Well, as some of you might now know, this has been a long time coming, I refer you to:
http://www.thestalkingdirectory.co.uk/showthread.php?20998-The-reality-of-stalking
and:
http://www.thestalkingdirectory.co.uk/showthread.php?21555-Still-pursuing-that-first-munty
Anyway I woke at 4:50 this morning, quick coffee, grabbed my stuff and headed out the door. It was a pretty shitty misty/mizzly morning this morning but spirits weren't dampened (excuse the pun ).
I arrived and was in my highseat by 05:30 and settled down to watch the country waken up and listen to the morning chorus.
So I waited, and watched, and listened, scanned with my binos, and listened, and watched and waited. Then I waited some more. And a wee bit more just for good measure
At 07:15 I thought, "right, come 07:30 and I'm going to have a go at stalking through the wood and see if I can pick anything up off the sticks, then head home"... 07:29 and I'm litterally beginning to sort myself out and get ready to climb down off the highseat, when, you guessed it, I saw movement about 45m away, it was a lovely buck
Result! Right, keep calm, last time you fluffed it at this point although the little beggar was much closer last time. Slowly I swing the rifle round a good 160 degrees, my heart is beating like a f*cked clock. "Relax you idiot" I'm thinking. "Damn, he's walking towards me, I need him to be side on". So I wait, and watch, and follow the we blighter as he mossies through the undergrowth and then finally begins to turn, and then, he's side on, great! "Now, stop, STOP" I think, "the fecker is going to just wander off into the bush again"... At this point the Youtube training kicked in, I'd seen/heard people shout, cough, grunt, and make all sorts of noises to get the deer to stop, so I made I kind of farting/coughing/grunting noise...
He stoped... and BANG... he dropped on the spot, reload, watch, no movement... WOOHOO...
He was a good looking fella, well I thought so
I was a bit concerned that it looked like the entry wound was a little back from where I'd wanted, exit was bang on where I wanted (the entry to be) hmmmm... maybe he turned away right at the last minute because he was bang on square to me when I (thought I) pulled the trigger - maybe the excitement caused me to snatch the shot - who knows?
I quicky hung him up to keep any sh*t down the head end and began my first ever gralloch. Let's just say it wasn't text book, but it did the job. I had indeed clipped something that had resulted in green goo, but this was retained by the diaphragm so I only lost the front quarter - a lesson for next time I think. Having smelled some split gut rabbits in my time the smell from the green goo was no where near as bad so either deer don't smell, or it was non digested green goo.
I was back home by 08:45 and just in time to start my day "working from home".
Some pictures:
http://www.thestalkingdirectory.co.uk/showthread.php?20998-The-reality-of-stalking
and:
http://www.thestalkingdirectory.co.uk/showthread.php?21555-Still-pursuing-that-first-munty
Anyway I woke at 4:50 this morning, quick coffee, grabbed my stuff and headed out the door. It was a pretty shitty misty/mizzly morning this morning but spirits weren't dampened (excuse the pun ).
I arrived and was in my highseat by 05:30 and settled down to watch the country waken up and listen to the morning chorus.
So I waited, and watched, and listened, scanned with my binos, and listened, and watched and waited. Then I waited some more. And a wee bit more just for good measure
At 07:15 I thought, "right, come 07:30 and I'm going to have a go at stalking through the wood and see if I can pick anything up off the sticks, then head home"... 07:29 and I'm litterally beginning to sort myself out and get ready to climb down off the highseat, when, you guessed it, I saw movement about 45m away, it was a lovely buck
Result! Right, keep calm, last time you fluffed it at this point although the little beggar was much closer last time. Slowly I swing the rifle round a good 160 degrees, my heart is beating like a f*cked clock. "Relax you idiot" I'm thinking. "Damn, he's walking towards me, I need him to be side on". So I wait, and watch, and follow the we blighter as he mossies through the undergrowth and then finally begins to turn, and then, he's side on, great! "Now, stop, STOP" I think, "the fecker is going to just wander off into the bush again"... At this point the Youtube training kicked in, I'd seen/heard people shout, cough, grunt, and make all sorts of noises to get the deer to stop, so I made I kind of farting/coughing/grunting noise...
He stoped... and BANG... he dropped on the spot, reload, watch, no movement... WOOHOO...
He was a good looking fella, well I thought so
I was a bit concerned that it looked like the entry wound was a little back from where I'd wanted, exit was bang on where I wanted (the entry to be) hmmmm... maybe he turned away right at the last minute because he was bang on square to me when I (thought I) pulled the trigger - maybe the excitement caused me to snatch the shot - who knows?
I quicky hung him up to keep any sh*t down the head end and began my first ever gralloch. Let's just say it wasn't text book, but it did the job. I had indeed clipped something that had resulted in green goo, but this was retained by the diaphragm so I only lost the front quarter - a lesson for next time I think. Having smelled some split gut rabbits in my time the smell from the green goo was no where near as bad so either deer don't smell, or it was non digested green goo.
I was back home by 08:45 and just in time to start my day "working from home".
Some pictures:
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