First stag of the season, pretty chuffed
T'was a beautiful sunny day on the shores of Loch Awe, my Father and I took the Argo up into the the hills were we help the landowner manage his hill reds. The coming two weeks we've promised to take 10 stags off the hill with the majority young spikers, hummels and other such cull beasts - of course, with the freedom to shoot a few trophies if we see fit.
Well well well, Friday 10am sees us park the Argo, walk for a small mile, and then spot this magnificent 8 pointer, with around 10-15 hinds with him. I stalked into around 100 yds and took position with my Sako 75 Hunter .243 and a norma 100g ready to fly off the bipod. ...........then 1hr later he is still laying down, but as the hinds start to move off towards the brow of the hill, he stands,,perfect broadside - and bang, bulls eye Heart/Lung shot. Stag dropped to its knees, gets up again, turns, drops down again. 5 seconds pass, he struggles to stand again, turns with the other broadside, begins a stumble/walk, and I deliver a 2nd perfect H/L shot. He drops, 20 seconds later, looks very dead. Gralloch confirms both bullets expanded perfectly and took out the top of the heart and the lungs from both directions. Again, confirming my thoughts the .243 is a capable stag-machine, but NOT with the knock-down power I wish to bring onto the hill. A Second stag by my Father later in the day (nice 8 pointer too) with the 6.5 swede and a norma 150g vulkan, same shot, same distance, drops like a sack of potatoes.
Two great stags, mine the bigger head, but only weighting in at around 160lb larder weight, my Fathers weighting in at just over 200lbs larder weight.
Saturday brings heavy fog and mist, and 7 hrs of 50yd visibility, no stags...leaving us with a needed bag of 8 cull stags next weekend
T'was a beautiful sunny day on the shores of Loch Awe, my Father and I took the Argo up into the the hills were we help the landowner manage his hill reds. The coming two weeks we've promised to take 10 stags off the hill with the majority young spikers, hummels and other such cull beasts - of course, with the freedom to shoot a few trophies if we see fit.
Well well well, Friday 10am sees us park the Argo, walk for a small mile, and then spot this magnificent 8 pointer, with around 10-15 hinds with him. I stalked into around 100 yds and took position with my Sako 75 Hunter .243 and a norma 100g ready to fly off the bipod. ...........then 1hr later he is still laying down, but as the hinds start to move off towards the brow of the hill, he stands,,perfect broadside - and bang, bulls eye Heart/Lung shot. Stag dropped to its knees, gets up again, turns, drops down again. 5 seconds pass, he struggles to stand again, turns with the other broadside, begins a stumble/walk, and I deliver a 2nd perfect H/L shot. He drops, 20 seconds later, looks very dead. Gralloch confirms both bullets expanded perfectly and took out the top of the heart and the lungs from both directions. Again, confirming my thoughts the .243 is a capable stag-machine, but NOT with the knock-down power I wish to bring onto the hill. A Second stag by my Father later in the day (nice 8 pointer too) with the 6.5 swede and a norma 150g vulkan, same shot, same distance, drops like a sack of potatoes.
Two great stags, mine the bigger head, but only weighting in at around 160lb larder weight, my Fathers weighting in at just over 200lbs larder weight.
Saturday brings heavy fog and mist, and 7 hrs of 50yd visibility, no stags...leaving us with a needed bag of 8 cull stags next weekend