Deer hunting is a tough sport and one which requires technique, dedication and, above all, a reasonable degree of fitness. For our cover story this month, Queenslander Simon Frederiksen and two mates take to the high country of the Victorian Alps on a guided hunt in search of Australia’s largest deer species and, while learning on the hoof, discovered that in this often demanding pursuit, success is never guaranteed. Of course, any help the hunter can muster is welcome and, to that end, Chris Redlich has been afield with the latest red dot sight from ZeroTech, the Trace 1×5 giving him the edge in pursuit of some destructive feral pigs. And speaking of optics, senior correspondent Rod Pascoe has trialled a couple of reflex sights from Swampfox Optics, one of the newer players on the Australian scene who, he reckons, have some value-for-money offerings worthy of consideration. And for the history lovers among us we have two superb articles this month. Leon Wright has penned a fascinating tale about his late father’s heroics in Tarakan during World War Two, while Ivo Dimitrov charts the story of an iconic Beretta pistol. Elsewhere we have a couple of book reviews, our latest dive into the Shooter archives along with all our regular columns and features.