This is a stag I shot back in the April rut.
My brother and I got out first thing in the morning and snaked our way through the edge of the bush glassing out into the paddocks looking for deer. As we came up through a creek bed we spotted 4 hinds but couldn't find a stag with them. The wind was a bit dicey so we decided not to try calling from there but to continue on.
We moved maybe another km and setup to roar. After a few minutes and no replies I saw movement. A young 4 pt trotted in to 15m and stood broadside. I was tempted but decided to let him go and wait for something better. We continued on and received no calls responding to ours over the next hour. This area has a lot of pressure and stags don't do a lot of calling.
We made it through the bush and figured out hunt was just about over when we heard a alarm bark. From the echoing I figured it was in the creek bed a few hundred meters into the bush. We angled in to within 100m of where I thought it came from and started roaring. After travelling maybe 150m into the bush I caught sight of something moving toward us.
Across in front of us trotted this beautiful stag, with the morning sun shining off his red coat and polished antler tips. A grunt stopped him at 55 yards as I levelled the .54 leman flint on his chest and pulled the trigger. The .535 ball charged with 100gn Swiss 2F flew true and once the smoke had cleared he was down where he'd stood.
This is a free range red deer, not a pen raised farm deer like many are used to seeing in NZ. Having said that he's representable without being a giant deer and not that I'm into scoring but I believe he is the biggest red taken in Australia with a flintlock.
A great experience, a great deer and a great reminder of the power of the round ball!
My brother and I got out first thing in the morning and snaked our way through the edge of the bush glassing out into the paddocks looking for deer. As we came up through a creek bed we spotted 4 hinds but couldn't find a stag with them. The wind was a bit dicey so we decided not to try calling from there but to continue on.
We moved maybe another km and setup to roar. After a few minutes and no replies I saw movement. A young 4 pt trotted in to 15m and stood broadside. I was tempted but decided to let him go and wait for something better. We continued on and received no calls responding to ours over the next hour. This area has a lot of pressure and stags don't do a lot of calling.
We made it through the bush and figured out hunt was just about over when we heard a alarm bark. From the echoing I figured it was in the creek bed a few hundred meters into the bush. We angled in to within 100m of where I thought it came from and started roaring. After travelling maybe 150m into the bush I caught sight of something moving toward us.
Across in front of us trotted this beautiful stag, with the morning sun shining off his red coat and polished antler tips. A grunt stopped him at 55 yards as I levelled the .54 leman flint on his chest and pulled the trigger. The .535 ball charged with 100gn Swiss 2F flew true and once the smoke had cleared he was down where he'd stood.
This is a free range red deer, not a pen raised farm deer like many are used to seeing in NZ. Having said that he's representable without being a giant deer and not that I'm into scoring but I believe he is the biggest red taken in Australia with a flintlock.
A great experience, a great deer and a great reminder of the power of the round ball!
