48 years between deer

kiwi3006

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Aug 1, 2007
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674
Location
Canterbury, New Zealand
My father turned 70 this year. He shot his first deer in 1960 and had not shot a deer since then. For the last 20 years Dad and I have been on a number of hunts but have never managed to get Dad a deer. He has never fired a shot at a deer in that time.

Well it all changed last night. Dad, me and my 4 year old daughter went to check out a clearing I know of. We got there after a 2 km walk about 8:00 pm. Dad thought he could see something on the left hand side, so I put the scope on it, but it was a bush. I continued looking across the clearing and saw a spiker sitting down at the top of the clearing with just his head and top of is back visible.

I got Dad set up behind the rifle at 540 yds while we waited for the deer to stand up. After about 10 minutes I noticed another hunter wandering across the cut over pine. I waved him over and he mentioned that he had been watching the same spiker for the last 30 minutes, and that there was an even bigger stag further to the left that we couldn't see.

I explained that this would be Dad's second deer in about 50 years and he said we should folow him down to where he had left his quad as it was a coser shot. So all 4 of us wandered down a forestry road in full view of tis spiker until we were 358 yards away.

I set the rifle up over the quad, dialed in 4.25 MOA up and 0.5 MOA right windage for the 2 mph wind.

Dadlininguphisdeer.jpg

Dad set up over the quad with my daughter behind him (This is a re-enactment for the safety conscious ones out there)

The deer was still lying down and it was now 9:00 pm. A hind came out onto the clearing and started to feed towards the spiker. This made him stand up. Dad took a couple of seconds to find the spiker and then sent the 162 a-max on it's way. I saw the spiker drop and then heard the whump come back!

Theclearing.jpg

The red arrow shows where the spiker was


Dad was stoked and so was I!!

It took about 20 minutes to make our way up to the spiker, and for Dad to get his hands on his second deer in 48 years.

DadSarahandhisdeer.jpg

Dad and my 4 yr old daughter with his spiker.

Dad is still on a real high and I think can't quite believe that it has finally happened.

My daughter went really well, walking the whole 5 km including through scrub up to the deer. She said the best bit was watching Grandad shoot the deer.

12/30.08

Dad and I went out again last night to look for another deer, my daughter Sarah came with us again. We were hunting a big scrubby gully at the back of a local farm. We saw a couple of fallow deer at the front of the farm but they were off the game list as the farmer likes watching them.
About 9:00 pm we got on to the top of the ridge and I looked across the gully to the most obvious clearing on the opposite face. Immediatly I saw a hind sitting on the edge of the clearing. I ranged it at 383 yds and dialed up 5 MOA. There was a very light wind blowing, but I ignored it.
Dad got set up behind the rifle and took the shot. The 162 a-max rolled it over and did massive internal damage.
I went over to retrieve the deer while Dad stayed on the ridge with Sarah as it was too thick for her to go through. Getting the deer back up to the ridge was bloody hard, I am covered in scatches and it took nearly 3/4 of an hour.

Dadsseconddeer.jpg

Dad's third deer. The knife is a birthday present for his 70th birthday. We went to guy that shows you how to handforge your own knives.

DadSarahandseconddeer-1.jpg

Dad and Sarah with his 3rd deer. I had to cut the head and legs off to get it back up the hill through the scrub


So 48 years between the 1st and 2nd deer, but only 6 days between the 2nd and 3rd.

Stu.
 
Last edited:
That's awesome, great stuff:cool:


48 years is a hell of a long time between deer, hopefully his next one doesn't take that long again:)
 
Stu,

Great story and pics. Wow 48 years, it's said that patience is a good virtue. Your father should be commended, most would have given up long before.
 
That was very nice of the other hunter. It is also a nice picture of the extreme generations. I hunted with my daughter this year and it was such a pleasure.
 
I started to read this story and said to my self were is this that it was light enought to see a deer at that distance and went to the top and saw that was in New Zealand, didn't know you had midnightsun there
 
WOW!! That's a great story... I'm as excited for him as I would be for a young person... Good going!!!
 
I have added new information to the first post. Long story short, We went out last night and Dad shot another deer. Only took 6 days this time.

Dad is amazed that people all aropund the world are reading about his hunt and making comments about it.

Thanks for all the comments. Have a Happy New Year.

Stu.
 
Stu,
Very charming stories and photos! Not often you get to see seventy and four together on a succesfull hunt. Thanks for letting us enjoy. Give your dad another Kudos from another fellow around the world!
 
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