The weekend after lockdown my grandfather invited me to go hunting with him. I was eager to get

out there and shoot a stag. I accepted his offer and I could not wait for the weekend to come. It
finally came and as we were travelling to the destination where we were going to hunt, I was
thinking about what giants could be out there waiting to get shot. I could feel the excitement rush
up and down my body. I had already shot a spiker for my first deer so we were looking for a Massive
stag with a nice set of antlers. As we were driving down the road I was making sure I had all my
stuff with me.

As we arrived at our hunting location I could feel a shiver racing down my spine and I was ready to
slay a beast. We got out and I closed my door as quietly as possible and I made my way to the back
of the truck so I could get the rest of my gear together. I packed my bag with my knife and steel,
my bottle of water, some lollies and my phone. Once we were ready to go we set off down the track
in search for the monster that I have dreamed to shoot. This time we started our hunt on foot
instead of taking the bike somewhere and then walking to find deer. 

Our plan was to get walking before sunrise and start making our way to where all the deer are so
when the sun came up we would already be amongst the dear. We started walking down the
motorbike track and then we made our way down the hill face and into a creek. We then crossed
the creek and made our way up the other side of the creek into a paddock full of trees. By now
there was a small amount of light in the sky but the sun had not poked its head up yet. As we
were walking through the paddock we had come across two big horses that were annoying
because they would tend to follow us and stomp and that would make a lot of noise so deer
that were eating could hear their footsteps through the ground. As we came to the end of the
paddock I spotted two young hinds about 50 metres away from us so I took my bag off and
started to walk to somewhere I could shoot them from but they had heard the horses and then
they ran off. I put my pack back on and climbed over the fence then walked up a small hill.
After peeking over the hill we had not seen anything so we made our way down and carried on.

After coming down the hill my pop and I made our way over to a nice flat spot in between two
hills and as we poked our head up we spotted a giant stag within shooting range. We quickly
popped our heads down and made our next maneuver. I whipped my pack off and made my way
forward to a better shooting position and lay down with the gun and waited for my Pop. When Pop
reached my location he set his pack under the gun for better comfort and stabilization. I had the
stag in my sight and was waiting for it to stand broadside when two other stags decided to come
along. One was bigger and one was smaller. I quickly swapped to the bigger stag that was already
standing broadside and was waiting for it to stop walking and put its head down. It had finally
stopped and stayed still. 

I was shaking and my nerves were tingling, I was thinking that this is it and this would be my big
stag that I have dreamed of shooting. We were lying about 150 metres away from the stag and I
was shooting with a Remington 243 rifle. That's a pretty long shot for that gun so I would have to
hit a perfect shot to kill it. So I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and calmed myself down. I
stopped and took control of my breathing then…  Bang! The stag fell clean on its side. I was so
chuffed and me and my pop rolled around in the grass yelling and cheering. Even though I hit it
it was still moving its head around so we started to walk around where it looked like it was about
to run off to and as I got up and started running off we quickly fired another shot into it, then it
fell to the ground dead. I was so happy that I shot my monster stag that I have dreamed of
shooting. I counted the points and It was a hefty 12 point Royal Stag. I couldn't believe it.

We took some photos of me and my stag then we started to gut it. So we started to gut it and cut
its head off. After that task was complete I had to wait for Pop to walk off and get the bike and
come back.. As I was waiting for Pop to come back I sat on a hill face and started to see if I could
locate more deer. I spotted a group of hinds and spikers feeding on the face of a hill and I also
spotted a big stag at the top of a hill in an opening of bushes. 

Once my Pop arrived with the motorbike we had to figure out a way to get the stag onto the bike.
So we towed it to the top of a small bank then backed up the bike to the face of the bank. We
then pulled and rolled it onto the back of the bike and tightened it on with some strops. We then
headed back up to the truck to pack everything up and go home. We then reached the truck, got
changed into some clean clothes and hit the road. 

On our way home I was thinking about how lucky the stag that I was about to shoot was and how
amazed I was to shoot that beast. Overall  I am so grateful to have a Grandfather that can take
me hunting and go on cool adventures with him.