   Almost immediately seeing a young sambar hind. Having meat already i just sat and watched its movements. I reached for my camera to take some pics to realize i had left it at camp (insert sad face here).  After watching her for a good 10 minutes she casually walked off occasionally stopping for a nibble on some grass.
   Walking over the next ridge i notice another sambar hind feeding on the opposing side of the gully. I only had my trust old 30-30 on me as i planned to be walking with Lou and his scoped  .270. Not wanting to risk wounding her i let her disappear over the horizon.   Being so heavily focused on the sambar i never noticed the 2 fallow does at the bottom of the gully only 80m in front of me. They didn't seem to have noticed me so i slowly walked over to a tree for a bit more cover and to help steady the rifle for a shot.
   I waiting for them to get to within 50m, before lining up for a lung shot, pressed the trigger and she went to run before dropping not 5 meters into her run.
   After gutting her i strapped her to back ( like the kiwis do to their pigs) and made my way back to camp. To greet the boys.

 4 deer seen in a morning and 5 seen for 3 hours worth of hunting is a pretty special hunt and one i remember for along time.    Its amazing how differently you hunt knowing you already have bagged a deer, you hunt with no pressure and it allows all you to think so much clearer. And make the right decisions when you do see another deer.
  No more meat crisis.