Venison & varminting

It was 5.10am and I had been using the moonlight, with my headlamp switched off, to walk towards where I saw fresh deer sign the previous day. Hopefully, I would be in the vicinity of any feeding deer by the time there was sufficient light to shoot.

I was carrying my lightweight Kimber SuperAmerica chambered in 6SLR, which is a .243 with a 30-degree shoulder. This rifle is a dual-purpose outfit for use on both varmints and game such as pigs, goats or the occasional deer. The loaded 90gr Sierra TGKs provide a flat-enough trajectory for varmints yet are stout enough to adequately handle medium-sized deer with good shot placement.

My headlamp was then switched on to negotiate a creek crossing, with protruding rocks used as steppingstones. The water level was above the tops of my Meindl hunting boots and I didn’t want to spend the next few hours with wet feet. The headlamp caught the glow of two eyes about 80 paces from where I was. My favourite varmint to shoot… a feral cat! But as I could only see the small glowing eyes, it was too risky to shoot. Besides, I was trying not to make any noise.

So, I made a mental note to come back to this location on my next hunting trip, in the very late afternoon, with my heavy barrel CZ 527 .222, which has an 8 x 56mm Kahles scope with heavy duplex cross-hairs and is ideal for low light conditions.

I continued towards my destination and soon daylight greeted me. There was a slight breeze, and knowing how sensitive deer are to strange scents, I did a semi-circle to hopefully approach any feeding deer from down-wind.

Stealthily climbing up a small rise, I could just see a fallow stag feeding in the open. There were bushes in the way and even though I was only about 70 paces from the deer, I needed to get closer for a clear offhand shot.

Slowly, I edged forward after chambering a round as quietly as possible. The 3-10 Swarovski scope was already on 3.3 magnification, so no need to alter that. The deer was nearly side-on, facing slightly away. Aiming just behind the shoulder, I touched off the trigger and the 90gr TGK left the muzzle at around 3120fps. The deer was down after a short stumble.

The 90gr Sierra did the job. If you are only targeting deer or large pigs and not varmints, well-constructed 95gr or 100gr bullets may be better on some occasions than the 90gr Sierra TGK or 90gr Speer Hot-Cor which I use. I still prefer either the .270 Redding or .270 Winchester and 140gr TGKs on deer only hunts.

All that venison was most welcome, but I had some work to do butchering. I eventually had both backstraps, both rear quarters and both shoulders. I fitted as much into my backpack as it would take, loosened the sling on my rifle so that I could carry it across my back and carried one of the rear quarters in my left arm. After getting back to the cottage, the venison was cooled.

One would probably think that getting a deer was the main reason for this hunting trip. But it wasn’t. I had been looking forward to using my 9 twist Pac-Nor heavy barrel .17-.222 again on some crows… hoping to achieve one or more 275m plus shots with it. I mentioned to the sheep farmer two days previously that I would try to get some crows for him. They peck the eyes out of sheep, causing a slow and unpleasant death. But the sheep farmer informed me there weren’t many crows about, so I decided on foxes, which kill the young lambs.

I planned to have an early lunch and then head out to a good varmint spot with my CZ 527 .17-.222. The .17-.222 is such a wonderful little cartridge for varminting out to about 275m. For longer shots, my .220 Swift is better. At a muzzle velocity of 3870fps out of the 648mm barrel and sighted-in 30mm high at 90m, the 25gr V-max is down 7.8cm at 275m. Recoil is negligible, and accuracy is superb, allowing precise shot placement on tiny critters. The scope is a fixed 12-power Schmidt & Bender with ultra-fine cross-hairs and 56mm objective lens. In good light these cross-hairs are magnificent, but the downside is that in poor light they are hard to see.

After several hours waiting for a no-show crow, a young fox appeared 155m away. From the seated position with the bipod legs fully extended, I pushed the set trigger forward ready to break at 16oz of pressure. After gently touching the set trigger, the 25gr V-max killed the fox decisively.

I waited a bit longer and then through the trees and bushes a rabbit was picked up with my Swarovski 8 x 30 binoculars and ranged at 215m with my Leica rangefinder. I should have packed my Leica 12 x 50 binoculars. Repeating the process with the trigger, after the shot I thought I had missed because looking through the binoculars I saw a rabbit bobbing around about 1m from where I had aimed. So, I went over to investigate.

My dead rabbit was found in some blackberry bushes. The rabbit that was bobbing around was a second rabbit. The rabbits, though once numerous in this area, are now few and far between. I really wasn’t after many of them this hunt, perhaps just one or two would be fine.

I came back the next afternoon, hoping to get at least one crow. Another larger fox appeared at 90m, and the .17-.222 made short work of him as well. There were still no crows coming anywhere near where I was varminting, even though I was reasonably well concealed in a bushy area. As I was to leave the next day, I decided to set up 275m from where some rabbits had been showing themselves on previous days.

I was sitting on a small rectangular piece of carpet in the shade of a gum tree with the bipod legs fully extended. When a rabbit came out from its burrow under some blackberry bushes, the bore of the rifle was not high enough to clear the wire grass, which would most likely deflect the 25gr bullet.

In the meantime, while waiting on the rabbit to climb the embankment so that I could get a clear shot, a storm was brewing. The wind increased significantly, and the rabbit decided to go back underground. The wind was a headwind, and I thought it may not push the light but fast bullet too far off course should that same rabbit or another reappear. The storm got closer; the wind kept blowing but the rabbits did not come out again. I decided to pack up and head back to the cottage before I got drenched. I got back to the cottage and the storm with lightning blew over without a drop of rain!

I left very early the next day with my large esky full of venison. I’ll try to get that feral cat next varmint hunt.