Archived Stories

On horseback under a chilling starry night we rode, up and down steep mountains and across rivers paved with loose rock. There was nothing to see in front of us but darkness. At first I was gripped by fear and silently reciting prayers but soon I’d be laughing aloud exhilarated by the sheer adrenaline I could feel pulsing through my veins.

This was my first time experiencing anything like this. My first time accompanying my husband on a big hunt. I loved every second.

We pulled up to a flat, dismounted the horses, the guides tying them to one another so they would stay huddled together below. We then proceeded to scan the surroundings, mountainous silhouettes against the nights sky for any sign of the ibex. Light started to creep through as we waited silently together in the cold. One of the guides had now walked off and was ushering us to follow him up the mountain that stood behind us. 

We began the trek uphill. Gasping for air and struck by the altitude we scrambled  to take the setting in. Below were ibex on the move. Quickly baz and raf lined up their guns and I desperately tried to adjust the camera in time. The mountains echoed with the cracking sound as the rifle fired. I wasn’t quick enough to catch it and I was still finding it hard to take in air. Baz had taken a shot and the ibex had taken off. We stood in confusion as to wether anything had been hit but baz was adamant his shot had landed. The guide using his hands communicated to us that he would go and see if the bullet had found its target. It seemed like an eternity before we spotted him through our Binos waving and signaling for us off in the distance. As we followed on foot to where he stood we came across trails of blood along the way that spanned hundreds of metres down the loose rocky slopes. The other guide would return to fetch the horses which  he then led down those same tricky slopes.
 We rest once again. This time raf and I would stay while baz and the guides trooped off to find the wounded ibex. Five hours would pass before we would spot baz, the guides and their horses again and my heart would sink when I saw they came empty handed. They had found the animal dead high up in a bluff and were unable to retrieve him till tomorrow. We would ride back in the dark, tired and hungry but elated that one of our hunts had come to an end.

 

Ayah

 

NOVEMBER 2020 STORY

Another backpack hunt

Let me introduce myself, my name is Tegan Wilson I am 19 years of age and I am from Melbourne, Australia and i am a passionate deer hunter. I currently hold the possession as Vice President of the SSAA (Sporting Shooters Association of Australia) DeerStalkers club as well as editor of their monthly magazine. But you are here to read my hunting story so here it is… After a long day at work l grabbed my gear and l headed away from all the stress and worries of society. I had planned a back pack hunt with a friend of mine, Chris. The plan was to back pack in early Friday morning and leave Sunday. I had roughly 13-14kg in my pack as we were able to distribute the weight between us. It wasn't a long walk but it wasn't easy as the bush had suffered a bushfire, not long ago and with every step the earth beneath you gave way. After walking for a fair while we made it to our destination and set up camp. We then spent the evening glassing over the beautiful hills. Due to the bushfire it made it easier to glass face to face. The evening passed and not a deer was sighted so we made our way back to camp to call it a night.

Saturday morning l was up and out by daylight as this was prime hunting time. I spent the morning trying to keeps my hands warm while holding my binoculars up, as the snow began to fall my sleeping bag seemed to look more and more comfortable but there was hunting to be done. It came to around 7:30am and we started moving towards camp to look higher, as neither of us had seen a deer. We made plans to pack out and try a different location if we didn't see anything before lunch time. Just as we started heading to camp Chris spots the stag we were looking for, he was feeding on the other face, so we tried to get in a better and closer position to try and take a shot, we managed to go from 400+yards to 250yards. The issue was that we were significantly below him to the point that I couldn't even hold my rifle on that angle, after watching him I concluded that I was unable to take an ethical shot from that angle. We looked for other ways to ambush him, unfortunately he was heading for the top of the ridge as we soon lost sight of him . Instead of making a stalk we took the opportunity to take some footage of him heading away, it was amazing to watch him wonder trying to find any pick after the recent fire. We packed out later that day and had a night hunt in a different location but had no luck.

Sunday morning came around once again we were gone before the sun was up so that we could have one last really good hunt before I headed for home. Walking up hills seemed like more of a challenge then Saturday morning but I didn't give up and lucky I didn't because at the top of the hill was….. another hill but in the distance there was a Sambar deer walking in our direction, so we started to stalk in to a better position where we would be above him when he walked through a clearing. Getting a comfortable position was not easy and we lost sight of him, what I did next was a blessing in disguise, I stood on the only stick in about a meter radius, I had thought to myself that it was all over as I waited to hear him run off. A few minutes go past and I hadn't heard anything or seen anything so I get comfortable as he could still walk through the clearing, the scenario failed in my head so many times, little did I know he must of heard me break the stick and came to investigate, as he walked out broadside 15meters away from me, I instantly lift my rifle up, one good heart lung shot with my tikka t3 30-06 150g remington core-lotk and he was down. 

Feel free to follow along with my hunting adventures on Instagram my Instagram is @Tegans_hunting_adventures

 

DECEMBER 2020 STORY