John Gryphon
Well-Known Member
After three trips into one gully that were fruitless deer wise except for a hind sighted early this morning I decided to hit an old tree stand for a visit. I hadn't been in it for months.In fact the last two times it was used were by mates that saw SFA. One of them was The Pom and not so long ago a mate from here.
It is just a cobbled up rough stand made out of planks that were mill rejects,batten screwed and wired together. Some old ringlock fence wire wrapped around it with remnant fern fronds long dried woven through the wire serve as further concealment. I have a milk crate with a WP cushion as a permanent seat.
With a swirling wind I wasnt too confident of my chances and then an hour before dark I saw two mature hinds and one calf. Saw? Well through the foliage in my binos at 83 metres.
Even then they were shoulder high in ferns and berry bushes and tough to see. I couldn't get a camera on them at all. A big wind gust change worried me and then I saw nothing for another hour.,I had the thought that the wind gust had given me away. Then amazingly five deer walked out of the thicker scrub that they had gone into and stealthily commenced to feed across the opposite clearing.
They were around 70 odd metres across the little creek from the stand.
After another quiet five minutes the last one out turned and looked back. Ah! Sure sign of a Stag! No it was another big spikey calf but then a minute or two later a stag appeared. He came out of the heavy scrub and went straight into the poontang sniffing of one hind.The dark was settling quickly but I could see him as plain as day in the binos,especially his white tips against the dark berry foliage.
He was only a 20 incher with white well rubbed antlers and eventually he followed the hind downhill towards my stand and then he was only 48 metres away.
Faaaaaaark me I was spewing. The camera alas was effing useless by this stage and I was pretty disappointed with the poor light.
First video is a scan of the area from the stand in fair light...if only!
Second video,five deer feeding in among the berry bushes,if you are good you might spot a couple.
The frigging stag is buried in berry canes with his nose up the hinds clacker centre pic and yet the cam couldn't pick him.
It is just a cobbled up rough stand made out of planks that were mill rejects,batten screwed and wired together. Some old ringlock fence wire wrapped around it with remnant fern fronds long dried woven through the wire serve as further concealment. I have a milk crate with a WP cushion as a permanent seat.
With a swirling wind I wasnt too confident of my chances and then an hour before dark I saw two mature hinds and one calf. Saw? Well through the foliage in my binos at 83 metres.
Even then they were shoulder high in ferns and berry bushes and tough to see. I couldn't get a camera on them at all. A big wind gust change worried me and then I saw nothing for another hour.,I had the thought that the wind gust had given me away. Then amazingly five deer walked out of the thicker scrub that they had gone into and stealthily commenced to feed across the opposite clearing.
They were around 70 odd metres across the little creek from the stand.
After another quiet five minutes the last one out turned and looked back. Ah! Sure sign of a Stag! No it was another big spikey calf but then a minute or two later a stag appeared. He came out of the heavy scrub and went straight into the poontang sniffing of one hind.The dark was settling quickly but I could see him as plain as day in the binos,especially his white tips against the dark berry foliage.
He was only a 20 incher with white well rubbed antlers and eventually he followed the hind downhill towards my stand and then he was only 48 metres away.
Faaaaaaark me I was spewing. The camera alas was effing useless by this stage and I was pretty disappointed with the poor light.
First video is a scan of the area from the stand in fair light...if only!
Second video,five deer feeding in among the berry bushes,if you are good you might spot a couple.
The frigging stag is buried in berry canes with his nose up the hinds clacker centre pic and yet the cam couldn't pick him.
