The Ones That Got Away: Priceless Lessons on Why Quality Gear Matters
By Blake Faulkner – The Venture Folk
Every hunter has stories of the ones that slipped away. For me, it hasn’t just been a single deer, but a handful of moments across different hunts that still replay in my mind. They sting, sure but they’ve also shaped the way I hunt today.
Here are three hunts I’ll never forget, and the lessons they taught me.
1. The Fallow Giant That Faded into the Tasmanian Darkness
It was late afternoon in the Tasmanian fallow season. We’d been grinding hard all week covering ground, glassing relentlessly, waiting for something worth the effort. Then he appeared.
A monster buck. Heavy beams, massive curl, blades that seemed to stretch forever. Without doubt the biggest fallow I’d ever seen.
Heart racing, I set up for the shot. But when I looked through the scope, all I saw was black. No outline, no movement, no shape just nothing. I adjusted, blinked, shifted again. Still nothing.
There was no way I could risk pulling the trigger blind. The giant slipped back into the timber, never to be seen again.
Lesson learned: Buy quality glass. Buy once, cry once. Cheap optics cost me the chance of a lifetime, and I’ll never forget it.
2. The Rushed Shot on a Red Stag
Another hunt, this time with my good mate Tobias from Australian Hunting Backcountry Podcast, brought me face to face with a beast of a red stag. Big frame, thick antlers, chasing hinds it was the kind of moment that makes your pulse hammer.
We had him in sight, but I rushed. I threw the rifle onto a tripod and squeezed off too quickly. The shot felt shaky, but for a second, it looked like he was hit as he tore downhill.
But the doubt was already there I was shooting a lighter projectile. No exit wound. No blood. We searched until dark, then again the next morning, retracing every step. Nothing. Just emptiness, and a heavy heart.
Lesson learned: Don’t rush. Be patient. Easier said than done when buck fever takes over, but a rushed shot is a wasted one.
3. The Rangefinder Lie and a Backpack Hunt Gone Wrong
The third story came during a backpacking trip for reds. As last light fell, we spotted three stags on the far ridge. One was a mature beauty—everything we were chasing.
We dropped packs, crept in close, and I settled prone off my pack. The rangefinder read 230m. Perfect. I steadied, breathed, and squeezed. The stag jumped, bolted, and vanished into the scrub.
We searched until the light disappeared. Nothing.
At first light the next morning, we ranged again from the same spot. It wasn’t 230m. It was 320m. In the low light, my cheap rangefinder had glitched. The bullet dropped under his chest a clean miss, but a painful one.
Lesson learned: Quality gear matters most when the light is fading and chances are rare.
Final Reflections
Those hunts still replay in my head. But over time, I’ve realised they’re not failures they’re lessons. Hunting isn’t meant to be easy. The missed shots, the gut-wrenching moments, the doubts they’re what sharpen us.
As I always say - you win, or you learn.
If there’s one takeaway from all three, it’s this Invest in your gear. When the critical moment comes, you want to be focused on the hunt not second-guessing your tools. First light and last light are often the only windows we get. Don’t let cheap glass, rushed setups, or unreliable tech steal them from you.
Because in the bush, opportunities don’t come often. And when they do, you want to be ready.
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