Well I have had the kind of busy week we all like.

First was duck shooting on the weekend. It was way too fine and clear and still, but 3 of us managed 64 birds for the day shooting on stubble. A mix of paradise and pacific black duck mostly, but also about 10 mallards which didn't make it too the photo as they got plucked early.



The next day I was the only one able to get out, and had a ball by myself, picking up another 24 birds for the morning. I ind I shoot better by myself as can do things at my time and without having to worry about others. Plus there is less movement in the hide and birds seem to decoy better.



Then last night a mate and I hit a clearing we have been staking out a bit. It's in an area where the deer are very hunter aware and cautious and there's 3 stags there that we have had numerous gos at without luck.
Tonight we crept in with 10 minutes of light left, and Dan got a shot at a stag as it crossed the clearing. Im loading the 130gr Barnes TTSX for him and this was the first trial.

The stag ran about 100 yards into the bush, and by that time it was pretty much too dark to see blood, and so the pup got a chance to show what she can do, and she did a great job of leading us in to where he lay in some tight shit. She was telling us he was there and yet we couldnt see him at 10 yards.





As he was still quite rutted up, we carried him out whole. A bit of a mission as he would have weighed 190lb or so and got him too the roadside and then skinned him immediately before putting him in the chiller at home. The projectile had done a lot of work, smashing the foreleg and nearly every rib as it angled down the far side. We found it just caught in the skin on the far flank.

Ducks and deer seem to be the calling last weekend. Nice haul of of both.
Haven't heard of Pacific black duck before, I presume they are what are better known as Grey duck, found more at home on the West Coast but increasingly being bred out by mallards. Grey's flop into decoys so easy too.

Yeah Greys. It's just that the rest of the world cals them Pacific black, so decided to use that name so others understood.

Absolutely outstanding man! Love the ducks!

By grey ducks/pacific blacks do you mean gadwall?

Never mind....looked it up. Different species. We shoot a fair number of American black ducks here. Gadwalls are what we call grey ducks.

quote:

Originally posted by shankspony:
Yeah Greys. It's just that the rest of the world cals them Pacific black, so decided to use that name so others understood.

Ah thanks for clearing that up, I've seen black duck decoys being advertised here and wondered what they were for, learn something every day.
What do you do with rutty stag meat, venison and duck salami?

Heading out to sons place this arvo to process the two deer we got on the way to our pond on Saturday. Will be excellent meat for steak etc but in reality nothing beats a good venison stew

Ive got a chiller.So Ill hang it for 3-4 days and then see if we can get some steak. If not it will probably go into mince. I have some very fatty bacon here that's not turned out great for dying, so might experiment with mixing some of that through the mince to add some fat and smoky flavour.

quote:

Originally posted by Bull Sprig:
Absolutely outstanding man! Love the ducks!

By grey ducks/pacific blacks do you mean gadwall?

No different species, is Anas superciliosa superciliosa

Yeah the Grey is a very close relative of the mallard. From memory an older branch of the family.
There is no differentiation in plumage between male and female and generally they are slightly smaller.
We have a lot of Hybridisation between the two here, so both mallards and greys tend to carry a mixed appearance most notable in the mallard drakes, which often are darker that Northern hemisphere drakes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anas

Gotcha.....thanks. Wish we had those numbers here but they just don't migrate south as much anymore due to warmer temps in the maritimes.

Great to see you had a good opening weekend.

quote:

Originally posted by HendrikNZ:
Great to see you had a good opening weekend.

Are you really in AD H?

quote:

Are you really in AD H?

Yup, the missus is doing a stint here in the Middle East - so I'm working from here and making the most of the travel opportunities. Fuckall hunting, but its an interesting place.

quote:

Originally posted by HendrikNZ:
Great to see you had a good opening weekend.

Cheers.

The duck shooting down here numbers wise is like it was 30 years ago up north.

quote:

Originally posted by HendrikNZ:

quote:

Are you really in AD H?

Yup, the missus is doing a stint here in the Middle East - so I'm working from here and making the most of the travel opportunities. Fuckall hunting, but its an interesting place.

Off to Ferrari world then.

Lifes hell right now.

Sat on a pond tonight and picked up 25 birds for a couple of hours.

Will process them in the morning then get my gear packed and head off early Tuesday for a wander around Tahr country for 5-6 days.

Hope you have a good hunt..we will need pics and a report!

The ducks will be glad you are on the mountain…

Cheers Z!

Packs a bit heavier than usual, Im carrying a packraft and a bit of other extra gear. 18.5kg, a bit over 40lb which will sort me out climbing those hills. Gone are the days when Id think nothing of carrying 65lb. My knees dont thank me much anymore.

Craig..I can relate…none of us are getting any younger. Get up the hill while you can…