Kiwifire111
AH member
Chital Hunt Report - Mal Garner
Preparations had come to a fever pitch by the morning of Sunday the 7th April.
Mis-reading the baggage limits on my Qantas Club Gold membership and the fact that I was actually allowed 2 32Kg cases, we were working on the mistaken theory that we had 1 suitcase each, plus a carry_on each to fit all the usual for an 8 day trip anywhere, plus the extras of boots, wet weather gear binoculars and ammo, etc. Carry on baggage was our hunting daypacks loaded to the Max!!
Sue and I were dropped off at Canberra airport well ahead of the required check -in time just in case there was a problem or holdup with the firearms…. There was!!!
We hadn’t been told about some form we had to fill in re the ammo. I had photographed the ammo to show them how it was packed, MTM cases in a locked Pelican style ABS plastic case, happy with that, the little Indian Kid did the form over the phone to someone and all was good. It would have been even better if he had given us a heads up that we would need to the same thing on the return journey!! That would be too easy!!
The last time I flew anywhere with a firearm was in 1977 on a domestic flight in New Zealand whilst at University in Christchurch, you put the bolt in your checked in luggage and then walked across the tarmac to the plane and put your rifle in the overhead locker, No one looked twice at you, Oh well!! Times were so much more innocent then I suppose??
We said goodbye to our rifles and hoped to see them again in Queensland and found the business lounge for some free lunch and and adult tipple or 3.
Our mountain of luggage!!
The trip to Cairns was interrupted by a 2 hour stop in Brisbane, more Qantas lounge free food and Beer.
A short cab ride after more formality getting our rifles back and we were in our hotel. Cairns at 9pm was just a little warmer than Canberra, so it was cold Thai beer and into bed.Nick the guide picked us up at 9.15am on the dot and we packed all our gear into his Nissan Patrol and we were off towards Atherton, initially.
He mentioned that the hill up the escarpment was renowned for passengers becoming car sick on the way up! It sure was a winding, steep road!! I have never been the best passenger, especially in bigger vehicles, so I quickly quit looking at my phone and concentrated on the spectacular views as we climbed up to the table lands. Retaining possession of my breakfast was difficult, but I prevailed.
We bypassed Atherton and headed southwest, and 7 hours later arrived at the homestead of the station we were to call home or the week.
After sorting out our room and a cup of tea for Sue, it was into the Patrol for the last 2 hrs of daylight, cruising around property, but remaining close too the home as Nick explained the Chital deer stick to within 3kms max of the buildings and know that the proximity of human activity will keep their fawns and themselves safer from the predation of Dingos and wild dogs. Clever aren’t they. 3kms from the buildings there’s not a deer to be seen!!
The first deer we saw were 2 young yearlings that had found a way in to a small holding paddock for weaner cattle and then couldn’t find a way out. As we drove away from the homestead we saw a pair of pigs moving through the long grass after hearing us, but they were for after the deer hunting was done.
Approximately 75 deer were seen by the time we got home just on dark, and plans made for the morning, Nick the guide had bought all the groceries , drinks etc to our request and he quickly whipped a nice meal on the BBQ, while Sue and I watched him and had an evening drink, cold beer and cider.
Sitting and watching Nick do everything was something I wasn’t comfortable with without offering to help, but this was politely refused. I learned to accept it, but was still uncomfortable.
We were up and ready at 6.30am, breakfasted, Coffee on board and waiting for daylight. We walked out through the spread of farm buildings and sundry derelict machinery that had finished it’s useful life, to encounter our first deer of the day within 100 metres from where we had slept the night before. Chital have to be the prettiest deer species, without exception!
One very good Stag with 30 or 40 younger stags, hinds and varying sized fawns, all very aware that we were there, the stag being probably the best one we saw all week. After a quick scout around local to the house, it was back in the Patrol and cruising slowly looking mobs of deer on the open plains dotted with trees, many of which had gnarly darkened bases. These are the trees the stags like to use as rubs for stripping velvet, over a hundred years, they are scarred and weeping from the attention.
The nice sweeping plains of long flowing grass, mid thigh deep in places, reminded me of the tussock on New Zealand’s Ruahine Ranges tops at No Mans, golden and looking like waves on a golden sea!! But!!! There was a trap, hidden by the grass was another ocean, this one of rocks, Basalt rocks, loose Basalt rocks of varying sizes that are a real trap while your walking and trying to be quiet and in stealth mode!! Haha, good luck with that!
We got out of the vehicle several times to stalk in towards a mob and learnt quickly that when you’re walking, don’t try to do anything else, just look where your feet are. Swirling winds beat us and as it was warming up quickly, we got back for an official breakfast at about 10.00am.
After a very welcome cooked meal it was time to relax, chat and enjoy the shade on the south facing back porch. Later, a nap was in order and we were up and ready to go again at 4.00pm for anther go at the Chital.
We spotted a large mob of 80 or more deer that were coming out of the scrub fringe at about 800 metres, so, with a prevailing SW wind we got ourselves to the north end of a finger of trees and scrub, slowly working along a bush edge towards the deer as the fed out onto the plain. Sue was struggling with the rocky terrain under the long grass and struggled to keep up. We spent about an hour watching and creeping along, but we ran out of cover and the deer were not cooperating by feeding into the wind away from us, frustrating to the maximum!! Rather than spook them with a dodgy long shot, we withdrew unseen, and were home for dinner just on dark. Tuesday, our first day hunting was done, no shots fired, but an amazing day seeing 150 deer and learning much indeed!!
Wednesday morning was very dark when we got to the kitchen for coffee/tea and cereal, but it lightened up into a glorious morning as we drove about 2 Kms and left the car and started a stalk to an area we had stayed away from the previous day.
At about 600 metres away, we spotted a few animals feeding in a basin bordering a bush edge that was a drop-off into a bush covered river bed below and which the deer used as a daylight retreat. As we stalked closer it was difficult to be completely quiet with the broken surface under the long grass, but we had the breeze in our favour and slowly and carefully approached the feeding deer.
Big, muscular Wallaroos, some nearly a metre tall and built like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson were a constant threat to our secret approach, but luck prevailed. We made it to a couple of trees growing close together and from here we started looking over the deer a little below us and ranging from 170 metres to over as they were quite spread out.
Several good stags were in the group, some eating and others were sparring aggressively, explaining why so many had broken antlers, not just tines, but whole antlers snapped off through the main beam. A good 30% of stags seen had damaged antlers and many times we lamented the fact that several one-antlered stags would have been exceptional trophies, had they had a matching pair!!
I digress!! As we surveyed the spread out mob, several had good trophy potential, 2 in particular were at the far edge of the group as is often the case, but all were moving slowly from our right to left along the scrub edge and slowly, very slowly, nearer to us.
I even grew my own set of antlers!!
One was a better trophy than his companion, being much more even and a little longer. This stag became the focus of our attention and we stood there for 30 mins or so, waiting for him to feed out of an area of broken ground and onto a little plateau. A couple of time I thought he had laid down as only his antlers were visible, but he was in a dip in the long grass and then he would appear again. There still wasn’t much to see as the grass was nearly waist deep and quite thick. Instructions on our first day had been to shoot through the tops of the grass, not just at the bit of skin you could see above the cover.
After nearly 40 mins the stag moved enough to present a shot at 220 yds on my very old, imperial rangefinder, but he was quartering away and heading towards the scrub and looked to be leaving us. So, decision time, a shot behind his last rib and into the chest. The 300H&H made one hell of a racket and deer went everywhere!! But not the stag, he stood there all hunched up and looking very wobbly, but still on his feet, so, bullets are cheap, so with him now standing broadside, I gave him another through both shoulders and he crumpled. I had my Chital on the ground!!
Much excitement and congratulations between the 3 of us and a hug from my wife Sue, we set off the find him in the grass. Completely invisible!! Nick and I both walked around him and it wasn’t until Sue caught up with us, that she spotted the deer in the cover no more than 3 metres away.
Photos taken and then the work started, Nick started the Head-skinning process while Sue and I just watched, this was an odd situation for me as I’ve been hunting for well over 50 years, and the result of a mis-spent youth in the meat industry training a s Meat Inspector, I usually worked my own kills and most of my hunting mates deer as well. I had even made a new knife to take with me and it came home as clean as it left, unused!!!
Nick carried the back legs, I carried the Head and head skin attached and Sue carried the back steaks and one front leg. Nothing usable gets left behind, we’d sort out baggage limits later.
Back at the homestead, we had a cooked breakfast at about 10.00am and the Nick started skinning the head with Sue in close attendance as she was new to hunting and keen to learn all she could. Skin off, and it was now my turn to learn while watching the ears and lips being sorted before salting, I’d never actually done it or seen it done!! I had never before shot anything that was worth head-skinning!
Midday was nap time before heading back out at 4.00pm for another go at the deer, this time to get one for Sue, hopefully. Nearly 2 years ago, Sue decided the she would like to have a go at shooting a rifle and maybe go hunting with me, a quite bold decision for towny girl of retirement age!!
Shooting on my range with her Bergara BA13 in .243 and later another Bergara in .308, she proved to be a keen student and took to it like a duck on water.
The last sight-in session before going to Queensland was standing with bipod shooting sticks, as you see being used in Africa, smacking a 250mm square steel gong at 120metres, definitely “Minute of Deer”!!
The afternoon arrived soon enough, after a very warm nap with only a fan to make it nearly bearable for me, I can keep myself warm when need be, but like the heat and humidity as much as a black Labrador in the summer tops of New Zealand!!!
Into the Patrol and heading south, we saw a couple of small mobs bedded on the shade of gum trees, barely bothering to look up as we drove by.
We turned off the road and onto a farm track, through a wire gate, called a Taranaki Gate in New Zealand, and across to the edge of the river valley not far actually, just 1km upstream from where we were earlier in then day. The wind was still a steady breeze from the S/west, so we had a similar scenario as my successful hunt this morning.
We walked parallel to the river, but we traversed small, dry watercourses as we moved into the wind, this was Sue’s hunt, so I kept back 30 or so metres and allowed her and Nick to proceed without my added noise and presence. This allowed me to see a slightly different view of the terrain that they could see. Many deer were coming up out of the river bed to graze in the afternoon sun. Each of the undulations we crossed was a dry watercourse that was bare basalt boulders with no grass or soil, making for difficult walking. Sue was using her new and extremely light carbon fibre shooting sticks for stability on the open rocks.
Nick carried a steel tripod and binos and sometimes a daypack with a spotting scope. He stopped and crouched down between 2 trees and motioned for Sue to catch up as he had seen something out of my field of view. Sue caught up as quickly as she could and then I spotted a set of antlers swaying about and the backs of a few hinds in a dip in the ground about 140 metres distant. He placed the tripod as a rest for Sue to shoot off but had to move it when he realised Sue shoots left handed, hence the use of the single shot Bergara, a great rifle for beginner shooters.
All the while the stag was watching but he couldn’t figure out what was going on. Unbeknownst to me, Nick is talking to Sue explaining that the deer is facing them and he is unsure, so he is testing the scene, I’m watching the stag and he puts his head down to feed and then looks up to see if anything is moving, Cunning!
He tried this trick 5 times trying to catch a movement, but Sue is told to be ready, aim at the bottom of the white throat patch she’s told and … the .308 smashes the silence and the stag drops like a rock!!
She’s done it!!! I yahoo’ed loudly and ran up to them after unloading my 300H&H , that deer was going nowhere, if it had stayed on its feet, I’d have hammered it!!
Sue was gobsmacked and elated to have achieved a Bang Flop kill on her first ever deer. After a big hug and kiss for her guide and her husband, we walked the 110 metres to her deer, a wonderful Chital trophy that now hangs on the wall in her sewing room. ( Girl Cave).
The 130gr Woodleigh SP entered the neck about 1 inch off centre and exactly at the bottom of the neck patch and smashed the vertebrae and ribs all the way to the Kidney area. The spent bullet was under the skin on the left back steak.
Lots of photos and smiles, and after dressing out Nick went to get the Patrol as near as possible and we loaded the whole carcass into the truck to head home as it was getting near sunset.
Chital are stocky animals and provide a lot of meat!1
Nick sorted dinner on the BBQ while Sue and I sat and watched, drinking cider and a beer respectively, feeling well and truly pleased with ourselves, the 10th April 2024 will always be remembered as a great day!!
In spite of the heat that night, we slept the sleep of the satisfied, we had made a plan and achieved what we’d set out to do!!! 2 1957 models, me with 2 replacement knees and Sue deciding to do something completely out of the ball park and succeeding!!
Thursday morning dawned clear and bright again, and as Nick had some work to do on Sue’s full stag skin and my head skin, Sue and I decided to to go for a solo walk to return to the remains of my stag to have a look for any wild dogs or pigs making the most of a free meal.
A stag and his little harem of hinds and fawns appeared out a dip in the ground and moved off slowly and when they came to a fence the hinds and fawns all found a way under or through the wires, but the stag hesitated, and while Sue had her binoculars trained on the stag, he very gracefully leapt over the fence and trotted off after the rest of his family. Sue said watching the grace of that deer was one of the highlights of our Queensland experience, especially at less than 45 metres.
We continued on across the grassy field and eventually decided we couldn’t find the remains of my stag, so we carried on parallel to the bush edge until we found a vehicle track in the grass and used it to have an easier walk of 3 Kms back to a coffee and breakfast. As is common on most remote stations, there’s usually graveyards of worn out and broken machinery and rubbish dumps. We had a bit of a fossick around finding lots of interesting items, especially bottles. One was a beer bottle with a shamrock logo from the Northern Brewing Company, a cool bit of local history.
A quiet time was had by each of us until 3.30pm when we loaded our gear into the Patrol and headed off to a relatively remote part of the station looking for pigs and dogs. We drove for ever, and I was wondering If we would wind up in Weipa! No pigs or dogs were seen but Nick showed us some amazing trees that were 15 metre tall and to a casual glance, looked to be standing dead. Closer inspection showed very small bunches of green leaves, so they weren’t dead at all.
The really odd thing about these 6 or so trees was that they were all gold in the afternoon sun, appearing to be painted with gold paint. I’ve never seen anything like it and happily photos really showed the colour well.
We got home just on dark and saw the usual 100 or more deer once we got nearer the homestead. A nice steak dinner was the only choice on the menu, which was enjoyed with a few celebratory adult beverages and the usual story telling.
We had decided to not go for a hunt Friday morning , but have an extra few hours spare once were back in Cairns, so it was up at the usual time for coffee and breakfast, them pack up and load the Patrol for the trip home.
It took 1 hour and 35 minutes to drive at Nicks casual speed of HECTIC to get off the adjoining properties and onto a sealed road. The 6 properties along the road in to the station have recently been sold to the Singapore Government to be used as a military training ground and missile range, requiring 90 kms for the missiles and rockets to be fired. As a retired Fireman, all I can see is endless grass fires for the future of this perfect cattle grazing country, a terrible future indeed!!
7 hours and a coffee and sandwich break we were back in Cairns enjoying a quiet beer in the warmth of the humid afternoon. Dinner on the porch of the hotel restaurant was nice and then an early night. Shopping in the air conditioned plaza on Saturday included the purchase of a cheap duffel bag with wheels and then lunch with 2 members of an online hunting forum I’d not met before, and their wives in an outdoor Italian restaurant on the water front. One guy from Cairns and one visiting from Melbourne. A lovely afternoon until Rob had to leave to start an afternoon shift as a local police officer. He pointed out a number of the local crimes walking past the restaurant as we chatted and ate magic Pizza and pasta.
Nick had kindly put all our venison in his son’s freezer after arriving back in Cairns and then delivered it to us at our hotel on Sunday morning. It was all packed in our new duffel bag and then Nick delivered us to the Airport for our flights home. This nice act was well outside what was expected and speaks volumes of his operation at https://www.nchunting.com.au/ A top operation of 25 years standing and most highly recommended.
After the now usual discussion about forms for dangerous goods in transit we finally got on our flight to Brisbane, a 2 hour wait and then on to Canberra, this time business class for a little extra comfort and home by 8.00pm. All 26 kgs of boned out venison was still frozen solid at home and some has already been enjoyed as wonderful schnitzel.
It was over all too soon, but a wonderful experience for me as an experienced hunter and for Sue as a real beginner. Many thanks to Nick Cherepanov and the family who own the Station we were on, sadly they were away working elsewhere.
Preparations had come to a fever pitch by the morning of Sunday the 7th April.
Mis-reading the baggage limits on my Qantas Club Gold membership and the fact that I was actually allowed 2 32Kg cases, we were working on the mistaken theory that we had 1 suitcase each, plus a carry_on each to fit all the usual for an 8 day trip anywhere, plus the extras of boots, wet weather gear binoculars and ammo, etc. Carry on baggage was our hunting daypacks loaded to the Max!!
Sue and I were dropped off at Canberra airport well ahead of the required check -in time just in case there was a problem or holdup with the firearms…. There was!!!
We hadn’t been told about some form we had to fill in re the ammo. I had photographed the ammo to show them how it was packed, MTM cases in a locked Pelican style ABS plastic case, happy with that, the little Indian Kid did the form over the phone to someone and all was good. It would have been even better if he had given us a heads up that we would need to the same thing on the return journey!! That would be too easy!!
The last time I flew anywhere with a firearm was in 1977 on a domestic flight in New Zealand whilst at University in Christchurch, you put the bolt in your checked in luggage and then walked across the tarmac to the plane and put your rifle in the overhead locker, No one looked twice at you, Oh well!! Times were so much more innocent then I suppose??
We said goodbye to our rifles and hoped to see them again in Queensland and found the business lounge for some free lunch and and adult tipple or 3.
Our mountain of luggage!!
The trip to Cairns was interrupted by a 2 hour stop in Brisbane, more Qantas lounge free food and Beer.
A short cab ride after more formality getting our rifles back and we were in our hotel. Cairns at 9pm was just a little warmer than Canberra, so it was cold Thai beer and into bed.Nick the guide picked us up at 9.15am on the dot and we packed all our gear into his Nissan Patrol and we were off towards Atherton, initially.
He mentioned that the hill up the escarpment was renowned for passengers becoming car sick on the way up! It sure was a winding, steep road!! I have never been the best passenger, especially in bigger vehicles, so I quickly quit looking at my phone and concentrated on the spectacular views as we climbed up to the table lands. Retaining possession of my breakfast was difficult, but I prevailed.
We bypassed Atherton and headed southwest, and 7 hours later arrived at the homestead of the station we were to call home or the week.
After sorting out our room and a cup of tea for Sue, it was into the Patrol for the last 2 hrs of daylight, cruising around property, but remaining close too the home as Nick explained the Chital deer stick to within 3kms max of the buildings and know that the proximity of human activity will keep their fawns and themselves safer from the predation of Dingos and wild dogs. Clever aren’t they. 3kms from the buildings there’s not a deer to be seen!!
The first deer we saw were 2 young yearlings that had found a way in to a small holding paddock for weaner cattle and then couldn’t find a way out. As we drove away from the homestead we saw a pair of pigs moving through the long grass after hearing us, but they were for after the deer hunting was done.
Approximately 75 deer were seen by the time we got home just on dark, and plans made for the morning, Nick the guide had bought all the groceries , drinks etc to our request and he quickly whipped a nice meal on the BBQ, while Sue and I watched him and had an evening drink, cold beer and cider.
Sitting and watching Nick do everything was something I wasn’t comfortable with without offering to help, but this was politely refused. I learned to accept it, but was still uncomfortable.
We were up and ready at 6.30am, breakfasted, Coffee on board and waiting for daylight. We walked out through the spread of farm buildings and sundry derelict machinery that had finished it’s useful life, to encounter our first deer of the day within 100 metres from where we had slept the night before. Chital have to be the prettiest deer species, without exception!
One very good Stag with 30 or 40 younger stags, hinds and varying sized fawns, all very aware that we were there, the stag being probably the best one we saw all week. After a quick scout around local to the house, it was back in the Patrol and cruising slowly looking mobs of deer on the open plains dotted with trees, many of which had gnarly darkened bases. These are the trees the stags like to use as rubs for stripping velvet, over a hundred years, they are scarred and weeping from the attention.
The nice sweeping plains of long flowing grass, mid thigh deep in places, reminded me of the tussock on New Zealand’s Ruahine Ranges tops at No Mans, golden and looking like waves on a golden sea!! But!!! There was a trap, hidden by the grass was another ocean, this one of rocks, Basalt rocks, loose Basalt rocks of varying sizes that are a real trap while your walking and trying to be quiet and in stealth mode!! Haha, good luck with that!
We got out of the vehicle several times to stalk in towards a mob and learnt quickly that when you’re walking, don’t try to do anything else, just look where your feet are. Swirling winds beat us and as it was warming up quickly, we got back for an official breakfast at about 10.00am.
After a very welcome cooked meal it was time to relax, chat and enjoy the shade on the south facing back porch. Later, a nap was in order and we were up and ready to go again at 4.00pm for anther go at the Chital.
We spotted a large mob of 80 or more deer that were coming out of the scrub fringe at about 800 metres, so, with a prevailing SW wind we got ourselves to the north end of a finger of trees and scrub, slowly working along a bush edge towards the deer as the fed out onto the plain. Sue was struggling with the rocky terrain under the long grass and struggled to keep up. We spent about an hour watching and creeping along, but we ran out of cover and the deer were not cooperating by feeding into the wind away from us, frustrating to the maximum!! Rather than spook them with a dodgy long shot, we withdrew unseen, and were home for dinner just on dark. Tuesday, our first day hunting was done, no shots fired, but an amazing day seeing 150 deer and learning much indeed!!
Wednesday morning was very dark when we got to the kitchen for coffee/tea and cereal, but it lightened up into a glorious morning as we drove about 2 Kms and left the car and started a stalk to an area we had stayed away from the previous day.
At about 600 metres away, we spotted a few animals feeding in a basin bordering a bush edge that was a drop-off into a bush covered river bed below and which the deer used as a daylight retreat. As we stalked closer it was difficult to be completely quiet with the broken surface under the long grass, but we had the breeze in our favour and slowly and carefully approached the feeding deer.
Big, muscular Wallaroos, some nearly a metre tall and built like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson were a constant threat to our secret approach, but luck prevailed. We made it to a couple of trees growing close together and from here we started looking over the deer a little below us and ranging from 170 metres to over as they were quite spread out.
Several good stags were in the group, some eating and others were sparring aggressively, explaining why so many had broken antlers, not just tines, but whole antlers snapped off through the main beam. A good 30% of stags seen had damaged antlers and many times we lamented the fact that several one-antlered stags would have been exceptional trophies, had they had a matching pair!!
I digress!! As we surveyed the spread out mob, several had good trophy potential, 2 in particular were at the far edge of the group as is often the case, but all were moving slowly from our right to left along the scrub edge and slowly, very slowly, nearer to us.
I even grew my own set of antlers!!
One was a better trophy than his companion, being much more even and a little longer. This stag became the focus of our attention and we stood there for 30 mins or so, waiting for him to feed out of an area of broken ground and onto a little plateau. A couple of time I thought he had laid down as only his antlers were visible, but he was in a dip in the long grass and then he would appear again. There still wasn’t much to see as the grass was nearly waist deep and quite thick. Instructions on our first day had been to shoot through the tops of the grass, not just at the bit of skin you could see above the cover.
After nearly 40 mins the stag moved enough to present a shot at 220 yds on my very old, imperial rangefinder, but he was quartering away and heading towards the scrub and looked to be leaving us. So, decision time, a shot behind his last rib and into the chest. The 300H&H made one hell of a racket and deer went everywhere!! But not the stag, he stood there all hunched up and looking very wobbly, but still on his feet, so, bullets are cheap, so with him now standing broadside, I gave him another through both shoulders and he crumpled. I had my Chital on the ground!!
Much excitement and congratulations between the 3 of us and a hug from my wife Sue, we set off the find him in the grass. Completely invisible!! Nick and I both walked around him and it wasn’t until Sue caught up with us, that she spotted the deer in the cover no more than 3 metres away.
Photos taken and then the work started, Nick started the Head-skinning process while Sue and I just watched, this was an odd situation for me as I’ve been hunting for well over 50 years, and the result of a mis-spent youth in the meat industry training a s Meat Inspector, I usually worked my own kills and most of my hunting mates deer as well. I had even made a new knife to take with me and it came home as clean as it left, unused!!!
Nick carried the back legs, I carried the Head and head skin attached and Sue carried the back steaks and one front leg. Nothing usable gets left behind, we’d sort out baggage limits later.
Back at the homestead, we had a cooked breakfast at about 10.00am and the Nick started skinning the head with Sue in close attendance as she was new to hunting and keen to learn all she could. Skin off, and it was now my turn to learn while watching the ears and lips being sorted before salting, I’d never actually done it or seen it done!! I had never before shot anything that was worth head-skinning!
Midday was nap time before heading back out at 4.00pm for another go at the deer, this time to get one for Sue, hopefully. Nearly 2 years ago, Sue decided the she would like to have a go at shooting a rifle and maybe go hunting with me, a quite bold decision for towny girl of retirement age!!
Shooting on my range with her Bergara BA13 in .243 and later another Bergara in .308, she proved to be a keen student and took to it like a duck on water.
The last sight-in session before going to Queensland was standing with bipod shooting sticks, as you see being used in Africa, smacking a 250mm square steel gong at 120metres, definitely “Minute of Deer”!!
The afternoon arrived soon enough, after a very warm nap with only a fan to make it nearly bearable for me, I can keep myself warm when need be, but like the heat and humidity as much as a black Labrador in the summer tops of New Zealand!!!
Into the Patrol and heading south, we saw a couple of small mobs bedded on the shade of gum trees, barely bothering to look up as we drove by.
We turned off the road and onto a farm track, through a wire gate, called a Taranaki Gate in New Zealand, and across to the edge of the river valley not far actually, just 1km upstream from where we were earlier in then day. The wind was still a steady breeze from the S/west, so we had a similar scenario as my successful hunt this morning.
We walked parallel to the river, but we traversed small, dry watercourses as we moved into the wind, this was Sue’s hunt, so I kept back 30 or so metres and allowed her and Nick to proceed without my added noise and presence. This allowed me to see a slightly different view of the terrain that they could see. Many deer were coming up out of the river bed to graze in the afternoon sun. Each of the undulations we crossed was a dry watercourse that was bare basalt boulders with no grass or soil, making for difficult walking. Sue was using her new and extremely light carbon fibre shooting sticks for stability on the open rocks.
Nick carried a steel tripod and binos and sometimes a daypack with a spotting scope. He stopped and crouched down between 2 trees and motioned for Sue to catch up as he had seen something out of my field of view. Sue caught up as quickly as she could and then I spotted a set of antlers swaying about and the backs of a few hinds in a dip in the ground about 140 metres distant. He placed the tripod as a rest for Sue to shoot off but had to move it when he realised Sue shoots left handed, hence the use of the single shot Bergara, a great rifle for beginner shooters.
All the while the stag was watching but he couldn’t figure out what was going on. Unbeknownst to me, Nick is talking to Sue explaining that the deer is facing them and he is unsure, so he is testing the scene, I’m watching the stag and he puts his head down to feed and then looks up to see if anything is moving, Cunning!
He tried this trick 5 times trying to catch a movement, but Sue is told to be ready, aim at the bottom of the white throat patch she’s told and … the .308 smashes the silence and the stag drops like a rock!!
She’s done it!!! I yahoo’ed loudly and ran up to them after unloading my 300H&H , that deer was going nowhere, if it had stayed on its feet, I’d have hammered it!!
Sue was gobsmacked and elated to have achieved a Bang Flop kill on her first ever deer. After a big hug and kiss for her guide and her husband, we walked the 110 metres to her deer, a wonderful Chital trophy that now hangs on the wall in her sewing room. ( Girl Cave).
The 130gr Woodleigh SP entered the neck about 1 inch off centre and exactly at the bottom of the neck patch and smashed the vertebrae and ribs all the way to the Kidney area. The spent bullet was under the skin on the left back steak.
Lots of photos and smiles, and after dressing out Nick went to get the Patrol as near as possible and we loaded the whole carcass into the truck to head home as it was getting near sunset.
Chital are stocky animals and provide a lot of meat!1
Nick sorted dinner on the BBQ while Sue and I sat and watched, drinking cider and a beer respectively, feeling well and truly pleased with ourselves, the 10th April 2024 will always be remembered as a great day!!
In spite of the heat that night, we slept the sleep of the satisfied, we had made a plan and achieved what we’d set out to do!!! 2 1957 models, me with 2 replacement knees and Sue deciding to do something completely out of the ball park and succeeding!!
Thursday morning dawned clear and bright again, and as Nick had some work to do on Sue’s full stag skin and my head skin, Sue and I decided to to go for a solo walk to return to the remains of my stag to have a look for any wild dogs or pigs making the most of a free meal.
A stag and his little harem of hinds and fawns appeared out a dip in the ground and moved off slowly and when they came to a fence the hinds and fawns all found a way under or through the wires, but the stag hesitated, and while Sue had her binoculars trained on the stag, he very gracefully leapt over the fence and trotted off after the rest of his family. Sue said watching the grace of that deer was one of the highlights of our Queensland experience, especially at less than 45 metres.
We continued on across the grassy field and eventually decided we couldn’t find the remains of my stag, so we carried on parallel to the bush edge until we found a vehicle track in the grass and used it to have an easier walk of 3 Kms back to a coffee and breakfast. As is common on most remote stations, there’s usually graveyards of worn out and broken machinery and rubbish dumps. We had a bit of a fossick around finding lots of interesting items, especially bottles. One was a beer bottle with a shamrock logo from the Northern Brewing Company, a cool bit of local history.
A quiet time was had by each of us until 3.30pm when we loaded our gear into the Patrol and headed off to a relatively remote part of the station looking for pigs and dogs. We drove for ever, and I was wondering If we would wind up in Weipa! No pigs or dogs were seen but Nick showed us some amazing trees that were 15 metre tall and to a casual glance, looked to be standing dead. Closer inspection showed very small bunches of green leaves, so they weren’t dead at all.
The really odd thing about these 6 or so trees was that they were all gold in the afternoon sun, appearing to be painted with gold paint. I’ve never seen anything like it and happily photos really showed the colour well.
We got home just on dark and saw the usual 100 or more deer once we got nearer the homestead. A nice steak dinner was the only choice on the menu, which was enjoyed with a few celebratory adult beverages and the usual story telling.
We had decided to not go for a hunt Friday morning , but have an extra few hours spare once were back in Cairns, so it was up at the usual time for coffee and breakfast, them pack up and load the Patrol for the trip home.
It took 1 hour and 35 minutes to drive at Nicks casual speed of HECTIC to get off the adjoining properties and onto a sealed road. The 6 properties along the road in to the station have recently been sold to the Singapore Government to be used as a military training ground and missile range, requiring 90 kms for the missiles and rockets to be fired. As a retired Fireman, all I can see is endless grass fires for the future of this perfect cattle grazing country, a terrible future indeed!!
7 hours and a coffee and sandwich break we were back in Cairns enjoying a quiet beer in the warmth of the humid afternoon. Dinner on the porch of the hotel restaurant was nice and then an early night. Shopping in the air conditioned plaza on Saturday included the purchase of a cheap duffel bag with wheels and then lunch with 2 members of an online hunting forum I’d not met before, and their wives in an outdoor Italian restaurant on the water front. One guy from Cairns and one visiting from Melbourne. A lovely afternoon until Rob had to leave to start an afternoon shift as a local police officer. He pointed out a number of the local crimes walking past the restaurant as we chatted and ate magic Pizza and pasta.
Nick had kindly put all our venison in his son’s freezer after arriving back in Cairns and then delivered it to us at our hotel on Sunday morning. It was all packed in our new duffel bag and then Nick delivered us to the Airport for our flights home. This nice act was well outside what was expected and speaks volumes of his operation at https://www.nchunting.com.au/ A top operation of 25 years standing and most highly recommended.
After the now usual discussion about forms for dangerous goods in transit we finally got on our flight to Brisbane, a 2 hour wait and then on to Canberra, this time business class for a little extra comfort and home by 8.00pm. All 26 kgs of boned out venison was still frozen solid at home and some has already been enjoyed as wonderful schnitzel.
It was over all too soon, but a wonderful experience for me as an experienced hunter and for Sue as a real beginner. Many thanks to Nick Cherepanov and the family who own the Station we were on, sadly they were away working elsewhere.
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