Summer Venison

Now is a great time to get out and into the hills.  The Deer are fattening up on the spring growth, there is a heap of feed around and we have a bit of extra daylight in the evenings.

The Hinds are getting ready to drop their fawns (if they haven’t already) and so are kicking last year’s young out of the nest.  Now’s the time these young, naive deer go for a wander, they turn up in some strange places at strange times of the day.  Not only are they 12 months old and excellent eating but they are a bit silly and perfect quarry for the hunter just starting out.

My good mate Andrew has been hunting with us for a while now, but unfortunately hasn’t been able to connect with his first deer for various reasons we won’t go into here.  He did send this pic through from the weekend of his first deer, shot with his .243 and a hand load we developed together.  Needless to say he was wrapped and now has a freezer full of venison for the summer BBQ’s. Congratulations mate, you deserve it after all the hard work you’ve put in.  Andrew is pictured below wearing one of our early Duk Shooters Jackets, 6 years old and still going strong! 

I can’t stress enough that despite it being a great time of year to knock over a deer for the freezer, there are many many other hunters out there with the same idea.  Take your time and ALWAYS positively identify YOUR target beyond all doubt.  It can be hard for new hunters to slow down, take their time and if need be let it walk away, but this behavior needs to be instilled in our new hunters by their mentors from day 1.  It has been a tragic year for hunting accidents in New Zealand, let’s all do our part and stop these unnecessary events.