Sika stalking on river cottage

Gez

Well-Known Member
I just turned channel 4 on to catch the last few moments of Hugh Fearnley Whatshisname serving up Sika for christmas dinner. Shifted over to C4+1 now to watch it from the start, will be interesting to see how it turns out.

Did anyone else watch this (the first time or second time around)? Will be intereting to see how it turns out.

Gez
 
Well he knows how to delve out a feast thats for sure , will even nick some of his ideas ,
I thought it interesting
Regards Trapper
 
Yep, watched it, twas good too. ;)

They were park Sika deer in Dorset, and no doubt someone on this site will know where it was and who the stalkers is. That joint he cooked looked really nice and tender, got me all slavering it did:p

wadas
 
Thought it was all done pretty well. Good to hear the talk about proper deer management. Going to have a look on the internet for some of his venison recipes as well. The Pate looked just the job and the idea of using the suet was something I had never heard of before.
 
I thought he represented the facts exactly as they are and explained why it was necessary so the thumbs up from me.

Does anyone know where I can get a cast iron meatloaf tin from?

I got a plan :lol:
 
I thought it was a great programme that cast stalking in a good light.

Does anyone here use the caul fat as suggested?
 
I personally like HFW, and have a lot of respect for the way that he utilises every part of the deer. (Not too sure about the tongue though.....)

However, I think that last nights programme could potentially show stalking in a bad light to the many viewers that aren't "in the know".

I can see the anti brigade picking up on the "get out of car, walk through gate, lean on tree, shoot tame park deer" scenario.
 
wadashot said:
Yep, watched it, twas good too. ;)

They were park Sika deer in Dorset, and no doubt someone on this site will know where it was and who the stalkers is. That joint he cooked looked really nice and tender, got me all slavering it did:p

wadas

Filmed at Melbury - a private deer park north of Dorchester. The stalker (RS) is a very knowledgeable individual with excellent skills - he seems to spot deer five minutes before anyone else. Accordingly, he gets to shoot a lot of Fallow on the estate, as well as a large number of the different species within the confines of the park. He also manages to be an authority on Lichens in his spare time!

The idea of using the caul fat is something I have tried previously. A friend in Italy produced little packages of Wild Boar liver wrapped in it - absolutely delicious! :)

Nice to see the reaction to the shot being shown on primetime TV - I do wish they had gone further in explaining that the animal WOULD run after a perfect hit, before showing the clip of Hugh taking the shot.

I always have concerns that someone will be suggesting that it 'was wounded and ran off to die' - something that can be prevented by setting the scene a little more thoroughly!

Rgds Ian :)
 
Yes watched it last night anything like that can only DO good for our cause,like the way he used all the meat,what a feast wish I had been there

Best wishes to All stalkers and stalkers Wives.
 
Hi all,

I also thought the programme was very good and nicely different for a change. I do agree with Ian's comments though. However, if anyone should write in and complain about the show in any way, it should be about the knife he pretended to swallow and hopefully not about the stalk.

So many of these celebrity chiefs are highlighting game these days which can only be to the benefit of us. It is also a great way to promote the management side to shooting which unfortunately often goes unseen to the majority of people.

PC
 
Whatched it waiting on the childrens ward for the docs to see if our 3 year old had pneumonia, luckily just a bad viral infection again and was allowed home after xrays etc.
Anyway back on track I thought it was good to see the recation to the shot from a deer that was aware of the stalkers presance compared to one that wasn't.

Good to see stalking on the telly from field to plate

Jonathon
 
Unfortunatly i only started watching from when he skinned the stag out, does anyone know if it is repeated at the weekend? How great it was to see someone actually making full use of the carcass for a change and not just the prime cuts, as mentioned earlier though i wasn't so sure about the tongue, the missus told me not to even consider it!
As for stalking on the TV Martin Clunes is doing a series called The Islands of Britain which is out sometime in the new year i think, he went up the west coast to see how life was for the islanders and what kept the islands going. He visisted Barra, Rum, North Harris and the Shetlands Isles as far as i'm aware. He went out for a stalk on North Harris with the head Ghillie and me in tow in late July, plenty of stags about but as you can well imagine 7 people on the hill doesn't get you into stags very easily and we blanked. The one thing they really wanted though was to get the shot on film although none taken as a result of trying to stalk in with a camera man in tow! Will be interesting to see how that comes out. Will tell more when it's been shown.

Jon
 
I rather like HFW his programmes are very good and always come across well.
I am afraid to say I did not see the programme in question, which is a shame really as I have a lease in Dorset, also with a good many Sika on it, I would have like to have seen the outcome of his cooking.

What I will also add is that to me Sika are the best eating, and most of the deer I take in the area are laden with fat and generally the weights are much heavier than the Scottish ones I take on my other lease.
 
sikamalc said:
What I will also add is that to me Sika are the best eating, and most of the deer I take in the area are laden with fat and generally the weights are much heavier than the Scottish ones I take on my other lease.

Agreed - We have a small patch near Bovington that produces very high numbers. Unusally for a cervid, these are so fat you can literally drag out lumps of fat the size of two fists from the body cavity!

Certainly seems to help the eating - a youngster is the best venison I have ever tasted. In fact, we are out tomorrow morning to locate the final guest for our xmas dinner! ;)

Rgds Ian :)
 
channel 4

channel 4.com seems to have the program available to watch on line as a free catch up. Unfortunately it doesnt seem to be working just now. It ought to be worth keeping an eye on though.
 
Re: channel 4

shootingduckdog said:
channel 4.com seems to have the program available to watch on line as a free catch up. Unfortunately it doesnt seem to be working just now. It ought to be worth keeping an eye on though.

I was about to say they usually have the catch up online for popular shows like this. It would be worth a check back for the people that missed it.

After watching the episode from start to finish, I was quite pleased with the way that the show portrayed stalking. I was good to see HFW sighting in the rifle and proving competance (although his grouping was only just good enough really - it would have been nice to see them a little tighter).

They were quite good at bringing across the ethics of deer management, although I was a little disappointed that they didn't pre-warn about the expected reaction to the shot - that little bit came across a bit as though they thought he might have missed or injured the animal.

Gez
 
Funny that ,
normally I only leave the grunt behind ! :lol: ! the rest is accounted for , but I generally, dont' do the caulch, so little time !, and, from Red Experience!!! the fat is normally like cold mutton fat , sticks to the roof of your mouth when cold!. In a suet pudding eaten hot well fill yer breeches,its going down the other end Sorry :eek: :lol: but it is so no problems. I now have to convince the family that its advisable to eat everything I throw at them , Coz even the grand kids , like Hugh ! ;) (guided by the Grinch). :rolleyes:
Cheers Trapper
 
[/quote]

Filmed at Melbury - a private deer park north of Dorchester. The stalker (RS) is a very knowledgeable individual with excellent skills - he seems to spot deer five minutes before anyone else.
Rgds Ian :)[/quote]

I'm not surprised Ian did you see the size of his bino's :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
I enjoyed it too and love Hugh's take on life. Although I've been to Melbury on a BDS visit (the Fallow are fantastic) it's such a shame that Sherborne is the only one of the 4 parks in Dorset open to the public.

On the TV front keep an eye out in the first week of Jan for Kill it Cook it eat it - I think it's on BBC3 - they take a rabbit, grouse and stag, all filmed on Balavil near Kingussie in Inverness-shire.
 
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