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Mike Davis

just got home from a weekend up on the open tops, saw good number of animals including a couple of stags that you longer range guys couldv,e tipped over. if we had a rangefinder with us we probably would have taken a good one too...but nevermind it was plurry hot and hard going without added weight in the pack. highlights of weekend were watching a red hind up in the snow tussocks for over an hour with her fawn in tow, we even got to see it suckle!!!
spotted 3 chammy while watching her and they were definately in a getable position so the stalk was on. halfway towards our shooting position the westpak rescue chopper flew up valley about 3kms away,the hind didnt like that one little bit and was craning her neck with ears flicking to pick its location, we got to our picked shooting spot and couldnt see chammy...grrrrr plurry chopper we thought so sat and looked at options for probably 15 mins before AJ spotted chammy still in same place (they had just hunkered down in shade) one had gone but doe and kid were still there. AJ hadnt shot a chammy so I got him into a comfy position cresting ridge with daypack to rest rifle on then asked "what do we need to do to improove position" my sweaty socks got rolled up and tucked in as rear rest...perfect stedy rest. the chammy was about 225 yards (both guessed it and google earth confirmed when we got home) when AJ was totally ready I gave a couple of loud whistles which made doe stand up broadside on, first shot I called slightly high and said to aim dead on, she jumped up onto rock with kid tucked in beside her ( joy of suppressor use) 2nd sht went through doe and took out kid cleanly.doe was hit hard but still moving a little so I said to reload and hit chest again,watched her till head out of line then called it and AJ planted that one nicely too.
both animals rolled short distance into gut . AJ was rapped to finally take animals cleanly like that ,we harvested backsteaks and hind quarters off both and nice set of 7" hooks
thankyou Nathan for all your hard work
my rifle is bedded with your kit
my reloading is more presice
rifle was checked prior to leaving
and most importantly your coaching via the book series came to mind when setting him up for shot,I had 100% confidence of the out come knowing he was steady on target,first time we have ever used a rear rest.....dont know if my smelly sweaty socks under his nose was pleasant but it sure worked.

yip not a long shot by others standards but for us bush hobbits it sure was nice to be able to kill cleanly.