Arran stag week three

Arran Week three

Well Arrived home yesterday totally knackered

Sunday arrived on Island

Arrived on the Island on the Sunday morning weather was not good raining and windy. We picked up the keys to our cottage unloaded the gear and went for a drive around the Island. We took a drive up to our old beat and drove around the forestry tracks from a good viewing point we could see the side of the hill as the drizzle stopped the sun came out for a short period.
As the sun came out we caught a glimpse of movement on the hill three hinds and a good stag walked out from the trees and we could see the hinds feeding and the stag roaring although we could not hear him from where we were. As the rain started again the deer slowly walked back into the trees and out off sight. Fingers crossed we get our old beat.

Day 1

We met at the forestry office at 9.30 It was good to catch up with Bob and Griff again after the normal talk and questions we headed off to the range for the target formality's. We were then given our safety kit and allocated our beats good news for us as we were given our old beat a good head start as we new the ground well and we had already seen a good beast.
We headed to our beat for a glass around before we headed off on a stalk. 3.pm and the weather was raining we stalked along some lowland rides were we had seen deer on previous visits to the island there were plenty of sighs of deer activity but we did not see any that night.

Day 2 stalk 1

5.30 came around far to quick by 6.15 we was on the forestry track looking at the map for our best option we parked up got ready and headed off up the quad track in the distance we could here a stag roaring we head to wards him as we got closer we heard another stag roaring to our left it seemed like they were roaring at each other as one roared the other replied we kept heading towards the noise as we got closer we got our first glimpse of the stag a good looking beast although we did not get a long enough look to see what his rack was like as he walked into the trees no shot was passable due to the vegetation we was in.
We tried to call him out he replied but would not break cover and he slowly made his way deeper into the trees.

Day 2 stalk 2
The weather was horrible rain and strong winds not a lot of hope but you wont get anything sitting at the bar. I made my way down to the high seat that is on our beat and thought i would spend the evening there the weather came in even worse and I had no joy so started to head back in the dark not the easiest of feats on those tracks.

Day 3 stalk 1

Weather still drizzling we thought we would stay low we made our way down a ride in the gloom we could see a shadow moving about on its own the light got better and we could see it was a hind we sat and watched thinking that a stag would appear after quite some time she just walked away. we made our way back to the truck while walking down the main forestry track we saw a pricket standing out in the clear fell he saw us immediately and started to run in my mate was ready and I gave a little roar and he stopped in his tracks to look back and my mate grassed him a nice little spiker in the bag. Bob came out and we recovered him from the clear fell sight and took him back to the larder there was already a few stags in there from the other beats.

day 3 stalk 2

Headed back to where we saw the stag and hinds on the hill as we got closer we could hear him roaring again we stalked to wards the noise it was hard to hear at times as the stream we was next to was in flood and was roaring down the hill. we got as close as we dare to the stag but he was in the trees with his hinds we roared at him and he replied straight away to us we kept in conversation with him and he slowly got closer to us he was well canny and he would not come out of the cover he could only have been about fifty yards away but we could not see him he then went quiet and slowly made his way back to his hinds. The light was going quick so we left and headed home.

Day 4 stalk 1

At first light we headed straight back to where we new the stag was as soon as we got onto the track we could hear him roaring and groaning in the distance not far from where we was the night before. we could get him to roar at us but we could not get him to break cover. This was becoming a personal battle now him against us with the odds on his side. we left again still with no sighting off him. We thought we would leave him be for the next stalk and let him settle down before the hinds got uneasy and led him off.

Day 4 stalk 2

We headed to the other side of our beat for a good walk around there seemed to be stags roaring all over the place we glassed a good beast on the side of a clear fell spot it would be a good long stalk from were we was as we got closer to the area the weather turned in on us and the rain started to come down well. With the rain came the silence all the stags that we could hear fell silent and the stag we was stalking went into cover we sat out in the clear fell and started to roar to try and bring him back out but he was having none of it we was getting soaked so home we went bloody Scottish weather. We got back home and looked at the weather forecast for the next day it was looking good sun and not very windy

Day 5 stalk 1

The forecast was write for a change no rain and clear sky our last chance to bag the boy who had eluded us so far. We headed straight down the ride to where we had last heard him he was there again roaring away it made a change the weather and wind was in our favour.
we could clearly tell he was making his way up the hill and onto the open hill where the sun was shining we slowly followed up with him roaring in front of us. It sounded like we was only a couple of hundred yards behind him. We got to the end of the pine trees and there was a thick scrubby bit before the open hill started I started to call and we got a response from him immediately but he was still walking away from us. I continued on on my own as the extra person would make the extra noise we didn't want I made my way in about thirty meters when I hit a small clearing in front of me I could see the open hill rise very steeply in front of me as I glassed about I saw four hinds making there way out of the scrub and into the open a minuet latter and my second sighting of the elusive stag the hinds pulled him up behind them. I readied my self on my sticks and gave a roar he stopped in his tracks and I let the .270 go he took two steps forward and fell on the spot. At last we had got him my mate had made his way to me as I was glassing for movement. He was dead for sure and we made our way up the hill towards him he turned out to be a nice eight pointer with a very heavy beam he was an old boy going back so a nice stag to have. We called Bob up on the radio and he came out to recover the stag talk about last minuet.

All in all a very good end to the week shame about the weather but no one can change that.At least we saw and heard plenty of deer there. A big thanks to Bob and Griff who put a lot of time and effort into a great scheme arran 2.JPG :thumb:
 
Well done Crouch Valley nice looking stag, it's a great place Arran i go every year on the BASC scheme !
 
Thanks 375 mag. This is my 4th time and Im sure I will be booking up for next year. I was on the same beat as you I beleave this year. Its good to get the same beat as It gives you a good head start.
 
Nice write up, well done to you both! It was my first time on that beat and really liked it.. Sounds like they were a bit more frisky than when we were there..

Well done again and thanks for sharing! :)
 
dspensley was up there on week 3.. how did he get on?

Sorry mate I didnt get to meet many people realy and I dont know him I generaly keep my self to my self when up there . I did not get to the end off the week meeting as I was recovering my stag which took some doing it was about a 100 mtr drag befour we could even get it near to a quad and it was a bit of a drag back had to winch the quad out a couple of times.
 
Well done!

How do you go about getting the BASC stalking on Arran?

It is normaly advertised on the BASC web site and news letter they only had three stag weeks this year. I know there are still some spaces on the hinds look on the BASC web site. You do need to be a member and have DSC 1 and be registered for DSC 2
 
Thanks! DSC 1 pops up again... Gonna have to bite the bullet!

You wont regret It Im afraid thats the way things are going Im sure one day it will be compulsory to have any way right or wrong. Jelen deer services would be able to help there and you can do a lot of it online.
 
I was up there last week too. I'll vouch for the weather being bad. All my clothes smell of footrot. I don't think dspensley made it. I didn't get a shot all week but not for want of trying. My stalking buddy got a nice spiker on the Tuesday but the big stags didn't want to come and play with us. The chap on the next beat shot at least three though.

Arran is proper, hard, stalking. You really have to put the hours and the effort in to get results.
 
I was up there last week too. I'll vouch for the weather being bad. All my clothes smell of footrot. I don't think dspensley made it. I didn't get a shot all week but not for want of trying. My stalking buddy got a nice spiker on the Tuesday but the big stags didn't want to come and play with us. The chap on the next beat shot at least three though.

Arran is proper, hard, stalking. You really have to put the hours and the effort in to get results.

Sorry to hear you did not get a shot. You are very wright mate It is hard work up there.
 
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