With it being new years and having a couple of extra days off,the dog looked sideways at me and wife gave me kick up the bum as nearly no red venison in the freezer...so I dragged my large rearend off the couch and proceded to load up "chateau terrano" for an overnight trip to see if we could recitify that situation.
Meg was more than happy to leap into back once she saw the rifle case go in.
arriving at hunting block just after midday (no point in rushing these things) we set off up into the soaking wet beech forest,did I mention it was wet??? drizzling with claggy fog/cloud hanging about definately going to be a challenge I thought to self.
my goal was to do whatever Meg wanted me to,with a general idea of where I would ideally go we were off,dodging crown ferns and fallen beech,trying not to step into any wasps nest (yes the hot arsed little german mongrels are active again) she took directions well and was keeping within that 10mtr range where I like her to be with only an occasional single quiet whistle to "wait up will ya" while the old fella dragged up the rear.
good thing about the drizzle was it kept the heat down.
we trudged on up a main ridge until we got out of the noisy crown fern and into "the zone" for this area then started to sidle once Meg's nose started to raise. from this point on I was just in follow mode,where she wanted to go we went,straight into a lovely steep jelly fern and grass gut......then out the otherside about 100 mtrs ,she then headed slightly downhill and led back into same gut we had just come out of.......ok Im going to trust her and follow this up...back towards gut we headed,she was about 10 mtrs out to my right when crash straight ahead out pops mr spiker,up comes rifle and you guessed it I missed,quick reload but no chance of a shot as wasnt 100% sure of dogs exact place,deer off down creek and dog right behind it.....ummm ahh do I call her off??? is it down???
gave her 50 yards then whistled her in and retracked animal....no blood,no hair,dog would lead me about 150 yards then...nothing to see not a nelly..... pissing down with rain didnt help....gave myself real kick in pants and kept looking for half an hour up and down creek and around but nope missed.
bugga bugga bugga
she did all the right things and I let the team down.....
headed off in direction she was going when deer departed and that ended up in steep bluffy bit and no sign of animal having continued that way so we just kept sidling around in the damp/wet/waterlogged conditions.
after about another hour of sidling up goes her nose again (almost looks like she howling to the moon) back and forward up and down till she has a line and we off quietly again down through crown fern,great visibility of about 50 mtrs at this point so Im in super sneak mode we get down and there is a big fallen beech tree right where she heading,she stops 25 yards away and Im right beside her with eyes on stalks...where the blue blazes is it.Meg starts wagging her tail against my leg almost screaming "its right there" but do you think we could eyeball it???? heard it moving off down below us.......
not our day at all,followed down where it headed but no joy in picking it up again.
another good wind later was hopefull but she just couldnt find where it was coming from,I tried to help by moving around the knoll we were on to let her get wind but no luck.....another hour later saw us back at wagon soaked right through.
nice quiet night with dog on mattress to keep my legs warm... she had been hit on butt and back by wasps during day (came straight to me to brush them off) and was very tired but otherwise ok.
set the alarm for early start but when heard rain on roof went back to sleep till 7am
another good 5 hours of hard out bush stalking was put in,only came across fresh marks once and couldnt get line on them in the steep ferny area,checked our lookout and headed home but not before she got another hit from mongrel wasps,got her eyelid this time.
one other thing that was good to see was we walked over some possum carcasses/skelletons they were fresh 6 weeks ago and she never even dropped her nose to give a sniff,hopefully as she remembered being told "no" last time.
we didnt get any animals but bonded well and I believe we both learned from the time out.

Good yarn mate, almost could hear the boots squelch in the mud ... sorry you didn't get any deer, but there will always be another time

A great yarn Elvis, one that describes the results of all too many hunts mate. It's good to hear that Meg is maturing nicely...she is making a terrific hunt buddy. She is doing her bit mate, now it's up to you to get all your excrement in one sock and bring home the venison. No problem, next time mate.

by the time we got home her eye looked like she had been punched by a heavyweight..... Bec's fed her an antihistamine and she came right within a couple of hours, today she is good as gold.

These wasps sound bloody nasty mate...what breed are they? What do they look like?

german.....similar fatness to a big blowfly but 4 times as long..... they are a major enviromental problem as they eat everthing and kill and eat other insects.
the only good thing about them is following a blood trail on a hot day as they onto the spots,and they kill and blowflies that go near a carcase,makes it interesting getting it back off them though.

www.doc.govt.nz/nature...a-z/wasps/

They are certainly nasty little mongrels mate. It would almost be worth carrying a good sized puffer bottle of Wasp Dust and/or a squirter bottle of liquid wasp killer in your backpack. When you encounter a nest you can treat it and hopefully kill it entirely. If enough guys do this then you should be able to get on top of the problem.

There is also an idea for a wasp trap below that might be useful mate.

Those look a bit like yellow jackets or paper wasps that we have here. Ours are typically not violent until near the end of summer. As the weather cools down they get hungry and aggressive. I got five stings on my left arm from one that got under my shirt sleeve last summer. Happily, I'm immune to their sting and all I had to show for it was tiny little red spots like I got stuck with a needle.

frontline flea treatment for cats n dogs...... its a liquid that comes in a syringe, wee squirt on animals neck and no fleas or worms for months

a wee few drops of this in a tin of sardines etc left outside nest will wipe them out.

the powder form of no wasps loaded into a .12ga wad would be fun, boomshaggalagga then run like shite!!!!!

Maybe it's just me-but here stateside yellow jackets are considered HORNETS like the black and white "bald hornets"and as such are considered predators and general pains in the arse!As far as being detrimental to other insects-as intended by nature.Sometimes you just gotta share a little venison with the little bastads or hunt when they are less active. I always pack a can of sardines with oil or tuna with oil-it seems to distract them from the normal dinner menu!
As for wasps-here they have long bodies and long legs,can land and take off from water,and kill and lay eggs in spiders-win win situation for me.
And if you need a sure fire way to eliminate them instantly on contact-for wasps and hornets;just purchase the brake cleaner in the pressure cans with the chlorine based cleaning chemicals.One wet spot on them and they generally fall to the ground in a dead heap!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowjacket

I hate these things! I became allergic to them a number of years ago and have had to go to the Emergency Room after just one sting.

I was about 15' up in a climbing tree stand once in early deer season, still pretty warm. A few yellow-jackets started buzzing around me and others started joining them. I was thinking "It's going to hurt when I hit the ground..." Luckily they lost interest after a bit so I didn't have to jump.

well rather than start a new thread,I will just tack todays hunt report on here....hope thats OK with the EBRG toter....
bit slow at work as its been persisting down with rain,work know its going to go mental next week,so I took oppertunity to take a thursday off...
made plans to head away at 04:00,got all my stuff organized and set alarm clock.....
alarm went off,and I hit snooze for an hour then went back to sleep.....bugger the early start,work has been getting me up early so I needed a sleep in.07:00 next alarm went off,Mrs Milky made me cuppa tea and gave me shit about not leaving early.....had rethink on gear,didnt need the ripstop chaps,so swapped them out for gaiters.
set off up the road,saw nice big velvety red stag 50 yards off the side of road,still on tarseal!!!!!
parked wagon ,got Meg out and set off...7kms later I hit hunting block....hadnt seen anything yet as had deliberately left binos in pack,on previous trips Ive seen lots of deer OUTSIDE of hunting area,so was determined not to be tempted this trip.
got to area I expected to see something,Meg was keen as mustard to head off through swampy tussocks across wind.....shouldve known,she isnt wrong often..we kept looking around and then spotted first fallow of day 300ish yards away up in tall tussocks,now fallow seem to be my nemesis animal,not sure what it is,but if my shooting is going to turn to custard,there will be fallow in sights,having recently played musical scopes and not having had time to recheck zero no way was I going to risk over hundy yards....we tried to get a bit closer but young stag kept climbing up and away into misty rain....we were maybe hundy yards closer,puffing up hill when I look across gulley and see 4 pale animals casually walking up/across hillside,up with optic,half pie expecting thar and nope its four more fallow,I look a bit harder and spot there are more of them just above the first four...optics confirm TEN tasty wee morsels on the hoof....HOLY SMOKE BATMAN!!!! umm too far for .223 and me (kicking myself for not checking scope bigtime now)kicking myself for not bringing howa .270....... right watch and see what they are up to..and where did first one go????
the mob headed up hill and over crest of ridge...right if we haul our big fat over weight bums up this face and over the top,we might just be able to cut them off if they continue graizing on far side of ridge....Meg n I huff a bit,we puff a bit,sto pfor filling of water bottle,bit more huffing,see wallaby across gully,yeah nah not today fella,lots more puffing and we get ourselves nearly up onto ridge,there was a semi flat spot on ridge top we had been aiming for and we slowed down before reaching it...made the wee flat,I looked uphill into swirling mist and HELLO whats that I spy??? looks awefully like back of a deer,up come optics,up comes a head,followed by half a dozen more,all of 75-80 yards away. pack comes off,I sit down behind it,Meg sitting off to one side (good girl,you learning FINNALLY) line up on shoulder of stag and drop crosshairs to just above tussocks should be 1/3 of way up body and fire.bit WHOP of sound returns to my ears....the stag stays still and unseen hind spins furiously around and staggers,then staggers a bit more and flops over,moving towards me.Im confident any deer hit Meg will find no worries.she needed a lot of telling to get her hairy bum back beside me and not hare off up for a look(more learning needed),I can see deers head poking up in tussock,so sit and fire careful shot into head,we leave pack in open and quietly move up hill,Meg NOW allowed to move ahead of me,still kept within the 15 yard range and Im ready just incase.no need to worry,stone cold dead.Meg gives the usual chew to make sure...and we drag her back to pack to do the poohs n wees bit...now this is where life gets interesting...where the heck did that first shot connect??? big solid whack sound,deer fell over..... taking back wheels off and .whats this bruising??? I had hit her across rump between anus and hips...NOT PART OF PLAN.....bad enough wrong deer but hit on bum!!!! tut tut Milky,NOT good enough.luckily no meat damaged too badly.took both back wheels,both back steaks,both eye steaks,forgot to remove heart!!!! loaded pack and started long slow slog homewards.halfway down hill towards track,Meg gets all keen again and starts winding,sure enough a fallow hind takes off through tussocks,dont need another one,my back will give up completely if load pack up any more,neat to see aniamls and be able to watch them walk away for "next time/person"..get down onto track proper and manage to get past first lot of angus cows n calves without issue,Meg did well to stick at heel...carry on plodding and look up at next mob of angus cattle...now why is there one murry grey calf with all them black angus??? up come optics to reveal a young thar lol WE WERE WITHIN HUNDY YARDS OF IT....nope dont need any more meat ,and no way will I be shooting out here outside of block...got within 50 yards of it as we took low road to get past cows n calves s othey need not walk all way down track to gate...plodded homewards with 3-4 mini rests.....finnaly made wagon at 15;45
so wet walkies in misty rain mid week on a block that gets hammered,most Ive counted was 13 other rifles on block as we left.
Christmas prezzy for Daughter sorted,freezer filled back up with prime fallow venison.
take care out there folks.

Outstanding work by Meg mate, and then of course, you. What ranch did you take your first shot mate? I’ve seen a mate whack a fallow at around 250m and the 62gn pill put it to sleep…permanently. Most importantly, you have the results in your freezer.

first shot was at about 75 yards and hit across rump between hips n anus,found perfectly mushroomed 50 grn sierra projectile in the rump while skinning it out last night. the shock must have travelled up her spine as it spun her around and she moved all of 5-6 yards towards me before laying down in tussocks with just her head sticking up..... allowing 2nd more careful shot.
rookie mistakes on my part,but it ended well.definately only one deer hit as stag was behind her,no way did projectile go through him,then her....SP .223s just dont do that.
rain has finnaly stopped here,animals will be popping out everywhere.

well that first fallow we saw the other week.....got trip home today HEHEHEHEHEHE. Again a drizzly wet day with visibility 25 yards one minute,150 the next,then 500 yards then back to 25 again....