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Bruce and Ted
with one of the
meat deer.2
Bruce with
the first deer
he had ever seen
and couldn’t
believe how
large they were.3
Ted with one
of the deer
shot that day.ON THIS
SPREADThe deer were both bled and
using some rope from my truck
we hauled them both up a couple
of trees to skin and gut them and
take the meat. This took us quite
some time as having the truck so
nice and handy we could spend
time getting the meat hair-free
and bagging it in large clip seal
bags. It was then placed, some
in my Engel Fridge/freezer and
some in the ice box we had with
ice in it.
What a fine way to end a deer
hunt, sit down and have a great
lunch and let the deer come to us.
Feeling happy and deciding that
there was no need to stay until
dark, we headed slowly back
down the mountain. Getting close
to the last gate on my mate’s farm,
the good fairy must have been
pointing her wand at us as Bruce
said “Look out your side, Ted
- a wild dog!” Sure enough a big
dog was heading across a large
flat very close to a gully that was
full of lantana. As the truck
stopped it took off and my rifle
being ready for such a situation
was quickly in my hands and
a round chambered. I followed
the dog in the scope and just as
my finger squeezed the trigger,
the lantana seemed to swallow
him up. Having already taken the
pressure on the trigger I fired
anyway. As we got out of the
truck Bruce went right, getting to
a spot where he could see the
large flat and my move was to the
left. Amazingly, looking along the
edge of the gully the dog could be
seen lying right next to the edge
of the lantana. We dragged him
to an ant mound, a couple of
photos were taken and he was
scalped. Sometimes everything
seems to work out right for you
and this was just one of those
days. The shot I fired had hit the
dog right through both shoulders.
This was just another first for
Bruce as he had now seen both
wild deer and a wild dog.
Anyway, roll on quite a few
weeks and I was back in the
mountains again, but this time at
a different spot with another
good friend Chris. He needed
meat and had a few handy spots
W W W.SPORTINGSHOOTER.COM.AU | 61As my finger
squeezed the
trigger, the
lantana seemed
to swallow
him up.”
in which to look for a good meat
deer and had invited me up to
help out. One spot where he had
been seeing deer every time he
went there was a long walk down
a mountain. It could be driven in
a four wheel drive, but that
would just scare the deer, so it
was a shank’s pony job. Being
quite late in the day there wasn’t
much light left before some deer
were spotted way, way over the
hills. Sneaking in as close as
possible, we were still a good 300
metres away from them. Chris
wanted me to shoot, as the
.300Weatherby was good for
these long shots. Taking a lean
on a handy stump the shot was
taken and after what seemed like
a couple of seconds a loud
thwack came back to us and the
deer tried to run but staggered
and fell. It was so far away it
took us until it was nearly dark
to get to where it had beenstanding and by the time it
was found it was dark.
Hell, luckily we both carried
torches so the deer was gutted as
far as needed, as the front half
was a mess. Anyway, cutting it in
half, it was manhandled down
the side of the mountain to
a semblance of a track and the
long walk back to the truck was
started. Managing to get the
Triton right to it was great as
I was knackered and it ended up
being 9-00pm before we had tea.
After a quick drink the sack we
hit the sack early as a 5am start
was the order of tomorrow. There2
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