Finally a hunt report.
Posted: Sun Feb 04, 2024 9:24 pm
Since August, I have been back on the boat doing up to 5 charters a week....with the rest of my time taken up with chores I havent had time to go hunt/cull pests. Finally got a guy to take over crewing last week leaving weekends free.
Headed up to the farm to pick up BH's quad ( it needs repairs) and took the 243 a, the 17hmr and the thermals... Got the bike and headed to the horse farm to chase deer.
While driving up to the back of the farm after I closed one of the many gates, I walked back to the truck when BH said " There are 3 bucks watching you from up the hill and the ginger one has got a really good even head"
They were standing in some scrubby brush partially obscured and I could see a black coloured fallow looking at me and the arse of a ginger poking out of some bush. I managed to get the 243 out,load a mag and get a rest on the bonnet( Hood for you guys
)....and picked them up in the new Leica scope. BH reiterated that the ginger has a good head. My reply was 'I can only see its butt'.....Nek minit the ginger backs out of the bush, yep it had a good head.....and with the clarity of the Leica I could see a small white patch about an 1/2inch on its neck just below its head. Put the crosshairs on it, the t3x barked.......and all hell broke loose!!! 
At the shot, the buck crumpled on the spot, and the concussion of the shot set the alarms off on the Hilux almost deafening us both!!! The horses further down the paddock decided that they didnt like their sunday afternoon being disturbed in such a raucous manner and added their displeasure by whinnying while 3 more large fallow bucks broke cover and stampeded for the hills!!
Details of the shot.
T3X 243 topped by a Leica Amplus 6 2.5-15 x 50i
Factory Remington 80gr PSP
Distance a measured 91m..steep up hill shot.
Hit where I aimed....obliterating the white mark.
Projectile shattered the neck bone on the 1st neck vertebrae below the head leaving the head held on by skin. ( the pic shows the exit hole)
A quick field dress and we hung the buck in the shade to cool down before heading to the far end of the paddock, where we found some shade,broke out the deck chairs and sat back for an ice cold drink.......
One of the horses was elected spokesperson for the herd and wandered over while we relaxed to give BH a talking to...
After a break we drove to our original planned spot where we finally located some red deer...stalked in on them but stalking into the setting sun/wind was difficult due to scope flare... visibility was so bad we couldnt get a shot and we got busted.
Sat and watched a tree line till it got dark, saw another 18 animals before we broke out the thermals....
Got a pic of 2 good bucks with the thermal which I will download and post up shortly....
While walking back to the truck we saw a large Fallow spiker so after a stalk BH dropped it with a neck shot with his 300 suppressed Blackout......the spiker knew something was up and ran towards us, Bh dropped it at less than 20 metres as it ran past.
No pics as the phone was charging in the truck unfortunately.
Was great to get back 'on the hill' and chase something other than piscatorial.....Impressed with the new scope and spent time enabling BH into getting a Leica.....it worked and he should have one in the next few weeks....
Headed up to the farm to pick up BH's quad ( it needs repairs) and took the 243 a, the 17hmr and the thermals... Got the bike and headed to the horse farm to chase deer.
While driving up to the back of the farm after I closed one of the many gates, I walked back to the truck when BH said " There are 3 bucks watching you from up the hill and the ginger one has got a really good even head"
They were standing in some scrubby brush partially obscured and I could see a black coloured fallow looking at me and the arse of a ginger poking out of some bush. I managed to get the 243 out,load a mag and get a rest on the bonnet( Hood for you guys
)....and picked them up in the new Leica scope. BH reiterated that the ginger has a good head. My reply was 'I can only see its butt'.....Nek minit the ginger backs out of the bush, yep it had a good head.....and with the clarity of the Leica I could see a small white patch about an 1/2inch on its neck just below its head. Put the crosshairs on it, the t3x barked.......and all hell broke loose!!! At the shot, the buck crumpled on the spot, and the concussion of the shot set the alarms off on the Hilux almost deafening us both!!! The horses further down the paddock decided that they didnt like their sunday afternoon being disturbed in such a raucous manner and added their displeasure by whinnying while 3 more large fallow bucks broke cover and stampeded for the hills!!
Details of the shot.
T3X 243 topped by a Leica Amplus 6 2.5-15 x 50i
Factory Remington 80gr PSP
Distance a measured 91m..steep up hill shot.
Hit where I aimed....obliterating the white mark.
- 20240204_171244.jpg (4.94 MiB) Viewed 2365 times
A quick field dress and we hung the buck in the shade to cool down before heading to the far end of the paddock, where we found some shade,broke out the deck chairs and sat back for an ice cold drink.......
One of the horses was elected spokesperson for the herd and wandered over while we relaxed to give BH a talking to...
- 20240204_175632.jpg (4.81 MiB) Viewed 2365 times
Sat and watched a tree line till it got dark, saw another 18 animals before we broke out the thermals....
Got a pic of 2 good bucks with the thermal which I will download and post up shortly....
While walking back to the truck we saw a large Fallow spiker so after a stalk BH dropped it with a neck shot with his 300 suppressed Blackout......the spiker knew something was up and ran towards us, Bh dropped it at less than 20 metres as it ran past.
No pics as the phone was charging in the truck unfortunately.
Was great to get back 'on the hill' and chase something other than piscatorial.....Impressed with the new scope and spent time enabling BH into getting a Leica.....it worked and he should have one in the next few weeks....
