Piggy
04-06-05, 12:04 PM
Went out last night for a look to see what the Sambar at my local hunting ground were up to. I have built a blind that I can sleep in and despite the freezing cold itĂ*s always worth time spent, as I love watching un-alarmed deer. I also use a night vision monocular and of course have both bow and rifle although I donĂ*t use the rifle anymore I still take it with me.
At about 6.30pm a lone hind emerged from the bush about 150m north of my blind and slowly fed her way towards me over a period of 1h when I spotted another huge black hind enter the paddock from the south and feed her way up towards me. Now with both hinds within 30m of my blind I noticed the black hind looking into the bush about 80m to her east and suddenly a calf came running out of the bush, across the paddock and to its mother and started suckling milk. How good is this I thought when I noticed something move on the southern edge of the bush line near where the large hind emerged and sure enough it was a stag not just any stag but the dominant stag and he was a monster even at 150m away.
The stag entered the paddock and briskly travelled towards me he was certainly going somewhere and he travelled straight to me and stopped at the fence 20m (measured it at dawn as I could see his prints from jumping the fence) from the front of my blind ! This was fantastic he was massive in body and had the biggest rack I had ever seen neck everted his chest was covered in mud reflecting the night vision. He stood at the fence a standard cattle fence and he surveyed the fence turned and walked along it for about 1m stopped looked at the fence again turned to look at the large hind then turned back and jumped the fence and briskly crossed the paddocks into the bush in the direction of a near by wallow.
Interestingly he appeared hesitant to jump the fence, showed little interest in the hinds
I guess he wanted to mark his territory and didnĂ*t return to the hinds while I was awake.
The deer fed quite happily with 4 wombats in very close to them and 1 fox darting around in the grass. There was also a smell of smoke in the air which when I arrived and smelt I was going to pull the pin and go home but the smoke didnĂ*t seem to worry them.
All in all a great night watching the animals of the night.
At about 6.30pm a lone hind emerged from the bush about 150m north of my blind and slowly fed her way towards me over a period of 1h when I spotted another huge black hind enter the paddock from the south and feed her way up towards me. Now with both hinds within 30m of my blind I noticed the black hind looking into the bush about 80m to her east and suddenly a calf came running out of the bush, across the paddock and to its mother and started suckling milk. How good is this I thought when I noticed something move on the southern edge of the bush line near where the large hind emerged and sure enough it was a stag not just any stag but the dominant stag and he was a monster even at 150m away.
The stag entered the paddock and briskly travelled towards me he was certainly going somewhere and he travelled straight to me and stopped at the fence 20m (measured it at dawn as I could see his prints from jumping the fence) from the front of my blind ! This was fantastic he was massive in body and had the biggest rack I had ever seen neck everted his chest was covered in mud reflecting the night vision. He stood at the fence a standard cattle fence and he surveyed the fence turned and walked along it for about 1m stopped looked at the fence again turned to look at the large hind then turned back and jumped the fence and briskly crossed the paddocks into the bush in the direction of a near by wallow.
Interestingly he appeared hesitant to jump the fence, showed little interest in the hinds
I guess he wanted to mark his territory and didnĂ*t return to the hinds while I was awake.
The deer fed quite happily with 4 wombats in very close to them and 1 fox darting around in the grass. There was also a smell of smoke in the air which when I arrived and smelt I was going to pull the pin and go home but the smoke didnĂ*t seem to worry them.
All in all a great night watching the animals of the night.