AUSTRALIA: First Chital Deer Hunt

bluey

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what a long week end this queens birthday
l got back Tuesday afternoon from Townsville in north queensland
flew up there on Friday morning for my little brothers wedding .
Friday night was one to remember or forget , it depends on how you look at it , it had been a while since ive drank but I can truly say I fell off the bloody wagon both Friday and Saturday nights .in our fathers words; you pair are bloody hopeless when ever youse go out together , and we didn't let him down.
then on sunday lunch time his new wifes family friends took me out to a property just out of a place called charters towers and dropped me off with a swag and a motor bike and arranged to pick me up at sunset Monday.
I was there to hunt Chital Deer (axis) it was the very first time ive done this Chital Deer hunting and it wont be the last .
l have premmission to come back when ever I like .
with in an hour ive worked out these little deer don't like motor bikes and im legging it .
the first couple of mobs l came across were skittish and I blow them stalks quickly
my plan was to take the first good stag I could and then spend Monday trying to up size .
theres no shortage of deer here and the owners want them thinned out .
by 4 p.m l popped a lovely 27 1/2 inch stag and caped him out tied the cape and head on to my day pack and kept walking the river bank .thought I would cross over at a narrow point which was only 25 metres wide which would put me on public land then I was goin to walk up a bit and cross back over and hunt my way back to the bike .
as I was crossing there was a bit more current and not mention depth than I anticipated iwas was only nipple deep but with my pack and head tied on to it l was getting pushed along more that id planned then as I was starting to get up on the other bank it felt like my knots had come undone for a second and as l turned to try and catch the head I seen that the water force had in fact pulled the zipper open on the main compartment of my badland super day pack and everything was gone . my camera, gps ,phone and caping knife set. that put a damper on everything and I spent a bit of time trying to see if anything had landed with in a short time id giving up and crossed back over and called it a day and rode around on the bike till dark .
this place obvisouly gets hunted from the bike as everything I seen while riding it was hauling ass.
at camp I got a fire going and got some Chital back strap cooking on a rock and boilt some water for my dehydrated lamb shanks and mashed spuds.
it was a downer losing my stuff the only bad thing that happen all week end with out my phone I felt more isolated then than I had in years and that's so sad that l depend on the bloody thing so much .
next morning im up and away as the sun is thinking about showing its face and before it cleared the tree tops l had a 30 inch stag on the deck so the first one will now become a skull mount .
it was an easy stalk into a mob of maybe 35 animals of which he was the best stag followed by a 90 mtres shot .
after I caped him out and split his lips ( the whole process was done with my pirantra scalpel which came up a treat )
I took him back to where I was camped and salted the face and rolled the cape up in the shade and thought I would sneak around for the rest of the day and try learning these little deers habits .
but if the opportunity arises I will definitely upsize again
from wandering around and trying different approaches these little spotted deer have got good eyes and nose , but im sure theyre ears are the weak point .
but they are rarely alone and with lots of eyes always looking 90 mtres seems to be the accepted safe distance and then they give a shrill wooo for the does and they are gone .
and I seen the stags giving a sound like a whistle to each other .
l watched 2 stag around the 22 inch size going at it for myabe 10 minutes that was pretty cool , I rekon it was a teen age thing as there was maybe a dozen deer with in 50 square metres and they were only giving the warriors fleeting glances
it was a great way to spend the rest of the day and next time l go back up there it will bow hunting only .
for the day and half l had on the property l would say l seen 600 different deer .of which 4 or 5 would ve been stags over 32 inches and maybe 40 stags around 27 plus.l don't know if that's a good ratio or not but l was impressed.
there is a lot of pigs here also l counted 19 but by the sign theres more than that .
never seen a dingo which surprised me .
got all my stuff back on the plane no worries ,l just wrapped the skull up in cling wrap as with the cape and head skin . the better skull cap and four cast antlers I picked up were placed in my duffel bag the 300 was locked into its plano pillerlock hard case for the flight and the ammo was locked in its box and placed in the duffel bag
once I got back to Melbourne l dropped my Chital cape and skull cap off at south pacific taxidermy to be mounted in a pedestal wall mount pose and picked up my wifes new Zealand trophies from her and our daughters time with wilderness quest new Zealand last august .drove home 4 hours dropped the ropes and straight back to seas ,sad way to end a great week end

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Sounds like a good time Bluey. Not fun to lose your gear. Sometimes things just happen. Would love to see some pics of the deer. Thanks Bruce
 
Sorry about losing your gear, that bites a little, congrats on the nice deer though!
 
Bluey once you figured you'd live without the phone, its amazing all the peace you get.

Another education "Chital" Deer.

Sounds like an action packed hunt to me. You learn quickly.
It's a good thing you had to leave or the owner would have to set quota.

Falling off the wagon with your brother at a wedding, oh well.
You're back on the boat or wagon.

Keep the hatches tight on the boat.
 
It sounds like you got a couple of nice deer. Please post a pic of your mount when you get it done
 
Pity for all your gear, but otherwise it seems that you did have a good time :beer:
 
thats a bummer loosing your kit, and your no drinking bet!!! all in one weekend....:doh2: does this mean you can :beer: now? oh and the deer part sounded good :D

I don't know if the girl is even talking to me over a little(huge) binge drinking on the weekend spike .l havnt had the chance to tell her yet .
what do they expect sending me up there solo.
it was a p.i.t.a loosing my gear for sure and took the cheapness of a great week end out of it but wow l had fun
shame I didn't get any trophy photos at the site
its the phone that im missing as its got so much info on it ,that l need .and will be biting me on the ass for a long time to come
when l get a new camera (the gps is on its way) I will post some pics of the skull mount ive got drying in the engine room and of course the pedastel mount which im hoping to pick up on the return from Africa towards the end of august
there will be many more chittel hunting stories to come as it was fun hunting these little spotted critters and near everyone l hunt with has let me know that they are keen to try for one .
and l need to go back and find the guy that belongs to one of the casties (sheds) l picked up as it was 32 1/2 inches long
can any one recommend a camera for my hunting pack ?
the one I lost was a Panasonic lumix DMC fz 150, it was way to good for my skill less efforts but damn it took a great picture
 
Hundreds of deer in a day or two.........I really am going to have to get down there someday!
 
Hundreds of deer in a day or two.........I really am going to have to get down there someday!
let me know when your on the way phil, I will gladly come up with you .
the price is right ..... only as much as it costs to replace your kit...(don't even know why l laughed when l typed that )
what camera do you have in your hunting pack bloke?
 
let me know when your on the way phil, I will gladly come up with you .
the price is right ..... only as much as it costs to replace your kit...(don't even know why l laughed when l typed that )
what camera do you have in your hunting pack bloke?

On a hunt like that, I just use my iPhone.
 
that's what my kids said to get as a replacement phone ...thanks phil
 
That was a great story, Bluey. Hopefully one day I'll be able to join ya!
 
as I was crossing there was a bit more current and not mention depth than I anticipated iwas was only nipple deep but with my pack and head tied on to it l was getting pushed along more that id planned then as I was starting to get up on the other bank it felt like my knots had come undone for a second and as l turned to try and catch the head I seen that the water force had in fact pulled the zipper open on the main compartment of my badland super day pack and everything was gone . my camera, gps ,phone and caping knife set.

Great story bluey, Now I know why I didn't get any pics.
 
picked up the chittel stag from the taxidermist nearly two weeks ago
heres a couple of pictures of him
hope you enjoy
View attachment 21813this is at the taxidermists this ones off the phone excuse the quality


View attachment 21814this is where he now lives .at least until we play musical heads ,and swap em all around .
does every one do that ?
 
picked up the chittel stag from the taxidermist nearly two weeks ago
heres a couple of pictures of him
hope you enjoy
View attachment 21813this is at the taxidermists this ones off the phone excuse the quality


View attachment 21814this is where he now lives .at least until we play musical heads ,and swap em all around .
does every one do that ?

GetAttachment.jpg
photo.jpg
 
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Beautiful Pedestal wall mount Bluey. :thumb:
 
First class Bluey!
 

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