A few days ago I wrote a post about taking one of my brothers shooting this week; I was pretty excited as I've never taken any of my brothers shooting with the intent to kill, or really any shooting at all to be honest.
My brothers aren't shooters, don't have guns and have not hunted before; I, on the other hand, shoot a lot and hunt or cull almost weekly. Because we live a long way from each other taking them shooting with me has never been much of a reality so, because I had the chance this week, I arranged to take my brother, younger by five years, to the farm I cull on to teach him some stuff. You can see him pictured below.
We headed up to the farm, where I have a side-gig job culling feral animals, this afternoon and I started to show him some basics about gun safety, handling techniques and a few of the concepts around shooting at a basic level. The farm is not a gun-range of course so when I pull the trigger it is only ever with an animal in the cross-hairs however I let him squeeze off a few rounds first so he knew what to expect in the advent of him having, or wanting, to do so with an animal in the scope.
From there were headed out onto the property to see what we could find.
On this particular property the kangaroos are more active at night and they don't generally move about much until sunset. This happened today also of course, so my brother and I sat around soaking in some warmth from the sun (the day was cold), and talking shit.
We spoke about whether my brother was going to take a shot at a kangaroo (or deer) should one present itself and he seemed quite keen. Of course, I would only let him do so if I thought he was going to be able to dispatch it cleanly, and I told him so. I also wanted to make sure he was keen to do it because what has been shot cannot be un-shot.
About an hour later just as the last light of the day was leaving the sky two kangaroos presented themselves on the hill ahead of us at about 300 metres. The problem is they were right at the crest of the hill and a miss would mean the bullet would fly away over the hill rather that hit it and stop. This is dangerous, so we attempted to skirt around the kangaroos and come up behind them for a safer shot.
Sneaking up on kangaroos is not easily done, especially when they get shot at each week; They are not dumb creatures and very skittish. I didn't like our chances of catching them unawares but I figured it was, stalk them and have a chance of taking them, or sit and watch them eat grass and have no chance to shoot. So, off we went up the hill, well-wide of them, in an attempt to flank them.
By the time we were in position it was pitch dark. We had climbed a couple hills, come up around them and they'd bolted off! They stopped about 140 metres away though, down the slope of a hill, and my spotlight picked them up. My brother dropped into the prone position behind the gun, loaded a round and took the shot...After some initial hesitation through inexperience which was understandable. The kangaroo went down instantly. Job done.
It was the only shot we fired out there tonight, other than the couple practice shots a few hours earlier. I wanted to check where he'd shot the kangaroo to confirm it didn't suffer and sure enough, he'd taken it cleanly. This made me happy; The animal didn't suffer. (When culling kangaroos I am obligated to shoot head-shots only for humane dispatch.)
I don't think he wanted to leave the property to be honest, but it was getting late, was only 6°C by that point and the KP boys were getting hungry so we hiked back to my 4x4, packed up and headed home for dinner with the wives and his little son. It was a really great afternoon and evening of bro-time!
I'm really pleased my brother came along. He had a blast, loved the property, and was happy that he had dispatched the animal, his first kill with a firearm, cleanly and humanely. For me it was cool to share some of my skills with my brother who I think has a new respect for what I do...He will be flying home soon, some 4,000 kilometres away, but he'll be taking this memory with him and I think for both of us is was a great time.
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - Tomorrow isn't promised.
Be well
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