A good buck season.For sheds that is.

[TazBux]

G'day.I have been hunting bucks down here.A few about.The realy big ones a smart so they are hard to get. Once they enter the hill they are safe as houses.The hill is like a giant bowl of oaties that if walked on the deer hear you coming a mile off.So once I've been out of a morning and made sure nothing else is coming off the padocks I have spare daytimes.On dark isn't much better as only the little ones come out during this.I have to wait till the last weekend and maybe then a biggun will be starting to feel ruty and will be laying up somewhere for me to plug but failing that it isn't easy.So I made 2 long walks during this lull in action.Both walks were large 1 was 7.29miles at 1.2mph,the other was 6.08 at .8 as I sat and watched a buck for 2 hours.

The result.This was the first.As spotted from across the river.
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the rusult.
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This was about ten yards away north along the fence.No matter how i'd hold my mouth it wasn't a set.
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[TazBux]

Then this one about 1000 yards off the others as spotted.
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The result.
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Then another
just over the rise.
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[TazBux]

Then I saw these little guys.Gee the ol finger got itchy.But it wasn't to be.
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Gee I forgot.As I crossed the river to pick up the first this one was at the fence and wanted to be the first.So it was.
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This was enough for today I thought.My little pack was overflowing.So I made my way back to camp and as allways a couple for the walk back out.In the backround is where I had just been.
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[TazBux]

Then this little bit.
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Then this.70 yards away.This was the last for the day.A good day at that.
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[TazBux]

DAY2.A smaller walk but just as good.
The first from that.
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Damn.This was from day 1 and made up part of the set from that day.It was 10 yards from the one just over the rise.
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The set.
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[TazBux]

The second.From day 2.
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The third.
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A few bucks about that day also.This one caught my eye,but still no prize.
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[TazBux]

But then I saw this guy wandering with a pack of smaller bucks and does 800 yards off.They saw me as I saw them so they begun to run paralell to where i was going,not increasing distance but keeping watch.I managed to get out of their sight (wasn't hard) and begun to walk straight up to them inline with trees as I walked(wind in my face chi ching).When I was close enough a clear grassy padock lay infront of me.For 200 yards I crawled like a baby to get up to a log near them.When I got close enough (200 yards) I couldn't see him anymore.I thought he had done me and ran off leaving the smaller ones behind.So I crawled even more and even got into a snake sliver (making sure I wasn't going to kiss a snake also,a friend of mine has nearly done that crawling).When I got close I woke him up.He was asleep just out of sight.Because I was now 40 yards off (I wasn't expecting him to be their I wanted pic of the smaller ones) I think his sixth sence kicked in and this is him seconds after waking up.

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After I counted 20 (give or take)points,I thought "I've got 5 of these already",I was happy just being their taking his picture and thinking just how lucky I am to have 3 sheds in the pack and passing up trophy bucks like this in the wild (with a season that lasts a month).I have a picture of this buck when he was a second horner also.He hasn't changed abit.Just got biger.
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"I know your their" He says.
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2 years ago when he was a second horner.To be honest I probably should have shot him.It is unseasonaly hot down here at the moment making them hard to get.We need to have a few cold spells to bring on the does but it just aint happening.Any hunter worth his grain in powder would have taken him without a second thought.But after seeing what I have of late and knowing how big they actualy can get I would like a much much larger one this year.I'll knock a small one in the last week maybe.It's even more of a shame as I have heard in the last day or so He has been wounded and ran off without being found.So he'll one day be massive (a shot can often make them realy smarts) or I may find him dead.I have 2 weeks left to get one and this year I can't find mi target bucks anywhere.I can find their poo and hear them run off me in the hills.But getting one in the season is another matter entirely.Most people down here just wait till the rut and paoch a monster then (a holes).
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[MULIES4EVER]

Looks fun taz. Hope you get the one your lookin for. What are you hunting with gun or bow?

 

[TazBux]

BUT THEN.To top it all off theirs a bogy bit bellow our camp that I have allways walked around so I don't get soaked legs and feet.It's been a drought down here so it's abit dry and can be walked through.This is what I find and I've walked past it for about 6 years.lol,i'm going shedn below mi camp tommorow!! yeehaa
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The roundup of a 2 day (17 hour) adventure.
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The scull cap in the picture has me buggered.I don't know what it's from.The antlers where they meet the scull are almost smaller than the scull.It would have been the size of a fallow first year or second year stag but it isn't the shape.The other thing that worries me is the antlers are like foam and can be squashed with your thumb.They even dissintergrate upon touching them as does old foam.If I tried I could just snap them in half without any force at all.The scull doesn't seem to be as long as a typical fallow scull either(in the forehead).

 

[TazBux]

I hunt with an EddystoneM17 30.06. Or a swedish 96 or 98 6.5x55.But the 30.06 for bucks.I could have powdered his lungs all over the paddock at the 300 yard mark but I'm after bigger(I use a 4x40...lol with hardly any magnification).I just like getting realy realy close for the pics and adrenalin rush.I honestly wasn't expecting him to still be with the other bucks as the nice ones are often loners just before the rut starts (in a month).I thought he'd done me in the trees as they often run off inline with trees them selves.

It's illegal for us to hunt anything with a bow in Tasmania.If I could hunt with a bow,I'd love it.For me I could start with small and work my way up to what I already have again and that would give me great joy.



This is my thumb pressing into the antler of the foamy scull.I believe it may be a scull from a chital deer (axis buck i think) But the last time they were spoted on the island was around 1920 and were introduced around 1870. It may very well be 80+ years old.It was sitting where we park our car to camp.We didn't see it 4 days before so someone had left it their.Cool.It's got me beat what it is,or how old.

How old is horn when it does this?

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[TazBux]

Front on of the foamy antlered scull.Probably the most interesting find I have ever made thanks to someone leaving it at the camp.
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[deershed]

Wow,that's a pile of bone you found,Awesome!!

I hope you can find one of those big ones before the season runs out.Keep us updated.

 

[TazBux]

63x sheds.
2x spikes.
1x rancid large scull with rack.
1x foamy antlered scull.
3x spike sculls.
I have sold 20 and crafted 5 and the ones I have sold I want back....Is this normal? It's actualy one of my biggest ever regrets as I need more scrimshaw practice.

What I have found this year far exeeds my 50+ in my lifetime so far.I'm realy realy glad I found this site.As I would most likely be the only one on the 11000acre property actualy going out of their way to find sheds the future is looking bright.I just have to get their right on the drop before anyone else see's them or they get burnt.Last year was a total and utter failure.This year has been my best ever (in my 3 short years of shedn).

 

[MULIES4EVER]

What do you mean that they would get burnt?

I too love this site. It makes realize that I am not alone in this weird addiction I have for antlers.

 

[DEERSLAM]

Sounds and looks like a great couple of days! Congrats TazBux and thanks for sharing.

 

[Kurtish]

Great pics and story Taz! Got my heart pumping just reading about your stealthy stalk on them bucks. Congrats on the sheds....those are some long distance spots you are making on some of them.

 

[TazBux]

Mulies4ever!!
Last year all sheds on the paddocks were burnt in a fire(pretty much).I went up 2 weeks after the drop and was told by another hunter that a couple of boys had gathered up 150+ on their atv's.Only to burn them .They reak havok on large tractor tyres.So this year I told the manager "Don't worry about them","I'll be happy to gather them all up for you", I said.So with that (that morning) after he worked some cows he brought 3 back for me.Stoked!!

This is a typical view of the bachelor herd with horns before the drop.These are classed as a ferral pest in Tasmania so people want to whipe them right out (including this farmer).If I had this many deer accouring naturaly on my property I'd kill all of my cows and bugger them off, and guide paying clientell to hunt WILD deer. It's a crying shame the stigma attached to such a luvly animal.
NOTE: The red one on the right was one I am hoping to catch up with this year,a year older.
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[MULIES4EVER]

Wow that is a shame that people dont realize what they have and the thought of burning a shed. Good grief I think I am having a nervous breakdown.

Cool for you to have a good connection with that farmer. I wish I could find a connection like that. Keep in good with him.

Keep us posted on the hunt as we are living through you right now. We have several months to go before our hunting starts.