Woods Point Hind

By Christian Renfrey

I was lucky enough to have the extra days off between Easter & Anzac Day long weekend so I decided to head back up to Woods Point to see if we could see what the deer were up to. The town was relatively quiet so it was a good time to get out into the bush. I had decided to explore an area where I had encountered a young spiker and nice stag in September last year. It’s an area where the deer pass through as they make their way down to the

Goulburn River to feed and then later heading back to the bedding areas at the higher

elevations. It was going to be a nice few days away with my son, dog and a couple of fellow

deerstalkers who were already up at the Lodge.

We were leaving home with a plan to arrive in Woods Point around lunchtime, setup and then head out mid afternoon. After arriving as planned we caught up with the other guys who had encountered a few deer but hadn’t actually sighted anything yet. We got our stuff together and headed out. It was a beautiful afternoon with the sun shining and no wind, the weather was probably too good and going to be tough as the sound of every step by 2 people and a dog was super loud. In any case we made our way up to where we entered the first gully and as we got closer I mentioned to my son that we should probably sit and wait as the gully was perfect and the deer were sure to make their way through there. Nonetheless sitting around wasn’t going to be on the agenda so we pushed on slowly and carefully. We made our way down and across the gully and up to the top of the next spur.

The tree cover was quite sparse and there was mainly prickly coprosma that provided some cover.

As we walked across the spur we heard some movement ahead and then a honk. We all froze and stayed where we were so that the deer would not be too alarmed. From the relatively quiet sound of the deer departing and similar encounters I have had previously I felt that the deer was not badly spooked and would likely be in the next gully. With that in mind we again slowly moved off to slowly enter the next gully. As we continued to move further into the next gully we again heard movement from the other side of the gully where there was quite a dense group of smaller trees.

We stopped to glass the trees and were again met with a honk. After glassing for what seemed like a long time and receiving another couple of honks I managed to pick up an ear and muzzle from behind a group of trees, but could see nothing else. Our wind was good as the deer had obviously not scented us but they were still unsure as to exactly what we were. I decided to move my position by a few metres to see if I could get a better view of the deer but the extra angle didn’t change anything. At this point my dog had started to make his way back to me probably wondering why the gun hadn’t gone off yet, so I decided to move further left again to get a better position.

Once in position I glassed again and then saw the outline of the head, neck and top of the chest of one deer with the head and neck of a second almost silhouetting the first. I aimed for base of the neck and fired. The deer dropped on the shot and the second deer took off to the left about a second later.

It was amazing to hear the sound of the shot as it echoed it’s way down the valley. We waited a few minutes to let the deer expire and then made our way over to where it had fallen. Archer helped me as we field dressed the deer and obtained all 4 legs, both backstraps plus the tenderloins. We then proceeded to carry all the meat up the hill on to the nearest track where we’d be able to drive back with the car and pick it all up. We took the meat back to the lodge and hung it up on the back verandah to chill down over night. We all had a great afternoon in the bush and were able to harvest a lovely big hind and

recover all the meat.

The following afternoon we decided to head back to the same area except we dropped down a bit lower and further down the valley. We didn’t see or hear any deer this time but did hear a shot further on which was followed up 5-10mins later with another shot. Turns out

after bumping in to another Deerstalkers member in the pub that night that it was his shots we heard and he had been successful with taking another hind.

If you haven’t been up to the Lodge yet or haven’t been in a while make sure you go this season as there are plenty of deer around. The club also has 2 club hunts already planned for July & August that will be a great way to get information about where and how to hunt the Woods Point area.