--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Last Saturday I rang the owner of a property I hunt to see if Adam and I could drop up Sunday morning with the express purpose of placing the trail camera in a new area I had been checking out several weeks a go and had seen a couple of Stags moving about.
Sunday morning came and before the alarm went off at 4.30 I was up and about getting brekky and making final checks on the day pack and bow ect,after loading my gear into the car I went back in and woke Adam finally leaving th house at 5am.Arriving at the property we put on camo strung bows and walked up through the paddocks to reach the gully we intended to start off in.Moving slowly up the gully we slowly climbed untill we reached the point that we where going to start contouring arond the hill working back into the breeze.Reaching one ridge we stopped decded sit and the deer I had been watching in this area seemed to arrive around this area around 8am up until 9.30 am.Leaving Adam to watch the lower part of the gully I slowly moved upwards to cover the area about 100m up higher only to put up a stag on the same spur line but 40m above us,the crafty bloke had been standing watching us until he decided that I had got a bit to close to him.Adam and both just looked at each other and decided to sit it out any way and see if any thing else decided to wander through as the stags I had been watching the month before seemed to be following each other.After an hour of sitting in shadows and watching nothing had appeared and with the breeze still coming to our faces we had cooled down and needed to start moving again..
Moving off slowly we decided to move across to the next gully system find a place to set the trail cam and move back towards the car as I had told the wife we would be back before lunch.Upon getiing to the next gully the both of us heard a noise so we both stopped dead and looked deeper into the gully upon seeing nothing we were just about to move off when once again we heard something moveing through the undergrowth so staying put we stood and watched to have a Stag appear not more than 30m away pushing his way forward towards us but slightly uphill.Ihad time to turn to Adam and tell him to knock an arrow and come to full draw as the stag looked to be heading out of the gully towards a clear area not more than 20m in front of us..
The stag walked out right where we expected him to and turned looked at us and not seeing us took a couple of steps and put his head down to browse on the folage as he stoped momentarily I released my arrow hitting him just behind his front elbow and in what I believed to be the kill zone.Upon impact of the shaft the deer made a sloght jump and not knowing what had hit him started to trott off down the game trail he was on...Time 8.58 am.
Adam and I both stood and watched him dissapear over the rise before either of us dared speak or move.Once he was out of sight we looked at each other in awe of what hat just happened ,and my first thought was to give chase but remembering what I had been told read and heard with amused ourselves with finding the blood trail and waited about 20 mins before following him up over the next few hours we found and lost the blood trail until finally at 4 pm we had both had it the day had turned out rather warm and many hours spent travelling only 400m and searching on hands and knees had taken its toll on both of us.Out of water and feeling ill with the heat and we decided to head home..
Monday I found my self back at work and by 10 am I found myself heading back to the property to retrace my steps to try and find the stag again. At 6pm I pulled the pin as work had to now take precedence and I had committed my self to working the following weekend already I new it would be at least 10 days before I could get back to continue my search.
Tuesday came and by 6 am I was on the phone to the boss telling him I would not be in as I was crook (as luck would have it the boss on this job is my brother and he new excactly where I would be ) so by 8am I was at the property 10 hours later I again pulled the pin the trip home very slow and with me starting to wonder if it was a good shoot or not.All the negatives started to run through the head ..
The weekend came and by Sunday lunch time we had finished for the day so I called past home grabbed my day pack and Adam and headed back up.Arriving at the property at about 3pm we knew we had only a limited time as I had been told to be home by tea time.We set a time limit and new that at 5.30pm we needed to get out of there We had found that after the deer was hit he had continued on the game trail down hill heading towards the main gully system,sitting back on the last blood mark we tryed to think like the deer and which would be the easiest way to head.Decding to head up the gully I was pointing out to Adam how far I had come up on Tuesday before heading back,knowing up higher there was an old wallow we decided to head up there and themn call it quits,about 100m from where I had stopped on Tuesday we found him
Bow Checkmate Falcon Special one piece,60" 50lb Easton Epics 300 shafts 3 blade Muzzy broadheads and 3 x 5" shield cut feathers
I asked Adam why he did not have a shot and he said Dad you have been chasing them on this property for over 2 years this one was yours.
A special thanks to Snowy Piggy and Rossi for all my phone calls,questions,advice,encourgment and the offers of coming to help me find him
Antlers at the best I can measure are lenght 26" 23" spread
Thanks for taking the time to read
Cheers Robbo
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
__________________
A seasoned hunter pursues his quarry with the enthusiasm of his first hunt and the dedication of his last...
It's good to see that your perseverence eventually paid off. It's a big feather in your cap to have bagged a good sambar stag with a bow and arrow. 
..Rod