b'HUNTINGIan went east to check out a track hea larger moving object coming out of the has seen deer on before, while Craigpines about 300-400m away.I quietly and I went west along the edges of thecalled out to Craig and showed him the farm where the pines meet.The grassdirection as he also picked it up as a deer here was amazingly high, up to ourfeeding but moving around at a steady thighs as we struggled walking throughwalk in and behind stumps.it!So much tucker for deer as havingIt was too far for my shooting range and such a wet summer, had meant plenty ofespecially as my first-time night shooting, grass growth. so I let Craig take the shot but as he fired We didnt see any deer and sat on ait moved again and ran into the pines.We ridge overlooking a gully and waitedcovered the distance in the dark with the for the darkness to arrive, a full moonaid of the moonlight to look for any sign was coming up and the wind died awaybut nothing.At least we had seen one to nothing as we quietly waited.Usingand I was starting to get a taste at how the monocular vision, I could see sheepgood thermal imaging can be.grazing in the distant paddocks and the heat signatures in tree trunks and smallMIDNIGHT ACTIONponds.These surprisingly hold the heat ofWe decided to head back to another the day for quite some time into the night. part of the farm to meet Ian at a It was just before 10pm when I spottedpredetermined location that had seen Using a vacuum sealer to best preserve your meat is a must have for any hunter.Craig starts to dress the fallow.many deer downed on past trips.Arriving to find Ian scanning the darkness in the valley and opposite cliff face, he advised that he too had missed an opportunity on a moving animal.We sat together for a while as midnight passed and soon, we could see several deer on the thermal gear, in thick scrub just out of the pines and coming down the steep hillside.It was amazing to see so many but these animals were over 600-700m away and in hard-to-reach spots in the dark.We needed them to come out into clearings for better shots.The deer were out in force now, so Craig suggested we go back to where we saw the first animal as more might have come out and with better open country to hunt.84FISHING IN GODZONE MAY/JUN 2023'