A_S_S_2015_04

4

The hind or

what we were

able to take

hanging for

overnight.

5

Chris

standing

beside the stag

we had in the tree

ready to put into

the trailer.

had been quite a few deer

eating up a close neighbor’s

feed and he wanted them

gone and didn’t care how.

Anyway, driving to within a

kilometer and a half of where

the deer always seem to be,

our rifles were checked, back

packs on and off we went.

Cutting through a lot of thick

lantana on a small track, we

slowly emerged onto a

beautiful hilly section with

heaps of feed growing. We

didn’t see anything for a

little while and then

suddenly Chris pointed to

the top of the next hill.

Amongst the trees were three

or four stags; they already

had antlers growing and it

was only mid October?

Chris and I lay down with

our packs as rests and tried

to ascertain which was the

smaller of the stags, as

neither of us liked shooting

stags in early velvet when

they still had a lot of growing

to do. But to keep this farmer

happy at least one of these

had to go. The closest one to

us seemed the smallest and

even it looked like it would

grow into a good animal. If

one of us didn’t shoot it, then

the farmer would get

someone else to shoot them,

so the crosshairs were placed

on the stag. Waiting for

Chris to fire seemed to take

ages and looking back toward

him he was motioning for me

to take the shot as the trees

were in the way for him to

shoot. There were also a few

small bushes between me

and the stag as well. Holding

the scope on him and waiting

for him to move forward a

fraction for a clearer shot,

suddenly his head came up

and he looked straight at us.

With no time to waste, the

shot was taken and no thump

came back and the stag

trotted up the hill turning

slightly away from me.

Following him as the cross

hairs touched his shoulder

another shot was fired and

this time the loud thump

62 | SPORTING SHOOTER _ APRIL 2015

HUNTER

HOW-T O

trading

soon

Amongst the trees were three or four

stags; they already had antlers

4 growing and it was only mid October.”

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