John Gryphon
Well-Known Member
I had been observing a few hinds and calves early today and for whatever reason I looked up to my left and a young stag was surveying his domain. He was 150 yards away and I swear he looked right through me too. I had left my tripod at home and had sourced a stick to use for a monopod rest and lined him up from a shaky position and let the 7mm bark. He lurched forward hard hit and headed into the thicker schitt. I gathered my gear and headed back to my ute a fair way off and drove back to as close as I could get to where he appeared. A lung clot made me happy but he made about 80 yards further into the bush.It had taken me some time to finally reach him,the lack of blood (from a complete pass through) slowed me down.
An executive decision that was made on the spot was to head home for my cable drum of winch rope (150 metres) and enlist the mate again. Its too much of a pita to cut up and cart out in pieces as I get older. Back an hour later and with some hilux bush bashing we rigged up a snatch block to pull the deer in a good line through the berries and ferns,over logs and all. I used a rope shortener for a couple of grabs then reconfigured the block to another tree so as to pull him up the bank and roll him onto the tailgate etc.
I was rather amazed at his tenacity with the entry point and exit points suggesting a dead right there but not so as it turned out.
We got him home as a complete carcase and I weighed him. The mate reckoned after a couple of guesstimates he was 150 kgs then settled on 160 KGS, Bugger me he was on the money as the deer was 375 pounds on the Cabelas scale = 170 kilos =26 stone.
Liver and heart for us,paunch washed out for the dogs. I stripped the caul fat and runner fat off for the dogs to eat hot,they loved it.
An executive decision that was made on the spot was to head home for my cable drum of winch rope (150 metres) and enlist the mate again. Its too much of a pita to cut up and cart out in pieces as I get older. Back an hour later and with some hilux bush bashing we rigged up a snatch block to pull the deer in a good line through the berries and ferns,over logs and all. I used a rope shortener for a couple of grabs then reconfigured the block to another tree so as to pull him up the bank and roll him onto the tailgate etc.
I was rather amazed at his tenacity with the entry point and exit points suggesting a dead right there but not so as it turned out.
We got him home as a complete carcase and I weighed him. The mate reckoned after a couple of guesstimates he was 150 kgs then settled on 160 KGS, Bugger me he was on the money as the deer was 375 pounds on the Cabelas scale = 170 kilos =26 stone.
Liver and heart for us,paunch washed out for the dogs. I stripped the caul fat and runner fat off for the dogs to eat hot,they loved it.
Last edited:
