rifletuner
AH veteran
The sort version. Went away for the weekend. Walked a lot. Bloody cold. No deer down.
The long version
Since the start of cooler weather this year, my son has been shooting a lot of PRS matches, so its been difficult to find the time to get a weekend away in the bush. Anyhow, now we are back to just shooting club matches, we decided to get away for the weekend.
My son drove up earlier on Friday, and I met him there Friday evening. My son had done one or two trips to this area in the last 12 months, but I hadnt been up here for about 18 months. There are deer all through the area, but its near enough to Melbourne that it gets a fair bit of pressure, and pretty much every Saturday we tend to bump into a hound crew on one of the roads.
We got out as it was getting light Saturday morning to take a look around. All the puddles on the dirt road were frozen, and all the vegetation was covered in frozen frost. We spent the morning looking around a gully and found a fire had burned the fringes of the bush as we walked in. We found some marks and other sign, but no actual deer. Its very steep country and it was a lot thicker with blackberry than the last time we were in there, so going is slow. We slogged away for a while, but actually did not cover a lot of distance. In the end we were sick of trying to get through the patches of thorns, so got out of there. We tried another spot that evening which was thick, but not choked with blackberry. It didnt have as much sign as we usually see, and a sit and wait until dark didnt produce anything.
Sunday morning I woke up to find the condensation inside my swag frozen solid. The car was covered in ice, and the dogs water bowl and even the billy inside the back of my use were iced up. We headed out to a different area where we had seen deer before - the car told me it was -3c as we drove out of camp. Sun was starting to hit the face we drove to, so we were hoping the deer would be out getting warm. All the moisture on the trees was starting to thaw out, so it felt like it was raining as we walked through the bush. We did a loop around the area, but didnt see a lot of sign. But we have bumped deer in here before, even though there might only be a few patches of deer sign. As we were heading back to the road, my son thought he put up a deer, but he never saw it in the heavy cover.
So cold, didnt see any deer, but still good to get out and take a look around.
First morning out
The dog indicating wrens back at camp
View from the ute windscreen on Sunday morning
Tallest rub I have ever seen on a tree. It covered over 6 feet.
The long version
Since the start of cooler weather this year, my son has been shooting a lot of PRS matches, so its been difficult to find the time to get a weekend away in the bush. Anyhow, now we are back to just shooting club matches, we decided to get away for the weekend.
My son drove up earlier on Friday, and I met him there Friday evening. My son had done one or two trips to this area in the last 12 months, but I hadnt been up here for about 18 months. There are deer all through the area, but its near enough to Melbourne that it gets a fair bit of pressure, and pretty much every Saturday we tend to bump into a hound crew on one of the roads.
We got out as it was getting light Saturday morning to take a look around. All the puddles on the dirt road were frozen, and all the vegetation was covered in frozen frost. We spent the morning looking around a gully and found a fire had burned the fringes of the bush as we walked in. We found some marks and other sign, but no actual deer. Its very steep country and it was a lot thicker with blackberry than the last time we were in there, so going is slow. We slogged away for a while, but actually did not cover a lot of distance. In the end we were sick of trying to get through the patches of thorns, so got out of there. We tried another spot that evening which was thick, but not choked with blackberry. It didnt have as much sign as we usually see, and a sit and wait until dark didnt produce anything.
Sunday morning I woke up to find the condensation inside my swag frozen solid. The car was covered in ice, and the dogs water bowl and even the billy inside the back of my use were iced up. We headed out to a different area where we had seen deer before - the car told me it was -3c as we drove out of camp. Sun was starting to hit the face we drove to, so we were hoping the deer would be out getting warm. All the moisture on the trees was starting to thaw out, so it felt like it was raining as we walked through the bush. We did a loop around the area, but didnt see a lot of sign. But we have bumped deer in here before, even though there might only be a few patches of deer sign. As we were heading back to the road, my son thought he put up a deer, but he never saw it in the heavy cover.
So cold, didnt see any deer, but still good to get out and take a look around.
First morning out
The dog indicating wrens back at camp
View from the ute windscreen on Sunday morning
Tallest rub I have ever seen on a tree. It covered over 6 feet.
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