A Galloway buck with Mark 1

I was fortunate to have placed the successful bid for a stalking trip up to Galloway which Mark 1 kindly offered in support of Moonraker68's fundraising efforts for the RNLI following the tragic and untimely departure of Pheasant Sniper's nephew.

Mark and I chatted to arrange the date, etc, and Mark asked if I minded his son coming along - absolutely not, I'm all for encouraging youngsters. It was obvious Mark was of the same frame of mind, as he was more than happy for my 14yr old son to come along for his first experience of deerstalking, and so a week last Friday saw 4 of us (plus dog!) piling into Mark's navara and hauling up the M6.....

We arrived at the cottage and settled in (ie opened a beer or three!), and set the alarm for 4am the following morning before retiring (and what a great cottage with a very cosy open fire :thumb:).

The following morning rolled around, and I think it was a shock to my lad's system to be woken up at 4 in the morning....still, fair play, he got up and dressed without a grumble.... It was raining and very overcast as we drove up to the stalking permission, so we stopped by the side of the road for 20 mins or so for the rain to blow over and for things to lighten. As we sat there chatting away, lo and behold not 45yds away out from under a tree stepped a roe doe looking singularly unconcerned.....we watched her mooch around for 10-15 minutes, and it was only as we opened the boot of the truck to make reday for the stalk that she made her way off. I took that to be a positive omen.....:D

We commenced our stalk, following a fenceline up towards a wall bordering a small burn, glassing as we went. It had stopped raining, but the going underfoot was soggy - it was this point that we found out that the waterproof membranes of my sons boots were knackered as his feet were wet. Still, look on the bright side: my boots were ok and so my feet were lovely and dry!!:D (....does that make me a bad father?!?:eek: ). We crossed the burn and followed a plantation edge round - u ntil Mark's lab stopped and started scenting, suggesting that there was possibly a deer in the wood. We stopped and watched, waited and glassed but couldn't detect anything so decided to proceed with caution. We crossed a field to drop down towards the next wall when we suddenly spotted a flash of orange....buck! The 2 boys behind us dropped to the floor and kept quiet (good lads!), we kept eyes on the young spiker buck and Mark readied his quad sticks in front of me (as an aside, I'd never used quads before, and it really was quite a revelation just how steady you could get on them).

The buck was drifting in and out of view behind the undulations of the field, but his direction was right so we just waited for him to drift over and give us a chance of a shot.....As he came to around 70yds away, something must have caught his eye as he suddenly turned towards us and started approaching us slowly - alert, but unsure. He came to around 65yds, and then started what could best be described as an 'Ali shuffle', twitching his neck left and right as he strained to establish what was in front of him. The shot was safe and so I took my opportunity before he broke, squeezing the trigger and watching him vanish from sight as he hit the floor following the impact of the .308 round. A rapid reload, and then we gave him a few minutes under observation. With no sign of movement, Mark cast his lab off, and she went straight over to the fallen buck. A quick eyeball test showed nil reaction - buck down. Closer examination showed a high chest entry that has exited just behind the right shoulder, and the buck was an asymmetrical spiker. Gralloch done, we headed home for a well-earnt breakfast.


The weather turned a little as the day wore on, but the plan was to sit in Mark's doe box so the rain outside was of no consequence. The doe box has been pictured on SD previously, but the photos don't do it justice!! It's just short of a little 'home sweet home' cross-stitch over the door :lol: . Eventually the rain let up and the sun peeked out; I was hoping that a buck may show itself to snatch those last few rays, but unfortunately this wasn't to be. As darkness fell, we called time and returned to the car.

No stalk on Sunday morning as I needed to head for home due to family commitments, but an enjoyable and successful weekend which my son also thoroughly enjoyed (despite his trench-foot.....).

A big thanks to Mark for donating the stalk, and a big thanks again to Moonraker68 for initiating the fundraising.

Job's a good 'un.:thumb:

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Nice one mate. Looks and sounds like a great place to stalk.

Hopefully see you at the Midland. Will have both boys with me, so watch out.

Speak soon mate.

Jon
 
Merlin, good to hear that you and your lad enjoyed it - although it looks like the early start was catching up with him in photo 7! Mark 1 - sincere thanks for donating this lot to help with the fundraising.
 
Merlin, good to hear that you and your lad enjoyed it - although it looks like the early start was catching up with him in photo 7! Mark 1 - sincere thanks for donating this lot to help with the fundraising.

Moonraker your more than welcome anytime,

Maybe we can get you up on one some day soon, also Merlin it was a pleasure to have you and your son with us.

Regard's Mark.
 
Ok following on from Derek snr thread,

Let me say that all our future clients will not be taken on the lease ground,

We also have a further 10 thousand acres to go at.

AS a special one off any sd member can get a 30 % off any booking taken this year for roe deer.

That mean's you can book as many stalk's as you want for £50 per stalk.

I will also donate £5 per stalk to moonraker's charity from now to the end of the year.

Regard's Mark.:D
 
Ok following on from Derek snr thread,

Let me say that all our future clients will not be taken on the lease ground,

We also have a further 10 thousand acres to go at.

AS a special one off any sd member can get a 30 % off any booking taken this year for roe deer.

That mean's you can book as many stalk's as you want for £50 per stalk.

I will also donate £5 per stalk to moonraker's charity from now to the end of the year.

Regard's Mark.:D

Bloody hell, Mark - that is an incredibly generous offer. It's members like you that make SD what it is. Thanks for all that you have done so far.
 
Hi Mark,

Ive been sorry to read about how your generosity in offering a stalk to help Rupert raise funds in aid of the RNLI has caused you the trouble it has..

As Merlin said Rupert was running in memory of my brothers son Michael who tragically was run over whilst cycling to the yacht club he loved aged just 17.

I really am sorry your kind gesture caused your integrity to be questioned on here..

Merlin, i enjoyed your write up, congratulations again on the winning bid and im glad you and your son had a great time in fabulous company.

Mark many thanks for your continued support and generosity and also thanks to Rupert and Merlin.. As Rupert has put so well "Its gents like these that make the site what it is"

Ill be in touch Mark as would be great to come see you for a stalk and while im there ill buy you a few beers pal

Terry
 
Hi Terry, Rupert.

Don't worry I've broader shoulder's than that, and again your more than welcome.

Re.. the pint I'll shall look forward to that.

Best wishes to you and all your family.

Regard's Mark.
 
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