My 2019 fallow deer rut in Australia

[251JDG]

Awesome pics!

 

[Wilderlife]

I was fairly happy with 2 big trophies for the rut so I decided to focus on taking out some poor genetics for the remainder of my time. I still wanted to have some fun with my .30-30 so I took it out one afternoon when the deer were going off! Dad and I were in a big open section surrounded by scrub and a creek going through the middle providing some cover. There must have been a dozen bucks croaking in this section and it was great to be there.

There was a cull buck up on a ridge holding heaps of does and chasing off younger bucks. One of his antlers was fantastic and the other was average so he would have been a good one to take out. I rattled a little bit when I was within 100 yards of him but he didn't come in, and I knew it'd be a big ask seeing as he had stacks of does with him. I ended up drawing in a satellite buck from about 300 yards off. He was young but his antlers indicated his genetics were a bit wonky as well so when he was within about 50 yards I hit him with the .30-30 and he died after a 20 yard dash.



It was right on last liht so dad had the aperture on his lens and ISO on his camera bumped right up.






Gotta love backstraps.

 

[DanColorado]

Well done!

 

[Wilderlife]

This is the last mature buck we hunted this rut.

My partner came out to accompany my dad and I for a peak-rut hunt so she could appreciate all of the vocalisations and activity of the fallow. We spent some time in the large area where I shot the small buck in my previous post, and watched a huge mob of deer go about their business. We picked out what looked to be an older buck, with a strong side and weak side to his antlers, and figured he'd be a good one to take out. He was clearly the most dominant buck in the mob but there were many that were croaking in that area and there were enough does to prevent there being any real squabbles.

Here are some pictures.

Checking out the potential.




I love taking photos.



The lighter coloured buck seen here.




Lining him up.


After the shot.




Butchering and field dressing.


The carry out.

 

[huntinelk]

Very cool, great write up

 

[Wilderlife]

Cheers, mate.

Last proper bit here unless I post a few more pictures of things that happened when my hunting slowed down.

I went out with my dad for a big walk to the property where I shot my really big fella. This property doesn't hold as many deer as the place I frequented afterwards so I wasn't planning on shooting another buck; a meat animal was what I was after.

Nature called for me as we started walking out from camp so dad took off and then took this picture of me as I was getting gear organised and about to follow him.


This property has much bigger hills and it's more open so I glassed a lot more than usual.




Wallaby.


A buck we spooked.


Sneaking up on some does.




Beautiful skin.


The sort of country we were in.




Butchering up the little doe.


I used my .300WM this time.


Loaded up and heading back to camp.