I went out to check my hot spot on the weekend (and also my trail camera) and managed to bag this hind on the Saturday morning in some pretty steep country.




I played tug of war with the blow flies and took both backstraps and 1 hind leg 2KM back to camp.
So far so good, however I really, really want to bag the stag that has been wallowing and preaching in a nearby gully - so I made a big effort on the Sunday to get him. The weather turned stormy and wet which I felt was perfect as the Saturday was very warm.
I took two slow hours to saddle around to the head of the gully that I felt he was camped in. I sat down to glass the gully with my dog Lucy sitting about 5 meters away from me.
After a few minutes of glassing I noticed a brown patch among the green ferns that looked out of place. A few seconds later it moved and I realised it had to be a deer. I looked at my dog to see if it had noticed anything and she had now stood up and was staring intensely at the deer (about 90 meters away), I think she noticed it moving and had not confirmed it was a deer. I looked back down at the deer, praying for it to have antlers.... the sight took my breath away, as about 24" antlers appeared attached to the now on the move deer. It was feeding along not knowing I was there, I told myself to be calm, this is the perfect senario, just let it move to a better position. I snuck a peak at the dog and she looked ready to give the deer some closer inspection , which probably made me panick a little fearing the dog was about to spook the deer. I tried to get the dogs attention to make her stay but she was honed in on the stag. I then decided to quickly take the shot before thing went pear shaped. I waited another second for the stag to walk between two trees and then gently squeesed the trigger on my Finlight 300win mag. What happened next has shattered me. The deer ran straight up out of the gully, powering away unhit!!
I spent the next hour looking for blood following his running marks and generally feeling gutted! Nothing - I F#*ked up! I wanted to blame the dog , but she didn't take the shot, it was my fault and I have got to get past this and move on.
I clean missed, simple as that, I panicked and rushed the shot in the end and I am still absolutely miserable. To top it off, my trail camera had some teething problems and I never got any pics on it.
I am just praying on some cool and wet weather to see if I can get another chance at him before the end of November.

i missed mine @300 yards standing side on,still dont know how i missed.... took me three weeks of hard work before he gave me another opportunity @100 yards, this time he ended up in the freezer!!!
ps just because there was no blood does not mean you missed
daniel

Welcome (again) to the saga of the sambar Tony!

Mate dont be disheartened by this as it will happen again,thats no slur on your hunting ability but more a testament to the sambar itself,they just seem to be missed more often than anything else..sambar do that to us all.

Maybe an easy shot on a goat or pig becomes a little more nervy on a sambar stag perhaps?
sambar do that to us all including me and i have rolled a few previously but still get "excited" when i see antlers.


I found this bloke and his two mates y/day morning,i went home rang the mate and waited till the mate came up for a crack so we went back at 5.30 pm and found (after some walking too)the spikey was standing at 45/50 yds but with two tree suckers hiding his shoulder and a limb obscuring his head,i quickly told the mate that there was another at his feet and to head shoot him as it was clear field. Shit! Shit Shit! on raising the rifle (this is after five mins of watching) they bolted...no shot taken ...aaah bloody sambar.There were three there together in the creek bed,heavy cover and arse ends made for no shots either...we dont shoot meat up the ring ever!

We had analysed the situation and werent going to take the shot if it had a chance of only wounding the animal...but once again thats sambar for you and killing them isnt everything.

Remember Tony as you missed your stag he will be better next year mate! Good onya for announcing a miss coz if you read these and other forums there are not many blokes that will admit to missing eh!

duggaboybuff,

Nice pic and thanks for the story...Anybody who says they haven't missed a "sitter" is either liar or hasn't done much hunting!

BTW, what cal were you shooting?

Regards,

Pete

quote:

Originally posted by Pete E:
duggaboybuff,

Nice pic and thanks for the story...Anybody who says they haven't missed a "sitter" is either liar or hasn't done much hunting!

BTW, what cal were you shooting?

Regards,

Pete

"and then gently squeesed the trigger on my Finlight 300win mag. What happened next has shattered me. The deer ran straight up out of the gully, powering away unhit!!"