by Flyonline » 21 Jan 2024, 11:41 am
Nice Pete! Hog deer are something I've become interested in, but won't be happening anytime soon for me.
Went for a walk through hunt yesterday afternoon - first time I've walked the full length of this gully from end to end. Have walked into half way from the top and bottom, but never the whole length. This was a goat hunt with a bit of sambar scouting as the opportunity arose as the extended family are coming later in the week and the goat levels in the freezer are nil (again).
Dropped one car at the bottom and then the wife and daughter dropped me at the top to walk down. On the walk into the top of the gully along an old service road (to a a slate mine), I glassed the opposite face for any white/black dots and sure enough after a bit of time I saw two white dots that didn't require glass to see they were a pair of goats on a path that I thought I could intercept them. The only problem would be the few hours with meat in the heat. Still, gotta shoot them first!
Dropping off the little track I bushed my way down to and across a small creek that is always flowing and up to the top where the gully opens out a bit into some steep country. This is the spot I shot the pair of nannys a month or so ago, but I was heading downhill this time, not back out. Pushing through I kept up high again, using the warm updraft and my nose to pick any goats below me and my eyes and ears for everywhere I could see and hear. The carpet of dry leaves was very crunchy, but in the loose gravel and dirt I could pick up a number of freshish tracks, both goat and deer. Being so soft, it was impossible to tell how old they were other than more than a few hours as the dirt was completely dry with no sign of moisture being exposed.
Sliding along the face of the steep country was hard work, but I was able to get along the whole length of the finger ridge without any further sign of the goats. Hmmm, perhaps they'd climbed up to a tiny little feeder gully that drops into the side of the face, or dropped down to the creek below but I hadn't heard nor smelt anything that made me think there were any goats in the area (it'd taken me about 1hr to get into the same area). I did consider heading up another creek that joins the main one, but a quick bo-peep up didn't give me any good vibes so I crossed back into the main gully and found large numbers of goat tracks in the gravel, almost in exactly the same spot that I shot the pair of nannies, but again, no fresh sign made me seriously think they were around close by.
Turning down hill, I paused for a quick dinner on the point of the ridge where the two creeks met before slowly sidling my way down about 20-30m above the creek bed and out of the thick blackberry/bracken coated bottom. I was on the North facing slope, so I was sure that there was a fair chance of putting up a deer bedded in the brush on the darker/cooler south facing slope. Sure enough after a couple of hundred meters a pair of deer jumped up from the edge of the creek and moved uphill. Four or five quick blasts on the reed call made them stop and I was able to drop down into the top of some bracken and could just make out the rump of a sambar on the far side, maybe 70-80m away. Through the glass I could see it looking in my direction, not fully happy but not seriously worried either. After about 5-10min, it lowered it's head and began to feed so I slowly eased my way a little further along the slope, using a large standing tree that covered the head of the hind as cover to move into a better spot. As there had been two deer, I was pretty confident that there was also a calf/yearling with the hind, so glassed through the trees on the opposite face trying to pick it up. As is so often the case, the hind suddenly disappeared but a bit of glassing and I was able to pick up the half grown calf a little above it's mother. I wasn't completely convinced on the shot through the tree tops, and in any case I wasn't entirely sure I wanted to shoot it so far from the car in the heat.
For the next 15-20min I glassed both the hind and the calf, running a few simulation shots for practice and still trying to decide if I wanted to pull the trigger. The decision ended up being taken away from me as they both moved off further up the hill and I wasn't able to reacquire them.
Easing my way downhill I made sure to keep out of sight as much as possible, before continuing down further with the possibility of the same thing happening again in my mind, but I was able to walk the last 500m or so back to the bush track that marks the edge of the hunting area without seeing anything further. Turning to cross the creek and facing the steep trek back to the car I was pleased not to be carrying any extra weight. Then I remembered that my brother in law had asked about venison never having had it. A pair of young backstraps would have been the perfect introduction! Ahh well, there's always next time.