CROATIA: Island Of Plavnik - The Jewel Of Adriatic Sea

Island of plavnik, Coordinates 44°58′02″N 14°31′30″E



The call came, just around 06 am, unexpectedly while I was having my morning coffee!

"We have a boat, at zero nine hundred sharp! Can you make it by then, at jetty at Punat?"
That was Gregor!

I was waiting for that call, approximately for last 2 years!

After our buffalo hunt in Caprivi, Gregor invited me to his place, island of Plavnik, to hunt fallow deer.
But for various reasons of real life interfering, and my working schedule, this hunt did not happen till now.

Moreover, few days earlier, we had a plan to hunt fallow deer several days later, till that call came! There was some change in clients and boat schedule, and opportunity opened up few days earlier.

Hack!
I could be on that jetty within 45 minutes, with not too much of breaking speed limit if need be, not to mention two hours of gentle driving!

Rilfe ready, hunting gear close at hand!
All I needed was to pack the gear into bags, and hit the road within minutes.

Shortly, I was driving fully kitted and packed up to that jetty, to Punat place, where boat will pick me up.

Town of Punat is placed on southern part of island of Krk, and Krk is connected to mainland by the bridge which is then connected to mainland highway system
So, by now, Krk is probably most develloped island in Croatia, and locally is considered a "main land".

Island of Plavnik, is uninhabbited island. There are two coves or bays, in southwestern part, convenient for boat anchoring, and in Krusija bay, there is a small pier where boat can land.

That is were we where going with speed boat, powered by two twin outboard mercuries 300 HP each. DIstance from Punat to island of Plavnik is short.
Few miles.

The channel to the west of Plavnik, is the deepest part of Kvarner bay, with depths of up to 100 meters plus, and is known as hot spot for local big game fishing, tuna in particular.

Island has long history, and the first Church was built there in early 16 cetnury. Now, the church is renewed by Gregors team who manage the islands wildlife, and sheep there.



Church 16th century

Local islands including Plavnik were known for sheep farming, till beginning of 20 century. Then 2 world wars happened, states came and went, the same place changed few country flags, and this caused political and economic migrations between 2 world wars, and in post world war 2 period.
Island Plavnik remained uninhabited, while sheep farming on all remaining islands came in decline since then.

Island is about 850 hectars (2100 acres), and populated with fallow deer, feral goats, wild boar and Dalmatian wild sheep, plus woodcock in winter months, and hares of small game.
I am not sure for quotas under game management plan for all of them, but annual quota of fallow deer is about 56 heads per year.



Bay Krusija on island of Plavnik

Anyway, within half hour, maybe 45 minutes of lively boat ride circling the island from southern side, we were tied up on a pier in Krusija bay.

One hunter was boarding the boat to be transferred to main land, and I was disembarking.

For years I was fishing on that island, and was taking a night rest at the bay on a safe berth, but never tried hunting here.

Lodging is organized in refurbished old stone wall farm house. And usual team is two guides and cook.

I had a time till lunch, and then again after the lunch.

The plan was to go hunting for afternoon stalk.
The farm house is about half mile from the pier, uphill, gravel road.

I tested the rifle at target, and the aim was dead on, as I knew it will be.

Then, I took a quad and drove myself down to beach, to have a swim. The sea temperature at lower 20ish degrees Celsius made nice refreshment.

Driving around on a quad, gave me ample opportunity to observe plenty of does and calves. Expectations were high. I still have not seen the old boy, with good antlers. It seamed they are a bit shy.

The stag rut was still 2 weeks away, so looking for them will require some effort.
But weather was nice, and island was all mine!

By the time I finished lunch I was all optimistic!
Every piece was falling into perfect mosaic.

There is a main forest gravel road, leading from lodge, to south east part of island, up to north west part of the island. We drove with buggy, and then talk the stalk, along the animal trails. On few places there is a blind set up as well.

Island features a typical Mediterranean landscape characterized by rocky limestone terrain, sparse vegetation, and aromatic Mediterranean shrubs such as sage, rosemary, and immortelle. Patches of maquis, low oak scrub, and hardy grasses grow among the rocks, while scattered holm oaks and other drought-resistant plants like Mediterranean pine provide occasional shade. The landscape is rugged, dry,with a distinctive combination of pale karst rock, deep blue sea, and wild Mediterranean vegetation.

The scent of meditarranean vegetation, in the air, was allover.



Where the eagle nests!

We spent the afternoon till dark, stalking few spots, and the last moments of daylight in the blind.
There was plenty of does, and calves.

But also, if I remember correcttly there were 3 or 4 shootable bucks that I have seen.

The problem was - none of them gave opportunity to shoot, average appearance and time window was few seconds at the top, hardly giving us the time, to estimate the size of antlers.

They were not scared of us, they did not sense us, in my opinion.
They just kept their ways within the bush.

By the time I picked up the rifle, everytime, each of them, was quickly out of the way, in the medditeratenan scrub. It was the way of how they moved. They acted like different species when compared to does.




The last moment of daylight, in the blind, we spent observing a whitish buck. My guide Ivan told me.

- This one!
- This one we should take!
- We had a hunter few days ago, and he missed that one, when the buck was walking along that ridge, west from blind.

While Ivan was telling me that, all I saw was this bucks antler for one second maybe.
I had no clue what size he was.
But I could follow his movements thorugh the bush, with occasional flash of his whiteish color. I was following him with scope, but I could hardly do much more.
I had nothing else to do, but hope we will meet again with that buck, and my guide was correct in his estimate.

Then we went off for a warm dinner, and a rest back to the lodge, as the night fell.

Sunrise next morning caught us waiting for whiteish buck, at the same blind.

The sun was at our back, as we over watched the meadow with few trees, and one tree of mandula fruit tree, obstructing the perfect view.

Few youngish bucks were circling around, but they needed few more years, till their time came.

And less then hour later, a whitish color of the buck, came in sight, in the bush on top of the western ridge.

We glassed him in silence. No need to talk.

He was taking his time, for sure.
But slowly from bush to bush, he was approaching the meadow.

At the time he would disappear in the scrub, but would come out again, for few seconds, some meters closer.

He took his time.
But certainly he was coming to us, down the ridge.

Each minute passed as hour, in a silence.
He would show for a moment, then he would disappear again.
Each time closer to us.

Suddenly. I felt a kick to my knee.

He was here!
My rifle at ready, scope power adjusted, and safety was off!

Yes!
Through the scope, I could see him partly covered in the last bush, just before getting across the meadow.

There were few spots between the trees, where I could place a clean shot, should he appeared there.
But still, he wasn't showing up in full.

Then, I saw him approaching covered by bush, directly to mandula tree.
And, no, he was not passing the clearance!
No clean shot, yet!

Then, he started browsing the mandula fruits from a tree!

I searched for him through the scope. I could see whitish colors, but could not identify the vital zone yet.

At one moment, I saw a window to vitale zone, appeared through the branches of a tree!
A narrow window, but a window none the less!

I said to my guide, I will take a shot, I have him!

I trusted my guides comments and estimate a day earlier, and I trusted solid judgment of previous client who missed him.

I still did not see clear his antlers, except, as unclear shape behind mandola canopy, and some shovel shape of horn that was identifiable.

I fired a shot, and he was down!

Ivan said with a smile - you could wait few more moments to have a better look.
I said, well, they dont give too much opportunities, do they?

I still had my rifle trained to mandula tree with new round chambered, but it was not necessary.
Nosler ballistic tip at 68 meters, made its job as intended.

We had a cigarette, and called in for buggy, to collect our harvest.




Afternoon was spent lazy, a short swim, after lunch siesta.

We went for easy stalk, same evening again.

I could have shoot for a calf to get some young venison, as this was an option.

But I did not feel like shooting. I just savored the moment, the memory, the air.

One stag was enough, and a memory of a beautiful hunt, on perfect Indian summer weather, surrounded by Mediterranean vegetation scents. The calmness of the moment. Medditeraneo.

Without a second thought, I longed for return next year.

Boat will pick us up next morning, and with a bit of sadness I had to pack my gear.

It was time to return home.

As always, an excellent report which had me feeling as though I was there!

Well done and well written!

Fantastic hunt and report! I was just in Croatia for the first time last month. You live in a beautiful part of the world!

What a beautiful Island and a trophy Fallow! Great report!

Excellent write up. Well done, Sir.

Excellent! Congratulations and Thank You for sharing.

mark-hunter said:

I had a time till lunch, and then again after the lunch.

The plan was to go hunting for afternoon stalk.
The farm house is about half mile from the pier, uphill, gravel road.

I tested the rifle at target, and the aim was dead on, as I knew it will be.

Then, I took a quad and drove myself down to beach, to have a swim. The sea temperature at lower 20ish degrees Celsius made nice refreshment.

Driving around on a quad, gave me ample opportunity to observe plenty of does and calves. Expectations were high. I still have not seen the old boy, with good antlers. It seamed they are a bit shy.

The stag rut was still 2 weeks away, so looking for them will require some effort.
But weather was nice, and island was all mine!

By the time I finished lunch I was all optimistic!
Every piece was falling into perfect mosaic.

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Good luck! Interesting looking at those doe’s, they don’t look to be in the best of condition - pelvis bones clearly sticking out, not much rump on them.

Well, nice. Mark always describes what he experienced with style!

I hunted that island with Gregor and Ivan. It is truly a unique experience.
I enjoyed reliving that experience through your write-up, nice job @mark-hunter

What a trip !

UKHunter said:

Good luck! Interesting looking at those doe’s, they don’t look to be in the best of condition - pelvis bones clearly sticking out, not much rump on them.

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Glad somebody else noticed that. Definitely on the Keto diet. Probably need a bit more culling of the does. On an island there is only so much available to eat.