Uhunt Persistence Pays Off

Uhunt Mag Information

  • Posted By : UHUNT APP - Jesse Farr
  • Posted On : Feb 05, 2020
  • Views : 2541
  • Likes : 6
  • Category : DEER HUNTING » STORIES
  • Description : Sure enough there he was walking along the backside of the hill below us.

Overview




  • By Troy Schmidt

    We got a call from a farmer who lives a couple of hours south from where we live in WA. He was having some trouble with the deer numbers, and they were causing a bit of drama on his farm. So it was time to dust off the camo suits and do a bit of stalking in the hope that we could stumble across a decent stag. I’ve never shot a real decent one before, we don’t get the big trophy fallow deer over here, but I still have seen some nice ones on occasion. In the past, I had just shot smaller cull stags for the table. I was hoping I would get one worthy of hanging on the wall. I had only spotlighted at night for deer but we wanted to do something different, so we decided to walk and turn this into more of a fair hunt. My choice of a rifle is 243 with 90 grain Winchester bullets. A nice simple set up and good all-round gun. The first hunt I did alone, and I left a few hours before sunrise to arrive at the farm as the sun was coming up. I parked the Ute up at the owner’s house and set out on foot. I learned very quickly that fallow deer are very hard to see when it’s not fully light. I foolishly walked when the sun had not quite come over the hills. Within a half-hour of walking, I walked right on top of the deer, spooking them before I had even seen them. Unfortunately, this happened twice, and I was feeling a little bit beaten.

    I thought to myself “I’m no good at this, stick to the easier, less patient way of hunting (in a ute with a light). After a rough day I made my way back to the ute, on the way back I stumbled into a cracker stag. I was walking through  some dark patch of trees, and he stood up 20 meters from me. I was that excited when I saw antlers I rushed forward, and the deer took off. At the time I didn’t realize it, but I had just committed myself to 2 weeks of misery to find this deer again. I rushed home still excited to tell the misses how big this deer and its antlers were and how close I got to it possibly misjudging it due to the excitement. So for the next week and a half Shannon and I went every chance we had. Throughout the week I learned heaps about how to stalk the deer from my trial and error. We started using the wind to our advantage and limiting the noise and smell. We started to have some success getting right up close to some smaller ones and also seeing some does with young ones feeding up close. I knew I had to do the right thing for farmer and get rid of the deer problem, but I also knew I was there to get that stag that gave me the slip that first morning. I passed up a few opportunities on shooting some smaller ones as I was worried it was going to spook the stag.

    I don’t think he would have gone far, but he was doing a very good job and keeping himself out of sight over the week and a half. Then finally in the morning, I popped over the ridge, and there he was in a perfect spot. Out in the open feeding and the wind was blowing in my face. I thought nothing could go wrong, and I was finally going to get him. So I took my time getting a little closer and just as I laid down to get comfortable the wind swung around, and he ripped his head up, took one look at me, and he was gone. Angry and frustrated, we walked back to the house. I thought that’s it I’m coming back tomorrow, getting rid of the problem for the farmer and that’s it stick to hunting pigs. The next day we did what we had done for two weeks now and knowing in the back of my mind that I had spooked this stag to much I thought I would just get the smaller ones and go home. We walked for a little while not seeing a thing until we were close to the last hill where I had spotted the stag the very first time as we were walking one side of the hill we spotted a young male on his own. So we got a little closer, and I set up to shoot while Shannon sat behind.



    But I couldn’t do it I was that fixed on this one stag I had seen, and the same old feeling of he could be over the next hill was going through my head I didn’t want to give up that easy and be defeated. As we got to the top of the hill, I snuck forward while Shannon hung back a little and popped my head over and sure enough there he was walking along the backside of the hill below us. I quickly laid down to take the shot as he was only 50 meters from us, but because of the hill, I couldn’t get a clean shot. I stood back up to take the shot half out of breath because of the hill we just walked and shaking with excitement I aimed and shot. Bang! He had dropped, I couldn’t believe I had finally got him. I was over the moon and said to Shannon we got him, so she rushed over to me, and as we got up beside him he looked even better than I thought. After about 20 high fives and not shutting up about how awesome it was on the way back to the ute, we were now hanging out to see him on the wall. We grabbed the car and loaded him on; a mate was going to cape him out for the taxidermist so we could finally have that stag on the wall.


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