A good friend of mine has been trying for his first deer with me for some time now. Every time he’s been up at my ground for reds I have always got him onto the deer and showed him deer and even had deer in the sights only for them to be either out of season, over my boundary or an unsafe shot.
Well you know the saying 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] time lucky... and boy did we have to work for it!!
The statement “pulling the trigger is the easy part” most professional stalkers or guys who have done a bit say has to be an understatement after this extraction.... here is how the stalk went.
We arrived at my ground earlier than usual for a evening stalk as the deer here don’t tend to follow the usual first light/last light scenario so I figured if we get one on the ground we will have plenty of time to get it sorted and into the truck.
Parked the truck at a vantage point on the farm (which was surprisingly dry enough) for a good glassing session. Must have been there a good hour and a bit and gone through a few cigs when I started to think today was going to be a blank. Another 30 mins went buy and just as I was going call it a day bang.. a ear twitch behind some scrub caught my eye. Game on!
I could only make out one hind but I know this ground and the animals on it and I am confident this hind is part of group I have been seeing regularly. Only problem is she’s 30 yards over next doors boundary.
I told my mate they have to come out from where they are onto my bit so let’s stalk into them and set up in ambush.. As soon as they jump the fence we will have a safe shot.
Stalked into around 80 yards and the single hind turned into 8 hinds/followers and calfs.. The wind wasn’t great, in fact it was terrible for what we were doing but we had no choice. The deer are laying in a sheltered dip; the ground goes 45degrees above and below them so I decide to take my mate under the deer that way any scent will be taken under and away. We will be shooting up but there is a perfect backstop once they step out.
Set up with the .270 on bipod in a comfortable position and wait it out. 2 hours pass and the light is fading. Getting tense now as they have to move sooner or later otherwise we will not get a chance.
Lead hind stands... here we go ... takes a look around and heads for my boundary. I tell my mateto get ready there coming...
I whisper to him as soon as they clear the fence whack a calf from the back of the group.
Lead hind jumps the fence and the remanding 7 follow her. I hear the safety go off and booooooom. 130grain pill is sent and I hear a good thud but there is no reaction from the calf I pointed out.. WTF!?? Deer scatter and I’m scanning and see a hind on the deck... **** .. Wrong one... my mate has shot the lead hind!!!
I tell him to reload and asked what happened... a mumble or two later it turns out he thought it was a calf.. I don’t give him a hard time as its his first deer and it was a clean shot. Gralloched her and she was dry from milk and not in calf.. a very very old hind, she’s had a broken leg at some point, 3 broken ribs as well (all healed now) so turned out to be a good one to take after all.
Call farmer “hi we have got one down but it’s a big bugger can you get the quad down?” “sorry Mo the quads broken” DAM! Now the fun starts no way are the two of us going to move it uphill on our own so I call a another mate who is a bit of a gym nut and loves this kind of functional strenth workouts .....
Usually the easiest way is down the hill, across the brook and we can get the truck down to the other side, not this time as the ground is wetter than all of Scotland. The next and only option is up 500 yards of the hill... come to a flat spot then up another 100 yards.... over the fence onto the road where we can get the truck.
6 hours later and I am well and truly ****ED! the gym nut friend says no time in the gym is as demanding as what we just did...
Ps the hind weighed 238lb on the hook.
The pictures tell the rest of the story. Enjoy.
Well you know the saying 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] time lucky... and boy did we have to work for it!!
The statement “pulling the trigger is the easy part” most professional stalkers or guys who have done a bit say has to be an understatement after this extraction.... here is how the stalk went.
We arrived at my ground earlier than usual for a evening stalk as the deer here don’t tend to follow the usual first light/last light scenario so I figured if we get one on the ground we will have plenty of time to get it sorted and into the truck.
Parked the truck at a vantage point on the farm (which was surprisingly dry enough) for a good glassing session. Must have been there a good hour and a bit and gone through a few cigs when I started to think today was going to be a blank. Another 30 mins went buy and just as I was going call it a day bang.. a ear twitch behind some scrub caught my eye. Game on!
I could only make out one hind but I know this ground and the animals on it and I am confident this hind is part of group I have been seeing regularly. Only problem is she’s 30 yards over next doors boundary.
I told my mate they have to come out from where they are onto my bit so let’s stalk into them and set up in ambush.. As soon as they jump the fence we will have a safe shot.
Stalked into around 80 yards and the single hind turned into 8 hinds/followers and calfs.. The wind wasn’t great, in fact it was terrible for what we were doing but we had no choice. The deer are laying in a sheltered dip; the ground goes 45degrees above and below them so I decide to take my mate under the deer that way any scent will be taken under and away. We will be shooting up but there is a perfect backstop once they step out.
Set up with the .270 on bipod in a comfortable position and wait it out. 2 hours pass and the light is fading. Getting tense now as they have to move sooner or later otherwise we will not get a chance.
Lead hind stands... here we go ... takes a look around and heads for my boundary. I tell my mateto get ready there coming...
I whisper to him as soon as they clear the fence whack a calf from the back of the group.
Lead hind jumps the fence and the remanding 7 follow her. I hear the safety go off and booooooom. 130grain pill is sent and I hear a good thud but there is no reaction from the calf I pointed out.. WTF!?? Deer scatter and I’m scanning and see a hind on the deck... **** .. Wrong one... my mate has shot the lead hind!!!
I tell him to reload and asked what happened... a mumble or two later it turns out he thought it was a calf.. I don’t give him a hard time as its his first deer and it was a clean shot. Gralloched her and she was dry from milk and not in calf.. a very very old hind, she’s had a broken leg at some point, 3 broken ribs as well (all healed now) so turned out to be a good one to take after all.
Call farmer “hi we have got one down but it’s a big bugger can you get the quad down?” “sorry Mo the quads broken” DAM! Now the fun starts no way are the two of us going to move it uphill on our own so I call a another mate who is a bit of a gym nut and loves this kind of functional strenth workouts .....
Usually the easiest way is down the hill, across the brook and we can get the truck down to the other side, not this time as the ground is wetter than all of Scotland. The next and only option is up 500 yards of the hill... come to a flat spot then up another 100 yards.... over the fence onto the road where we can get the truck.
6 hours later and I am well and truly ****ED! the gym nut friend says no time in the gym is as demanding as what we just did...
Ps the hind weighed 238lb on the hook.
The pictures tell the rest of the story. Enjoy.
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