We had started our 5 day hunt with a promising sign of three Rusa stags trotting across a track we had passed only 10 minutes earlier that morning. This was especially good when we had been trying to get back on to this property for three years and the owner had said he hadn't seen deer for ages.
We worked the places we had previous success with, including a valley we call "deer alley" where we harvested our first deer together.
Over the next few days we would end up crossing paths with a loner stag that would bolt every time a kangaroo or wallaby would give us away. We couldn't even get within 400 yards for a clear shot in the patchy expanses of trees, bush and open paddock.
Day 3 and we flushed out a Rusa doe from a heavily wooded area in a game of
"is that a stump or did it just move?" in the same valley.
By now we were feeling a little frustrated and decided to slow things right down to quietly stalking through cover just for the chance of a shot. That afternoon the same thing happened. The loner stag had the jump on us....again.

After a lot of time avoiding spreading our smell where he was moving, the next morning we saw him flee up to the same scrub he would always disappear into. This time we hoped to track where he was headed so we could wait for him to find us that afternoon.
So we hiked after him with all the wild theories of where he was going and where he might be bedding down. With no trace of him and the temp around 17 degrees before 8am, we thought we would do a little more walking to look for any tracks or sign in other areas.
About four paddocks later we ended up in a larger, more open valley neighbouring "deer alley" and not far from where we saw the three Rusa stags on the first morning. As we descended to the open field of the valley floor we saw two young Fallow stags feeding in the cool morning air.

We were on.

Making our way through the damp creek bed at the bottom, we kept gum trees between us
and the stags moving steadily north to get to just over 100 yards away. With them both in long grass I opted to move a little closer to  the last group
of trees between us and open field for a more certain shot. They caught sight of me and paused briefly before running for the low granite lined hills
opposite the valley.
I took a gamble and headed in the direction they disappeared in the hope I could see where they were headed and how fast. Leaving my pack with Erica I pushed through the long grass and up the small hills and started scanning around me. To my shock, at the bottom of the hill I was on at about 80 yards
was a small herd of deer. Three Fallow stags, two Fallow doe and what I now
was a dark Fallow doe (looked like a Rusa in colour). This was the most deer I had seen at once on this trip, let alone this property.
One of the younger stags stood up the hill closer to me, staying on vigilant watch and preventing me from taking a decent shot. They were unaware of my presence
as they fed, played and rested for the ten minutes or so as I sat amongst granite and gum. Reflecting on those moments it was amazing to watch these animals and their natural behaviour.
Amongst the stags was an older healthy looking specimen with a decent rack who would round up the does a few times as I watched. He'd pop into full view before returning behind the two gum trees ahead of me, one of his antlers taunting me from behind the trees.
With the wind blowing sideways I can only guess I was finally spotted and all but one of the herd scattered. In that moment I sighted in on the last
remaining deer - the stag who had stood watch. As I squeezed the trigger I saw him leave my crosshairs and that was it. They were spooked and I had released a shot at empty air. I convinced myself that they wouldn't return after that and
I had blown our best chance. I felt I had ruined our hunt in a moment of poor judgement and haste, even with my mind saying how awesome it was to have watched them for as long as I did.
By now Erica had caught up to my position and I updated her with my miss.
Returning to camp we talked about what we needed to do differently to have another go that afternoon, even with my doubts of having spooked the herd with a shot.

On the last afternoon of our full day of hunting we would stalk straight through deer alley and end up at the ridge above the open field where we saw the herd that morning.
Heading through the scrub of the lone Rusa stag he was notably absent, adding to my thoughts of having blown our hunt. A slow and steady walk though a gate and over the ridge brought us to where we would settle have called in for an afternoon of glassing. Found a good elevated position and started setting up the spotting scope. As Erica finished adjusting height I had started scanning the the plain below.
Seconds later, in a moment of disbelief, I saw him - the healthy older stag moving at pace across the open plain to the base of the hill we were on. We weren't sure whether he was spooked or just uncomfortable with how open he was so paused to watch him before doubling back over the ridge we had come across.
Taking a guess at where he may ascend if he continued in the direction we last saw him, we moved across the top of the hill in mostly open grass with a sparse assortment of trees.  We made our way to a solitary tree in the middle of the field that have us a good view of the treeline around us. We only waited a handful of seconds before a pair of antlers emerged over the ridge.
Kneeling down I took aim and watched as he came closer and closer to us. He finally stopped at 70 yards to stare at us. This time I squeezed and let off a round, hitting him in the chest and dropping him quickly. Moving out from where I knelt I confirmed he was down and gave Erica the thumbs up.

We started field butchering him right there, talking about how lucky we were to be able to do this and how we would be feeding our family and friends as a result.
After taking as much meat as we could in the failing light we loaded up our packs and headed back to camp. We spent the remainder of our night talking about how incredible it was to have experienced this together and what we learnt from this hunt. As we cooked up a fresh piece of backstrap over the campfire we still couldn’t quite believe how this had played out. There was no doubt in our minds how humbled we were by this experience and just as grateful
for having achieved what we did.
For me, having grown up camping and learning to shoot on this property it was a fulfilling moment to add another chapter to our stories.

To have been able to experience such a lucky change in circumstance following the
hard work we had put in highlighted the importance of never letting up until you're headed home (even if that's hours later than you planned, but that's another story!)
Every minute of this trip - the hard work, anticipation, disappointment and every other little up and down in between is what we take away that helps make us both just that little bit better hunters.
Between now and our next trip though, we'll be grateful for this gorgeous beast feeding our family and friends, for what he taught us about hunting and having faith in our skills and knowledge. We both believe in "venison diplomacy" and this beautiful creature will be some of our friends first taste of wild, sustainably sourced meat from the land.

@smoke_and_bone_hunting & @kimber257bob

Gaby has grown up in a hunting family and her love for hunting has been there from a young age.

Once she started harvesting her own game meat for the family, that passion grew even stronger. 

This is when Ambush Hunting Apparel was born.

Live for your passion everyday and be damn proud to be a hunter!

Aleesha is a country chick that loves the outdoors, hunting, fishing & camping.

She's apart of a hound hunting crew in Victoria and loves helping new crew members learn the ropes. You go girl!

Her passion and drive reflects the motto here at Ambush Hunting Apparel to a T!

Sammy is an aspiring bowhunter that has a passion for the outdoors and is a mum to 2 absolutely beaut coonhounds!

Hunting has taken her from her home state of QLD to the hills of Victoria and to across the ditch to hunt Tahr in New Zealand. This chick has conquered so much.

Her love for the outdoors and hunting is conveyed through her writing as to why she's the blogger for Ambush Hunting Apparel. You won't want to miss her write ups!