Back in January I made the decision to take up deer stalking, I already owned a shotgun for pigeon shooting and a .22lr for rabbits and was ready to move up a calibre for deer.
Working abroad saw me looking for information and brought me to roestalker.co.uk where I learned about Gregs exploits and watched his videos, I also became interested in his reloading articles. One link led to another and I found thestalkingdirectory .co.uk.
I realized that not knowing anyone who was stalking that my best idea for applying for a variation was to do a DSC1 to learn more and also meet like minded people, so I duly booked up with the BDS who were running one in my area and duly completed in April.
Variation was sent in and obtained in June and I had foresight to book 3 days stalking with BASC in Kings Forest Thetford for the 24 -26[SUP]th[/SUP].
My rifle arrived 5 days before my stalk and I had only and hour on my shooting ground to check zero – two shots showed it was well out but I had run out of time.
I arrived an met my stalking guide Des Green and I explained my predicament with my zeroing “No problem” says Des and off we go to the rangers testing butts where in 20 minutes or so Des had the rifle and scope setup sorted and gave me the first of what was to be a continuous stream of advice and tips from how to place my trigger finger to best advantage and what to do if you have a cough on a stalk!
A short while later and we were on the stalking ground creeping round the rides and seeing Fallow, Roe and some lively Muntjac. I managed to get set up for one of the muntjac but it turned away into the long grass as I was about to fire so on we went seeing a couple more but none were staying around for long enough.
The next morning we started out in a different location and we were quartering back to get to a high seat when a Roe was spotted and we both confirmed it as a Buck. We carefully moved into position and lined up on the sticks, the Buck was partially hidden by the grasses and was moving around scraping his horns on some gorse, after what seemed like an hour keeping him in the sights (probably minutes!) he stood in a clear area and the shot was taken.
All that form filling, courses and waiting was worth it.
The next morning in a similar position a Munjac Buck was spotted and Des and I crouched down and followed it for 400 metres until we got close enough for a shot, no waiting this time, sights on and shot taken as he stood broadside looking at us for the first time.
I am now totally hooked and I cannot thank Des enough for all the help, advice and guidance that he gave me, the two stalks when I did not shoot were informative and educational as well as giving sights of Fallow of every colour and hue, Fallow Kindergarten groups, two large Red Does, a White Fallow with Fawn and a Roe Doe with a Fawn that was a few days old, not forgetting the strange Nightjars sitting in the middle of the rides.
Working abroad saw me looking for information and brought me to roestalker.co.uk where I learned about Gregs exploits and watched his videos, I also became interested in his reloading articles. One link led to another and I found thestalkingdirectory .co.uk.
I realized that not knowing anyone who was stalking that my best idea for applying for a variation was to do a DSC1 to learn more and also meet like minded people, so I duly booked up with the BDS who were running one in my area and duly completed in April.
Variation was sent in and obtained in June and I had foresight to book 3 days stalking with BASC in Kings Forest Thetford for the 24 -26[SUP]th[/SUP].
My rifle arrived 5 days before my stalk and I had only and hour on my shooting ground to check zero – two shots showed it was well out but I had run out of time.
I arrived an met my stalking guide Des Green and I explained my predicament with my zeroing “No problem” says Des and off we go to the rangers testing butts where in 20 minutes or so Des had the rifle and scope setup sorted and gave me the first of what was to be a continuous stream of advice and tips from how to place my trigger finger to best advantage and what to do if you have a cough on a stalk!
A short while later and we were on the stalking ground creeping round the rides and seeing Fallow, Roe and some lively Muntjac. I managed to get set up for one of the muntjac but it turned away into the long grass as I was about to fire so on we went seeing a couple more but none were staying around for long enough.
The next morning we started out in a different location and we were quartering back to get to a high seat when a Roe was spotted and we both confirmed it as a Buck. We carefully moved into position and lined up on the sticks, the Buck was partially hidden by the grasses and was moving around scraping his horns on some gorse, after what seemed like an hour keeping him in the sights (probably minutes!) he stood in a clear area and the shot was taken.
All that form filling, courses and waiting was worth it.
The next morning in a similar position a Munjac Buck was spotted and Des and I crouched down and followed it for 400 metres until we got close enough for a shot, no waiting this time, sights on and shot taken as he stood broadside looking at us for the first time.
I am now totally hooked and I cannot thank Des enough for all the help, advice and guidance that he gave me, the two stalks when I did not shoot were informative and educational as well as giving sights of Fallow of every colour and hue, Fallow Kindergarten groups, two large Red Does, a White Fallow with Fawn and a Roe Doe with a Fawn that was a few days old, not forgetting the strange Nightjars sitting in the middle of the rides.