Getting the Fallow Deer Hunting Bug

[Jacko]

Afternoon Folks, I have been chasing Goats and Pigs in the Northern New England for years but have never actively hunted Deer full heartedly. Truth is there is not that many where I hunt  / or perhaps I've not been good enough to find em - until a couple of weeks ago anyway.

It was raining, a full moon and other hunters had been on the place a couple of days earlier so I was not expecting too much, was just glad to be poking about the scrub again as Family and Work commintments had kept me from Hunting for 18 months.

Wednesday mid afternoon we where driving down to the back of this property to Hunt some foothills for Goats when a couple of K's down the track a Fallow Spiker stepped out of a mob of Cattle and stood broadside at 70 yards. In the 5 seconds it took me to get out of the car, grab my .357 mag Lever Rifle, take a quick rest against the door frame, flipped up the Tang Sight and began to draw a bead  the Spiker decided to bolt

It propped about 150 yards out looking back at us, my mate had a Bow and me my .357 mag so we let him go when he decided to Bolt again 10 seconds later.

I'm well aware my .357 mag is not an adequite calibre but it bowls over average Pigs and Goats easy and I'm very confident it would have knocked the Fallow if I had of got a shot into it's Vitals. When I head back down to the property in a few weeks I'll be taking my 35.303 so will be adequitly armed.

Next morning greeted by a Pea Souper Fog we headed off to the Valley where we spotted the Fallow Spiker the previous afternoon and began to still hunt the edges of the treeline lining the Valley, the little Hillocks and Gully's feeding into it etc. I was glassing the numerous mobs of Cattle, clumps of tree's,  open spaces etc with a thought in mind that the Pea Souper would eventually lift but also make it likely that any Game would gravitate towards the Northern slopes looking for the warm of the Sun when it broke through.

This went on for some hours when in the distance I heard and saw the Cocky's rattly Ute bouncing down the track back where I'd left my Car. Wouldn't you bloody know it !!! I'm on top of this Hillock Glassing and not 100 yards away with plenty of cover available to facilitate a stalk the same Fallow Spiker steps out from a mob of Cattle engulfed in this Fog and spooks at the sound of the Cocky's Landcruiser - Gone - never to be seen again

It's taken a while Fella's but this little exchange with a Fallow Spiker has sparked my imagination. I can't stop thinking about getting back down to the Northern New England and working out the Habits of these Deer. Here's a photo of the Valley soon after the fog started to lift and the sun beginning to hit the ground



Over the last 2 days on the property we found an old Rub tree and an old scrape not far from where I last saw the Spiker and my mate put up a mob of 5 Fallow bedded in some Cyprus 500 yards from Camp towards dark on our last evening. I'd wondered off back down to this Valley for another look and did not see them.

Now just gotta knuckle down and work the Fallow out on this place so I can put my own Fallow in the freezer

regards Jacko

[BBF]

I've hunted Fallow deer repeatedly on a Gulf Island on the Pacific West Coast. They are not near as spooky as WT's perhaps similar to mulies. We hunted for meat animals during those hunts. Limit was 3 per person.

[kombi1976]

Good work finding a spiker, mate.
Hope you knock him over soon.
I need to get out and chase the deer again myself.

[Jacko]

Evening fella's I've been a guest hunting on other property's around this district and have had Rusa and Fallow Deer amble out of the Scrub without a care in the world. The Cocky's on those properties had Bambi Syndrome and did not want em shot.

This property is hunted regular , mostly by Bowhunters but a few Hunters with Dogs and Rifles hit the place also. There has been a rare Deer passing through it for years but they are moving in more and more into the district so with luck will become more common on this property

I'll be back down there with any luck before the end of the month and I suspect I will find the Clever Deer are nocturnal and likely this Spiker was last years Fawn that a newly pregnant Mum had kicked out as the Rut finished a couple of months ago hence why he was bumming around with the Cattle.

regards Jacko