Every year we enter the Woodhill Ballot, hoping to be one of the lucky hunters to draw a fallow hunting block. When I say "we", I am talking about John Elliot (Potlicker), Richard Ellice (Fatcat), & myself. Luck must have been well and truly on our side this year, as both John & Richard were successful with their applications. It is not very often that we have the luxury of choosing between ballot blocks / days.

As always, this hunting trip (June 27th - 29th, 2008) was anticipated with plenty of enthusiasm. We normally turn the trip into a three day weekend, ensuring we have a travel day on either side of the actual hunt day. These days we stay at the infamous Black Pete's hotel. The meals are excellent, with myself & Richard always going for 'the works'!

This trip we got our beer drinking around the wrong way, ending up having one or two beers too many, on the Friday evening before hunt day. John looked a little worse for wear the next morning. As expected from the weather forecast, Saturday 28th dawned wet & windy. I said to the boys that my ideal hunt day will be to knock over a fallow buck at 9am, be back to the vehicle by midday, and then sleep the remainder of the day in the back of John's vehicle.

Well, armed with the power of positive thought, this is pretty much how my hunt day eventuated.

We all began the hunt, by walking into our hunting block together (this being block 7). The weather was foul, with the wind & rain giving us a bit of grief. We all decided that at least the conditions gave us another opportunity to test out our hunting gear / clothing. When we reached our block and saw some likely looking cut over, Richard & I parted company with John. Note that because John had won this ballot block, (and had been offered a fallow doe tag which he accepted), he had the first choice of where to hunt.

Not long after this, I caught a glimpse of a fallow doe crossing over a sandy side track. I said to Richard I would head in this direction, as it seemed as good as any where to start my individual hunting. Richard then continued to walk deeper into the block, via one of the main access roads.

I hunted along the side track, until it met up with a young pine / older pine fringe. No other deer had been sighted during this period of time. The weather conditions were still not conducive to 'still hunting', as it was just too cold. I continued on, hunting along this fringe country. Eventually I began to hunt back through the main block on another access road, with young pines on either side. At this point in time, it was about 8am. Without warning I heard a deer crash off in the young pines to my right. I began to follow in the direction of the noise, discovering that it was reasonably sheltered in this area of pines.

Given that I needed a nature call, plus wanted to put a bit of fuel back into the tank, I headed through this sheltered area to reach another fringe belt that had some elevation to it. Having completed the necessary personal tasks, I then decided to hunt along this fringe belt area. I had only gone about one hundred yards, when I sighted the rear end of a deer on a small knoll. I checked out the deer intently, clearly sighting the rear end, rear legs, and belly area with pizzle attached. I then moved slightly to my left and was able to see the entire deer. At this point in time the deer (a fallow buck) swung his head around to give himself a scratch. I was then able to clearly see he had more than two points. Using a tree for a bit of a rest, I aimed at the buck's shoulder and fired. The buck immediately moved off, albeit only in a slow walk. I gave the buck another shot to the head, once I found him on the deck. Upon closer inspection, this buck proved to only be a scrubby three pointer, however I was quite rapt to secure him given the weather conditions, and the wariness of these Woodhill fallow bucks.

While taking the mandatory photographs, and doing the butchering, John arrived having heard my shots. We both agreed that any deer on the deck today would be a good effort. I then headed back to the vehicle, seeing four fallow does on the way. As planned I spent the remainder of the day, catching up on some lost sleep from the night before.

John & Richard hauled their sorry butts around our block for the remainder of the day. Despite both of them seeing a fallow buck each, (and many does), they returned to the vehicle empty handed. No doubt we will be trying our luck again next year!
- Warwick.