Do I ,or dont I ????
Today was one of those days where motivation was rather low....
Been trying to jack up hunt with another forumite for last three weeks but it just not happening,other guys busy or working so today ,if I went for deer stalk,it would be solo,worse still the area I wanted to go is a non dog block so poor Poppy would have to stay at home.She go tout for walk in wallaby country yesterday so not too bad,but man I miss her company when she stuck at home....
Didnt get out of bed till after 08;30.... the rifle was out waiting for me,as was ammo and gear so it was just matter of filling up the huge travel mug and strapping on boots and away.do I go or stay home????wont shoot deer by sitting on couch.
Got to block 10 ish and carpark was full,7 cars and a camper who had genny and satalite dish out.... just as well I not intending to do main track today.
Put the gaiters on , made sure had everything in day bag ,locked wagon and headed off in opposite direction to the walking track.Today I had decided to wear my oliver work boots rather than usual lace up gummies to give feet a change,noisy plurry things were squeaking as I walked,dunk in creek soon sorted that one out. Male parrie duck got heck of a fright as I popped out of bush all of five yards away from him...he took off with a sqauwk and interestingly shut up and wasnt seen again(I was expecting the usual circling warning everything in earshot) at all. into bush proper I headed in full on mouse mode now,bush hobbiting at its best,light shifty breaze sort of in right direction ,full sunlight and not too hot. carried on up and along creek in the open bush,eyes peeled for animals. nothing seen by time I was across the flat but still reasonable visability as I got into the gorgier bits... Mr wallaby sat 30 yards up hill looking down and silly 2 legger in bush,do I shoot and risk spooking deer,wally just sat looking long enough for me to open belt pouch and pull out quieter load and change it over in rifle,and quiet pop he took off to expire soon after... put proper load back in again.carried on up gorgey bit,a second wally sitting again 30ish yards away peering down at me...this one much closer to where I had spooked deer a week ago..do I or dont I??? Started to open up pouch to get out quiet load and wally made choice for me by hopping away...in direction I was heading,right towards where I hoped Bambi would be..bugger. in super sneak mode I carried on,eyes peeled ,hoping the wally hadnt stuffed things up. Got to rocky spur I had to cross,super slowly and quietly was name of the game,no blundering along spooking them again,stop look,pick route and continue forwards eyes peeled. got most of way over spur and looked ahead to see handbag Bambi facing my way angling downhill ,rifle came up,scope got twisted around giving more magnification,YIP definately a live fallow yearling/fawn...perfect,Xhairs on shoulder,steady enough and away went the 70 grn speer. deer dropped on spot,chaos erupted,one or more deer bolted uphill,three went downhill past me no more than 40 yards ahead,I reloaded and walked forwards,deer broke from out infront and crossed below me heading back way I had come,rifle up,Xhairs on it... young stag,the one thats NOT all black,do I or dont I??? already got a deer,dont really want/need another...dont really want to kill this one,much prefer to get his skin later on...away he went taking decision from me LOL. ideal. walked forwards to where thought deer should be,yip dead as doornail 5 yards away downhill from where thought it was...open understoryless bush makes finding stuff much easier. took photo of deer and one back towards where I had fired from,gutted deer,so much easier to remove poohs n wees with front leg tied up tree so gravity assists process. placed guts on base of whitey wood tree to feed it,took my strap off daybag and threaded it through legs,poked daybag inside deer,sat down beside it and strapped myself in for carry duties.
up hill or down hill? do I go back way came in or up and out via open ground???
bugger it,down into creek it is,wanted to check out how navigatable it was anyway ,having climbed up and around rather than staying in creek on way in. Got to creek and PURPOSELY stood knee deep in stream,washed hands n arms to get rid of worst of blood,boots now full of water no reason to try boulder hopping and arse up.... its a mind game thing,if boots are dry you WILL try to keep them dry,if they are wet,the ywont get any wetter and the water in them soon warms up,no more cold stuff can get in LOL. took me all of 45 minute to get back out to carpark,now 8 cars there,two folks in car never said boo as I strolled past but made point of saying hello to them after had placed rifle on my truck and unlocked doors,felt funny standing yaking with deer still on my back,would love to know what they said to each other afterwards LOL. gave them run down of what to expect on the track and watched them depart. put deer in rear of truck,fresh clean shirt on and away homewards I went. my cuppa tea was still hot. hot bath waiting when got home. deer hung for hour to drain and is now in fridge in still in one piece... got to love handbag deer.

View back to where I fired

And a wallaby from the day before,the Barnaul 7.62x39mm touched rock on way

Wow... I was "Today" years old when I learned there are wallaby in New Zealand. Never knew that. You all got all kinds of introduced things there.

I hear there are some Canadian Moose there on some island still too. That would be a crazy sight I'd bet. Those things can reach 1600lbs.

But the deer will be tasty. Wild Pigeons are very tasty (not city ones, yuck those have parasites). Do people eat Wallaby or are they just varmints to be used as fun things to shoot? We have "jack rabbits" here that no-one eats, just fun to shoot... but we also have "cottontail rabbits" and those are very tasty and prized... we have seasons on those, jack's are open to shooting year around.

-DallanC

the moose were let go into fiordland..... and fellas have been trying to prove some still exist for thirty or so years.... hasnt been any shot or photographed for fifty plus years now, wallabies get eaten by a few of us..I take a bit and make great jerky with it.guys with thermal gear are now shooting up to 200 in a weekend!!!! the pigeons are fully protected UNLESS your a tribal person and claim customary rights...dont get me started on that one...
cotton tail rabbits we have and eat ,but much prefer the english hare.... if your jack rabbits are the same,whip out back straps and treat like venison,you might well be surprised how similar it tastes.

We do have Hares, they are larger than Jack's. They are eaten and we do have a season. They are fairly hard to run across actually. I haven't seen one in 30 years or more. I've killed 4 in a day before, but that was even farther back.

-DallanC

Sounds like you had a great day Elvis, although I’m intrigued by the term “handbag deer”. I’m assuming it’s a smallish young fallow and relates to ease of carrying. As for eating wallaby…I personally don’t like the taste of roo meat. They have a distinctive smell that seems to transmit into the meat…not my cup of tea mate.

Dallan, search out a recipe called Jugged Hare. It’s an old English recipe for hare that is supposedly good (I haven’t tried it as yet).

Jugged Hare Recipe

Vince wrote:

Dallan, search out a recipe called Jugged Hare. It’s an old English recipe for hare that is supposedly good (I haven’t tried it as yet).

That looks rather interesting and tasty. I do LOL a bit when a recipe for wild game includes Beef stock

-DallanC

Handbag deer = fallow yearling/last years fawn.... so yes could wear it like a handbag... I use carry belt... look up Alex Gale carry belt method....super comfortable and so much easier in open country,my back enjoys the change and if arse up face first,you can get out from under carcase easily.... YOUNG wallaby is rather bland munching... I wouldnt want to chew on an old buck....