Dylan with his buck – a nice trophy and a very satisfying reward for his patience and careful shooting
“ I sensed there must be another deer – and sure enough …” raised the rifle to his shoulder for a standing shot , but with the weight of it I could see the barrel start to move in ever-increasing circles …
Peter decided to stay put while Dylan and I headed to the north end . With the wind behind us we didn ’ t waste time hunting but we did look for sign in a couple of likely spots and picked a couple of cast antlers lying on the ground no more than 3 metres apart . And , true to Murphy ’ s Law , after having only seen one deer for the morning we spooked a spiker and a doe and disturbed another animal as we made our way north .
By this time it was around 4 pm . We climbed a small knob and sat down to glass a large area of 4 – 5-yearold pines . I heard an animal crashing off through the young pines – and spotted a doe that must have been bedded down nearby . Then after a further half-hour of glassing I picked up a doe feeding among the small pines . As I watched her she kept turning around and looking back in the direction she had come from . I sensed there must be another deer . Sure enough , after 5 minutes a black buck materialised from behind a small pine tree . I quickly ranged the distance at 550 metres with my Swarovski EL binoculars . We would have to stalk much closer and had a quick discussion about it . There was a big pile of logs on an old skid site between us and the buck , about 150 metres from him , so we quickly set off , weaving through the pine trees and keeping out of sight behind the log pile . Once we got to the logs I told Dylan to load the Sako . 270 and quietly stalk forward .
I stayed about 20 m behind him as he slowly stalked towards where we had last seen the buck . He hadn ’ t gone far when he indicated he could see it . I couldn ’ t see it myself from where I was standing , but I mouthed the words “ SHOOT IT !” I watched as Dylan flicked the safety off and
“ Dylan kept a cool head …”.
What happened next really impressed me . Dylan realised he was too unsteady to take the shot but he kept a cool head . Slowly he bent down on to one knee to steady himself . At this stage I poked my head around the side of a young pine and saw the buck looking down at him from a small rise . Dylan squeezed the trigger and I heard the whack of the bullet as it hit the animal . The buck jumped in the air and disappeared behind some young pines and toitoi . I noted where the buck had been standing and ranged the distance with the Swarovskis – 120 metres . Then we waited a couple of minutes and cautiously climbed up to where the buck had been .
NZ Hunting & Wildlife 196 - Autumn 2017 11