A big thank you

Trevor.

Well-Known Member
Hi all would like to say thanks to wicklow202 for a great few days stalking in wicklow it all started from a few emails dave invited me over to stalk some wicklow sika, and yes adam :DAKA adamant was dragged along :) so we got to wicklow on sunday morning dave met us at the B&B about 11am after a quick chat we all got in one truck and off for a look round the ground before getting there only about 15 miles we had stopped about 20 times to glass deer they were all over the place . we spent the next few hours looking around the stalking ground it was :eek: full of deer and the odd stag still calling which was great to hear so back to the b&b few pints dinner and bed . Up at 5am and on the ground waiting for the the light to break adam was going to stalk up the edge of the wood and out on to the open hill, me and dave went off to the other end for the wood to stalk up the edge see if we could bump into one ;) parked the car kitted up about 90 metres from the car we glassed a group of sika about 250 metres , we had a good look and decided to take the pricket so i went on another 100m and run out of cover so up with the sticks glassed the group one more time picked him out on with the crosshairs i sent one on its way good return, hit back of the front shoulder he run about 60m and dropped i watch him for a few minutes dave walked over quick shake of the hand:D and over we went got the gralloch done and dragged him back to the car . as the hill was still fogged down we walked up so far and sat and waited as it was lifting every 100m, giving up more and more deer as it lifted we stalked up the wood edge just getting in to another group and the wind switched and gave us up the hinds where off whistling, so back to the drawing board it was about 10.30 and the fog had lifted with the new wind which had got up:mad: plans a foot;) we glassd the hill and found three small groups still out so we chose a group of 4 hybrid hinds so off we went again, with 1.5 kms to cover before we started to move in on them as we got to the top of the wood and glassed where we had last seen them there was no sign of them anywhere wind was still good so down on my hands and knees and went for the hi ground to get a better look 200m later and i found them just grazing away about 120m over the ridge so got down behind the rifle crosshairs on and sent one on its way she droped on the spot reloaded and placed the crosshairs on the next hind sent one on its way clean miss:eek: straight over its back she run down about 80m and stopped looking around i sent one on its way again and collapsed in the heather reloaded and just watched for a few minutes and walked over to them i could just make out the place where the car was :doh:now the fun starts :oops::oops::oops: by ths time it was 1300hrs with a two hour drag to the car happy days ahead gralloch done and off i go after one or two stops :oops::cry: i was back at the car out with the flask tea tea and more tea:p . so we packed up the truck and drove round to meet adam who had a day of fog wind and hard work but did not managed to get in to any.so back to the B&B WASH PINT DINNER BED BY 2130 in that order. Tuesday was a totaly different day -4 and rained from 9am till 3pm we stalked all day adam managed a hind about 2pm with the wind direction the only way in to her was straight down a very step bank on his stomach i thought he was mud sling not stalking :eek: but he got the shot away and then just keep sliding down to her it would of made a great clip for a film wheres the camrea when you need one .so i stalked along a ride for the last hour its not over till its over wet and cold i look up and then look again there was a great 8 point sika stag just stood broadside about 100m down on the bipod crosshairs on his neck and away dropped on the spot reloaded and just watched, i looked back on two totally different days stalking but just as great the only beast that give me a shot and only 30minutes left before we finshed so i phoned the lads to give them the great news and then over to see the stag:D:D draged him back to the road loaded up and off to the B&B shower, pot of tea, but did not manage to eat dinner which if you know me it was a first, adam nearly past out as i pushed my plate away and off to bed. Wednesday morning come round 5am what a difference in the weather by 7am the sun was coming up and not a cloud in the sky we parked the cars kitted up and stalked into a plantation as me and Adam glassed the area we came accross a group of hinds feeding on the edge of the plantation they were about 400 metres away so we still had some work to do so we got down into one of the drain ditches which was full of water from the rain the night before and moved along it towards the hinds, using two trees as cover as by this point they had moved straight in front of us, we stalked up to the two trees we glassed them again and they were still grazing Adam got up on the sticks and i was glassing the animals waiting for the first shot. The shot was away it was a clean miss Adam reloaded and sent another one on its way same again clean miss straight over her back at this point Adam knew there was something wrong as he was sure he was on target both times the hinds were still there just looking around i loaded my rifle placed the crosshairs on the first hinds neck and down she went i reloaded placed the crosshairs on her follower and sent another one away and down she went at which point Adam was still glassing the animals and pointed out one of the hinds had run straight towards us and was stood not 80yds from where we were so i reloaded and sent another one on its way it was all over in a matter of minutes two misses three hits and i could safley say one very lucky outcome on any other day the deer would have been gone after the first shot. After we finished gralloching the deer we put up a target to check Adams rifle which was the same rifle he was using the day before but for some reason today it was shooting 9 inches high so a couple of quick adjustments and it was all right again can not think why the rifle lost zero in a space of twelve hours not been banged or dropped just one of lifes mysterys so we had a cup of tea at the car by now it was 12 oclock so we moved off up one of the tracks checking clearings in the wood i managed another hind as we stalked through the wood we stalked up on to the open hill at which point we decided to split up and meet back at the car before dark i glassed the hill but could not see any beasts so i started making my way across towards the far side of the wood which was split for 300 meters by a grassy ride i sat and waited ready on the sticks at the end of the ride for about 40 minutes and was graced by a nice 6 point sika stag about 80 metres down the ride as i was an hour away from the car and it was 3 oclock i placed the crosshairs on the front shoulder of the stag and sent one away the sound came back a great hit but the stag just stood ther then ran off into the trees which i thought was quite strange Dave had warned me about the staying power of these animals so i waited for 20 minutes and walked down to the shot site blood and pins at the site but that was it no blood trail what so ever i then made my way to where i had seen the stag dissapear and slowly made my way into the trees after a further hundred yards there he was i checked for a blikn with my sticks and there was no movement the bullet had gone through the front shoulder both lungs and this animal still ran 200 metres before he stopped i gralloched him and made my way back to the car to meet the lads Adam had managed another hind so in the end it turned out to be another great day. As of the start of this thread i would like to say a great thanks to Dave for three great days stalking and roll on the return trip mate.

Regards
Trevor and Adam

P.S. Thursday, Friday and Saturday is part two, three more mad days on the Wiklow mountains with a couple more mad irish men and some big stags:oops::oops::oops::oops:
 
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I'd also like to say thanks to Mr Wicklow202, our amazingly generous host :).

I had a few trials and tribulations with my lovely borrowed 6.6x55 Sauer rifle and it's wonky zero - I suspect it took a knock when I did my 30mph slide-by shooting of a Sika hind. The hill was so steep it was literally like leaning out of your bedroom window and shooting a deer standing on your doorstep. Still, the bent rifle was my come-uppance for mercilessly taking the **** out of Trevor when he had rifle problems when we were last over in Ireland this February. However, on this occasion I have to hand it to Trev', as his stalking and shooting on this trip was superb - I don't think he missed a beat all week.

The stalking was brilliant, with both of us taking stags and filling the truck with an embarrassing number of hinds over the week. I think that Wicklow is now my favourite place on earth to hunt - there's deer everywhere and the craic is great!

A.

(by the way, Trevor, have you heard of this amazing new invention called the 'full stop'? :lol: - I almost suffocated reading your write-up)
 
Oooh that must have hurt a bit....

I've just gotten off the phone to Adam, well done out there Trev.

We'll have to go shooting at some point, I have a roe to redeem myself with.:D
 
Any time mate if you want a trip on the does let me know and if you need a hand culling on the fallow give me a bell

gadget
 
It hurt so much he couldn't eat that evening - and for Trevor not to eat food he's already paid for is the definition of true pain :eek::eek: Mind you, dragging a big beast across those Irish blanket bogs is about the hardest thing - every step seems to suck the energy out of your legs and turn them to lead, and that before all the stream, drains and peat bogs to go through, over or round.
 
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