Write Ups

This was the result of my first stalk ever in 2007. We began by checking zero early evening followed by a safety briefing and an outline of what the first beat was going to be. Due to the large area to be covered we began a drive around in the Landy, stopping frequently to scan the horizon through the Swarovskis. Now, being used to seeing lots of rabbits and a fair few foxes through my scope every time I go out, I started to wonder where ' all the deer' are. Bless. Nothing seen on the first evening, but spotted this yearling on the morning stalk....stop Landy, reverse, identify. Engine off, slide out of cab like a snake, sticks up and bang , first one in the bag. Now done DSC1 and love every minute. Much patience has been...

No epic but it got the heart going. Just in my first ever stalk, down in Devon at the family farm for the night so thought I would try for a buck where I often see some roe, along side a forestry commission plantation. Kitted up and then drove up to the middle of the farm to a spot I could decamp from the pick up and peek over a brow to glass two large grass fields that are short and beside the plantation, about 400m in front I could see 2, possibly 3 roe moving so I started the stalk, following the other side of a bank/hedge, stopping frequently to glass in front, this field is wheat but has a set aside strip around it. I could also glass over the bank into the field to check the roe where still there, in fact they were slowly...

Hi lads and lassies, I decided on the Articles section as there is a bit of a story to it. Hopefully it will raise the hopes of people without their own ground. Back in the spring my wife and I went with Daughter and future son-in-law one evening to collect our grandson from his martial arts lesson. It ws a chilly evening and I slipped on my 'Deerstalker' gillet. At the end of the lesson we were chatting to grandson and the Chief instructor came over and said "You look to be a bit of a shooting man". I replied "I do a bit." Which caused guffaws of laughter from the family. My wife told him that I helped out on a shoot but mainly did stalking, to which the instructor replied. "Oh, my uncle has a farm north of Oxford and has a lot of...

well here were are a little late so please except my apologies for it a few pics of the first ever SD clay shoot as it rained on the day no one realy was brave enough to get thier camera out so for those who did god bless you these are a few from what ellie took , thanks ellie these were from the high tower although i was the best dressed, buckup did win the best hat contest not sure of the prize maybe a week with johny hehehe alled did do well on this one i think he managed to hit 2 with out stamping his feet cwd222 tried to show off , first from the left then from the right a bit more coaching needed (i did offer) but dad was on hand to help well done muddy for doing a straight now for the important bit...

This is in fact an article by Frax that I took the liberty of moving into the 'Article section'. Great story Frax. ;) It had been quite a struggle for my friends to persuade me to go. I had hummed and harred for months. Could I afford it? Had I the time? But most importantly, did I really want to kill a black bear? Eventually, after a flurry of emails and phone calls it was decided and a couple of weeks later I was threading my way from North West Scotland to Gatwick, collecting one of my companions on the way. Needless to say, getting a rifle through Gatwick was a farce of epic proportions. Contrasting sharply with Halifax, Nova Scotia at the other end. Canadian customs officers were polite, efficient, smart and intelligent...

Calling Sika Stags out is something new to many stalkers. Most have tried calling Roe, and with a Butulo in your pocket and the Roe rut in full swing chances are if there is a Buck in your area you will get him to come over and say hello. Sika are a different kettle of fish, and do not always come to the call so easily. Some years back the in thing in Scotland was the Acme Predator call. Everyone was using them, with a good a good success rate, and I have stuck with this for a while now. However the Screree Elk call is more succesfully used by many stalkers, although I always seem to fail with this call. Probably me blowing it the wrong way :oops: Anyway, the time I want to recall to you all is about 7 years past. It was the...

This is part of a Deer Management Plan that I have set out for an Environmental Conservation Trust. I've posted it as I think it may be of help to anyone involved in Muntjac Deer management. Sorry it is very long! REASONS FOR ACTIVELY MANAGING MUNTJAC DEER MUNTJAC FROM THE BEGINING Chinese Muntjac Deer (Muntiacus reevesi) are a non native species that through no fault of their own has become naturalised in the British Isles. Although it is not the first time these primitive little deer have graced our shores. Muntjac have walked this earth in the same form as we see them today for fifteen million years and their territory, surprisingly, stretched across what we today call Europe, Britain at this period of time was part of...

Hi All Monynut and myself travelled up to Scotland Thursday evening it was p***ing down with rain for the entire journey we finally got to the shoot at around 12.30am dragged ourselves in the caravan on the shoot got the sleeping bags out and crashed out Friday morning 4am woke up to the heavens falling so had a cuppa and waited a while for the rain to slow down Finally at 5.30am the heavy rain had turned to a drizzle so we got kitted up and out the door as we had travelled up during the night I had not seen the area since last year and what a shock it was for me and Paul We shoot on crystal rig south east of Scotland where they have been erecting wind turbines last year they had taken some of the forestry away for these...

Just had to share this with the forum: Perhaps we could make this an extra (optional) event at the March & Shoot? From A. N. Other forum, Deer Roping Friend sent this to me . . . too good not to share & too humiliating to not be true . . . Deer Roping I had this idea that I was going to rope a deer, put it in a stall, feed it up on corn for a couple of weeks, then kill it and eat it. The first step in this adventure was getting a deer. I figured that since they congregated at my cattle feeder and do not seem to have much fear of me when we are there (a bold one will sometimes come right up and sniff at the bags of feed while I am in the back of the truck not 4 feet away) that it should not be difficult to rope one...

Enough of you asked for this so here goes. Monday21st January. 06.45 start. Feel decidedly groggy after the excess of last night! I’m wondering if I got my five essential veggies, perhaps counting the oatmeal in the black pudding, gherkins and other assorted pickles I did. Thinking about it vodka is made from fermented sugar, itself derived from the sugar cane plant. O.K. so why do I feel so rough, I’ve already proved I’m eating healthily? Within a few minutes I forget about the groaning belly and pounding head, ( at least momentarily) we spot a lynx on the road, just looking at us from about 100 yards. Again by the time the camera is got from my bag the lynx has gone. I had no idea of the size of these animals. I would estimate it...

Hi all, posted earlier this year, but I've dusted it off and put it here. bit of a long one this, so I've cut it in two. Part one tonight, and if I don't get told to shut up by too many of you guys I'll post the rest+ some more pictures when I've typed it up. Friday 18th January. Check in at Heathrow 08.00, as I have been warned that it can take some time to get through with a rifle. True to form security are called, and take 45minutes to arrive. There seems to be utter confusion over whether the ammunition has to be in it’s steel box within my suitcase or separate. Eventually it is decided that my bolt and ammo should go in their little steel box down the conveyer belt. The staff do their best to convince me that firearms NEVER...

Hi All, I got back from SA this week. I went on 2 reasonably short hunting trips but still had a fantastic time. My first trip (4 days) was to the Umkomaas Valley in Kwa-Zulu natal. It's the same farm where i shot my kudu last year. This year i was targeting a bushbuck, which is a very tough animal to hunt as they prefer thick cover and are very secretive. We walked several miles each day, up and down some steep valleys looking for this elusive animal. We saw several females and a few young rams but not what i was really looking for. Below are some photos of the accomodation we stayed in and of the valley's we climbed. My 2nd trip was to a friends farm in the Kokstad area of Natal. My friend took a nice blesbuck...

as the adventure continued the following morning was just a frosty but a new meaning had come to the trip , from leaving birmingham to finaly reaching our destination a few miles across the water i realised this was the type of trip i had planned for and now it was actualy happening, today we were after reedbuck and steenbok not a difficult hunt but but a good walk was essential , as we headed out a reference point was two moutian peaks in the distance , the locals called them martha and mary a good hour into the hunt a few reed buck were spotted but so were we, from this no shot was had dricus our PH directed us to a mountain that he had much success with reedbuck but kept the surprise to last now i know why he was...

as i woke , there was a feeling of apprehension within me, it was a cold morning as i looked outside the frost on the camper van said it all the sun was just rising i must of been about 7 ish the guinea fowl just starting to wake shouting at me 'get back get back' such a strange feeling for the month of june then it dawned on me the surealism of the whole thing , i was here my first trip to africa never thought i would be cold and the whole place covered in frost and ice once breakfast was eaten a type of stiff porridge, pack lunch sorted then we were off as i climbed the steep mountainous terrain i struggled for breath but both excitement and my ph kept me moving this morning we were after the biggest prize this area could...

The Greater Kudu was Ernest Hemmingways nemasis, his one desire was to take a trophy 60" bull Kudu. To my knowledge he did not achieve it, and yet the world record stands at well over 60". However taking a Bull Greater kudu over 50" is still not mean feat, even today, although there are far more around than in his time due to conservation and breeding programmes for reintroduction. Today taking a trophy bull Greater Kudu is the dream of many hunters, jsut to see one is an unforgetable experience, and they do not carry the title of the Grey Ghost for nothing. My dream started in 1990, on my first trip to Africa, Kudu were not on the list of my friend who I was accompanying, and to be quite frank I do not recollect seeing any on...

Hi All, Now I've posted this on here before but as we now have a new article section I have refreshed it and added pictures. See what you think. ;) UP THE HILL AND BACK AGAIN, THE LIMITED EXPERIENCES OF A NOVICE HILL STALKER. By Beowulf Now if anyone had told me a year ago that I would be driving my ex army Land Rover through the Scottish Highlands to meet a gentleman who had offered me a weeks Sika Hind stalking in some of the most beautiful countryside in the world; well I’d have wanted to know what illegal substance had invoked such a marvellous yet elusive dream. Yet here I was. Where exactly I wasn’t quite sure, in fact I may have been lost! Hang on cottage with the bay window, antlers on garage door. Yes, and there was...