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I’ve hunted this block at various times of year previously and there has never been a shortage of animals. Last time a week on my own in August I shot a yearling and saw 14 other deer on my walk about, Beginning of March last year with my brothers we saw over 30 deer between us in two days.

I’d preached about this place to my hunting mates for the week, Paul and Anthony told them unbelievable tales and convinced them our freezers would be overflowing by the time the week was up. I should have known better than to count my chickens aye!

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The Clearings were dry and brown, minimal fresh growth, even Stag clearing was brown. After a quick look over the handy spots for a deer I decided I would head off into the bush.

Jackson has been doing really well on the deer stalking over the last year, as you would have seen from my previous stories. He’s honing his skills and we’re beginning to work quite well as a team.

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We were heading for the eastern corner of the block, having back up options to counter wind and time as I was unsure how long it would take. Heading in on the top track we reached the high point and Jackson was showing interest in the breeze, there was a track to our left and a nice open spur in front of us with the wind in our face, this wasn’t one of the back up plans but it would do for now. Hunting our way down the spur through nice open Beech, every leaf crunched, every twig crackled, nothing was quiet! The dog was still keen and as we dropped in elevation, a large clearing opened up to our right, Jackson would sneak forward in his not so quiet Labradozer way and sit while I caught up, he was telling me there was a deer close, real close, we waited it out and tried our best but I can only assume it had heard us closing in and made for safer refuge.

As the spur closed out and the bush deteriorated, I decided we’d sidle back towards where the track should be, as Murphy would dictate there was no shortage of fallen trees entangled in Bush Lawyer, with the dry conditions and the mid morning temperature already heading towards the mid 20’s it made negotiating this debris exhausting. Eventually we intercepted the track and going was easy again for the next 100m where the markers ended, a quick look at the map and a compass bearing had us heading in the right direction – 970m 86° and up 220m would place us on the middle ridge, there was no sense in hunting while there was no fresh sign and the animals obviously fairly close to water. In just over an hour we’d passed our point and had begun dropping over the other side, sign was abundant although the makers were absent. Jackson was keen on the ground scent but there was nothing on the breeze, we persevered for a few hours before calling it quits and heading for the hut arriving back late in the afternoon.

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After bacon and eggs for lunch, I was ready to head back out for an evening hunt. The food and relaxation is my favourite part of a fly in trip and I always try to make the most of it. This trip I saved the team from a full week of freeze dry, just add water instant type camp food with home made venison sausages with real mashed spud, boiled fresh veges with cheese sauce, slow cooked venison shanks in a tomato puree on rice, and to end the week, hand cut fries and double crumbed and deep fried cubes of eye fillet, I let them sort their own lunches but the dog and I had a kilo of bacon and a doz eggs to get through so it was b&e pitas muesli bars and fresh fruit for lunch each day.

As each day passed still not seeing deer, I was imagining having to tell everyone that I’d spent a week in the bush and not even seen a deer. Ant had seen a hind and fawn on the southern end of the graveyard on Monday night, he and Paul had seen some goats on the runway, and another deer in the spotlight. Paul had seen 3 or 4 on the edge of the Manuka on his way to Cowboys clearing and I had seen a total of 0! Not even a crash of hooves or a squeal.

I was almost completely drained after a couple of very late nights, early mornings and enforced insomnia between the two. Listening to the 747 idling by the door at night and my big walk about during the heat of the day may have taken it’s toll too, but I wasn’t giving up yet! I selected a few essential items for my day pack and dragged myself to the top clearings yet again.

As soon as I reached the lookout I scanned the immediate area to spot a deer feeding less than 20m from where I had just walked through!!!  She was moving almost as quick as my heart was beating, and disappeared before I even thought about taking a shot, 10 mins later and this one moved demanding my attention,

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With no rest and scrub in the way the best I could do was try and take a photo as evidence that I had seen at least one deer for the trip. She must have seen me move to put my camera down, as when I looked back she was also gone. Half an hour passed, continuously watching the area I had last seen her when I noticed in the corner of my eye something out of place, a deer in the stream having a drink, the rifle was ready to go and I had a good rest, she’d just turned slightly away, in behind the shoulder and out the chest on the off side usually drops them on the spot and saves all the useable meat. This time nothing felt good and at the shot she took exit left at high speed.

Once Jackson and I got down to the stream where the deer had been standing everything looked the same and there was nothing to identify where she had been exactly, the wet thistle seeds all looked like clumps of deer hair, there was no slip or splash marks to indicate where she had left the stream and most importantly no blood! I kicked some water up onto the bank and within seconds it had absorbed into the dry ground like a sponge. Walking up and down the middle of the stream I picked the most likely looking spot in reference to my shooting position and started a search, Jackson is usually great on the ground scent but even he was confused with the amount of fresh sign amongst the scrub. I walked back and forwards looking for any sign of a running deer, run marks, slip marks, fresh, bent and broken branches, blood, nothing! It was like the deer had vanished. Then as I decided to push back that little bit further I spotted a white rump on the ground, I was on my hands and knees crawling through a scrub tunnel, Jackon moments later hit it at full speed and gave it a shake! The shot was good and executed as planned, she’d only made it 25m before she’d expired. The blood had run down her front leg, which is why there was no trail to follow, and I found the projectile lodged in her Jaw, that’d make me run too!

After some photos and the dirty work I carted her back over to the track and climbed up to my look out and waited 45mins till dark, no more deer showed up and I made it back to the hut well after 10pm.

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Finally we had something hanging in the meat safe and the other guys were keen to come up to the newly named “hotspot” early next morning.

Up before the sparrows could even think of farting we were fed and on our way back to the top of the block with Paul in front, under instruction that if I caught up to him I’d ankle tap him (how’s that for motivation) and we were there in no time.

Ant had decided he’d head back up to Cowboys clearing and check that out as the sun hit it, and while he had no luck Paul had spotted our first deer almost immediately, a small stag in velvet feeding through the turpentine wood clearings.  He wasn’t confident in taking the shot so I gave it a crack, unfortunately I hugely underestimated the distance and when we worked out the trajectory later my bullet would have hit the ground about 1m in front of him. Paul called a miss but I still headed up and spent over an hour searching for any sign of a hit, I just couldn’t believe I missed such an easy shot! Hanging my head in disgrace I shuffled back to the hut along through the top clearings and left Paul to it. He spent the whole day on the look out and managed to see another 6 deer, that’s less than one an hour! He did tip over another hind later in the day that Ant was there to video but that was to be the last deer taken for the trip.

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We had an awesome week, good food and great company. Swimming in the river most days to cool off and laughing over the ever-entertaining memories of past hunts and planning future ones.

Hunting isn’t always about the animals you shoot but the good ******* you share your adventures with! Long may it continue, cheers guys!

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