Stinky Sage strikes again

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flyonline
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Joined: Sun Apr 10, 2016 7:18 pm
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Stinky Sage strikes again

#1 Post by flyonline » Sun Dec 10, 2017 11:44 am

Thanks Eddie, very generous of all involved. I'll start the ball rolling with a write up I did of a hunt on friday just gone.

On a side note, I did find the process of adding photos very arduous, the requirements require a lot of editing to be able to upload them, and I can't get the links to imgur etc. to work (and I'm fairly computer savvy).

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With a very busy and stressful few months behind me (wife had been away a few w/e leaving me to do solo daddy-daycare, my work had been sold to another company after a longish and uncertain time), I negotiated a w/e off for some mental health relief. Originally I had suggested to my uncle to head away somewhere for a fishing w/e, but the recent rains and near flooding put that idea on hold a little, although he'd had such good success in the week in the local creek we agreed to go and check out another creek likely to clear quickly after the rain with the hope of catching some trout.

My wife had asked me some time ago to shoot another goat with the plan of helping to feed the hoards over the christmas break, so after finishing the mowing, I loaded the car with a loose plan to head to an area I've seen a lot of goats and activity that I can scope a large part of it from the main road, then choose to head there or go on a loose tour/scout of another area close by that might hold pigs (and certainly holds sambar, but is off limits for deer) depending on what I could see. Arriving at the lookout, I grabbed the binos and scanned the open rocky ground and quickly picked up 3 white dots - goats ahoy!! The choice made for me, I drove around to the top of the gully and grabbed the gear.
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2 little white dots almost centre pic

With a medium wind blowing in my favour and the recent rains dampening some of the crunchy leaves, conditions were almost ideal. This spot is a very steep scree face with football fields worth of loose rocks up to the size of apples and climbing/descending this loose stuff is very hard on the legs, as well as almost impossible to do silently.
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I decided to drop down to roughly where I thought the goats were then contour round to find them. The wind meant I had to come in above them, but the broken vegetation gave me lots of cover to use. Dropping down the slope meant using the solid rock where possible both for the stable base underfoot as well as keeping quiet, and I spotted the largest and yellowest bluetongue I have ever seen sunning itself on one of the many rock ledges. Approaching the area I thought the goats had been, I ghosted along a game trail as quietly as possible, using the wind gusts to cross the noisier ground. Cresting a small ridge, I picked up the shape of a goat through the top of eucalyptus in the gully between us. I dropped down the ridge slightly to get into a better position and sat down to give my legs a break and see which way it was travelling, and if it had company. After a relaxing 10min or so of glassing listening to the Gang Gangs creak by, and with nothing further spotted I began to contour very slowly across to the gully with the hope of picking it up again when I heard a bleat high above me. When a couple more quickly followed, I dropped into the gully and began to climb as quickly as I could to get above them. When a clear bleat rang out, I looked up to see a nanny staring me down - busted! She snorted a few times before a young kid joined her. They snorted and stared me down for a few minutes before turning and heading off.
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Mum behind the trunk to the right of the kid

I followed them for a little way, more in hope of finding where they were heading than in chasing them down. When I stopped to have a look around, a clear bleat rang out almost back where I had been, followed quickly by another. Glassing the area I saw another goat, so I turned and quickly made my way across the slope until I was directly above it where I found it had bedded down and was chewing the cud. Slowly working my way down, I found it too noisy, so I continued on a little onto the other side of the rocky ridge and dropped down until I reached a game trail I thought would bring me level with it. Creeping back across the ridge took a little time, and by the time I crested the ridge the goat stood up just as it came into view 20m away. I stood still and thought 'tree-y' thoughts, but the goat wasn't at all spooked, and when it turned and began to feed towards me, I discovered it was a young nanny, and that it had a partner in a young billy lower down. As the nanny fed across the slope towards me I nocked an arrow and got into position for a shot. As it drew level with me 15m below, I drew, aimed and released cleanly and the arrow sped off for a clean noiseless passthrough and stuck hard into the tree behind (lucky, I doubt I would have found it on the 30deg slope below).
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The nanny spun round and bolted, alerting her friend that something was up. A few seconds later I heard a rattle of rocks and called her down which was confirmed for me when the billy stared closely in the direction she'd ran. Shortly after he wandered towards her and lay down. Figuring 2 was better than 1, I quietly dropped down on top of him until I was about 10m above him, but the scrub between us prevented a clean shot. Sneaking into a better position, I kicked a couple of rocks and he stood up and looked around presenting a perfect broadside shot except for a trunk of a small wattle. I waited it out a few minutes while he looked around, but he didn't move so when I took a couple of steps to get into a better position he saw me and took off.
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Final resting place

Turning to the nanny I found her up against a fallen tree with red frothy blood showing a good lung shot. I dropped my pack, took a drink and grabbed my knives and began to process of butchering her. A quick autopsy after showed a perfect double lung right through the middle - happy days!!
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Exit wound

Loading up again, I re-traced my steps in the slowly fading light of the evening, happily relaxed in mind if not body. The quick recharge in the bush with a successful hunt was a very nice reward. I listened to the sounds of the bush getting ready to head into the night, passing a Sacred Kingfisher almost back at the car (we've had a serious influx of these over the last month or so).
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Reaching the car I loaded up and headed home, stuffed but very happy to have shot my third goat from an ultimately successful stalk.

thanks for reading.

Steve

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Outbackdad
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Re: Stinky Sage strikes again

#2 Post by Outbackdad » Mon Dec 11, 2017 5:58 am

Great story and well done.

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perry
Posts: 1925
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Re: Stinky Sage strikes again

#3 Post by perry » Wed Dec 13, 2017 6:24 am

good stuff, always great to read a good Hunting Story

regards Perry
"To my deep morticication my father once said to me, 'You care for nothing but shooting, dogs and rat catching, and you will be a disgrace to yourself and all your family.' "

- Charles Darwin

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UPTHETOP
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Re: Stinky Sage strikes again

#4 Post by UPTHETOP » Wed Dec 13, 2017 11:35 am

Great to see a hunting story for a change thanks for taking the time to post.

Cheers Wayno
Justastik Arrow Craft, Its all about the Wood.

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