this morning i was out and about early and was on the ground ready to go at 3.45am , this mornings stalk was more of a training exercise than anything .
ive been training xena to walk to heel with out a lead while im stalking , and this particular permission has a good head of hares and rabbits (xena loves rabbits). to tempt her .
after about an hrs stalking down the spine track all's good and well , xenas at heel and we had passed about 10 rabbits and 7 or 8 hares and then a whopping great hare stops 20yds up the track bang in clear view of her .
i could see her getting fidgety and getting ready to bolt after it (i was waiting ready for it !) , then she stopped raised her head sniffed the air and headed to my right , head still in the air almost on point , front leg raised and tail straight and i glassed the field and a roe deer was walking down a tram line in the standing barley .
i praised her massively then turned my attention to the roe ad after glassing i could see it was a buck , and after a good 2nd look , he was on the cull list so a stalk was on .
the buck was in no hurry , so i stalked 50 or so yds into the field and found an ajacent tramline , and xena and i stalked our way down the field untill we were about 130 yds off the buck , but this time the buck was getting a little concearned about what i was up too and decided to turn into the field and look straight at me
so sticks up , no chest shot on offer so one under the chin was the order of the day !
all this time xena had been patently watching which direction the rifle was pointing , less than a second later the the buck was down smack bang in the middle of a 60 acre field of standing barley , while re loading the rifle i took my eye off my mark in the distant tree line , bloody mervelous i thought .
luckily xena was on the case so i sent her off bounding accross the field , with her ears flapping as she bounced above the crop to get her bearings .
then i noticed she dissapeared and i lost her for a second or 2 then i see this little head pop up 200yds in the wrong direction (she has found the tram line the buck was in and had tracked it the wrong way!) , she correced her self and a couple of jiffs later she found the buck .
so happy days , another one off the list , another deer found by my beloved little hound .
ok it wasnt the oldest track in the world , but would still be their looking if it was not for her !
ive been training xena to walk to heel with out a lead while im stalking , and this particular permission has a good head of hares and rabbits (xena loves rabbits). to tempt her .
after about an hrs stalking down the spine track all's good and well , xenas at heel and we had passed about 10 rabbits and 7 or 8 hares and then a whopping great hare stops 20yds up the track bang in clear view of her .
i could see her getting fidgety and getting ready to bolt after it (i was waiting ready for it !) , then she stopped raised her head sniffed the air and headed to my right , head still in the air almost on point , front leg raised and tail straight and i glassed the field and a roe deer was walking down a tram line in the standing barley .
i praised her massively then turned my attention to the roe ad after glassing i could see it was a buck , and after a good 2nd look , he was on the cull list so a stalk was on .
the buck was in no hurry , so i stalked 50 or so yds into the field and found an ajacent tramline , and xena and i stalked our way down the field untill we were about 130 yds off the buck , but this time the buck was getting a little concearned about what i was up too and decided to turn into the field and look straight at me
so sticks up , no chest shot on offer so one under the chin was the order of the day !
all this time xena had been patently watching which direction the rifle was pointing , less than a second later the the buck was down smack bang in the middle of a 60 acre field of standing barley , while re loading the rifle i took my eye off my mark in the distant tree line , bloody mervelous i thought .
luckily xena was on the case so i sent her off bounding accross the field , with her ears flapping as she bounced above the crop to get her bearings .
then i noticed she dissapeared and i lost her for a second or 2 then i see this little head pop up 200yds in the wrong direction (she has found the tram line the buck was in and had tracked it the wrong way!) , she correced her self and a couple of jiffs later she found the buck .
so happy days , another one off the list , another deer found by my beloved little hound .
ok it wasnt the oldest track in the world , but would still be their looking if it was not for her !