Write Ups

Sunday was the third of our driven hunts. - 6c with a coating of snow on the ground but luckily very little wind. This year there has been a lack of boar . The start of the season was very wet with many of the boar lying up places under water plus it has been a massive acorn year. Normally on a boar day the number shot can run into double figures but this year over the last 3 shoots only about six boar in total have been shot. So yesterday wearing my thick padded trousers, battery powered waist coat and new battery powered gloves I was out hunting again. One of the guns shot a boar in the morning then after lunch it was off to sit for the second drive. After walked to the stand and had just got seated,gun loaded and snow brushed off...

Some of you may recall the loss of my harris hawk (frayer) about 4 weeks ago. Well I would just like to put a few photos up of my new companion. His name is Jo and he is a red tailed hawk , he’s 1year old but he’s been a bit of a naughty boy for his previous owner. So we have a bit of a hill to climb, but as he’s only a year old I am sure we will get to the top of the hill. We have only had him a week and Al ready he’s flying to my hand and getting comfortable. I was warend not to handle him as he’s quite aggressive, but we do seem to be getting some where . Patients is the name of the game 😀👍🏻

Out in the cold yesterday with the intension of catching up with some hinds and followers. The stags for me are done, even the prickets, it's time to ensure a block of woodland that attracts a lot of Sika from mid-November onwards, are not left to feel too comfortable. Stags or prickets can only fear guests or clients, I'm just going to try an concentrate on the females and hopefully not leave any dependants until later in winter. With this in mind, and knowing how crispy the woodland would be, I took the long route to the far end of the woodland block by way of the downland, entering on the Northerly wind. Deer generally do not like their food frozen, so on the way, there was none to be seen out in the fields, just a few on the...

If I can just get my defence in early doors. This was not my choice. Today was a planned 'cull' day, on our wee shoot - the forecast looked shocking, but it is better than staying in a nice warm bed. Apparently.🤥 My hand is forced in any event. I am due at the farm to feed the birds, and so the option of simply rolling over and hitting 'snooze' is simply not on. At 0400 hours, the frost on the 110 is impressive. For those who know about 110s - on a trip to Scotland, if you put the heaters on full blast at the M25 they normally kick in at Cumbria. Utter shite. Consequently I am sitting on the driveway for the thick end of twenty minutes, trying to get the truck 'road legal'. Much exhaling of my hot (and I suspect rancid) breath, a...

Just for those who may be stuck indoors today. An early start this morning. It is (euphemistically) one of our 'cull days'. 0430 finds me sitting atop a tree in about 4° of temperature - winter is definitely on its way. The thermal picks up Muntjac from 0655, but they never present with an ethical shot and so live to die another day. This seat is SE facing, and so I just enjoy the show...

It is Wednesday of our week away up on Harris, and I have (thus far) not exactly covered myself in glory. A day's fishing produced a Smolt (doesn't count apparently), and a half-day shooting over Pointers demonstrated a complete absence of Grouse and my inability to hit Snipe. Still onwards and upwards. Literally. My Stalker for the day is the same lad who 'filled in' for the Dog-man yesterday. I make a mental note to look out for him stepping in front of the rifle. The sun has put in (an all too brief) appearance as I am driven off to the range to 'check zero'. Notwithstanding the usual 'performance' anxiety whenever anyone is watching me 'check zero' (or find the atlas joint on any deer come to think of it) I manage to send a...

I won't bore anyone with an account of my last outing, a pretty pedestrian shooting of a CWD from less than 50 yards. What I will mention is the fact that I nearly had my day spoiled by an owl! I was driving to the farm in the pre-dawn gloom when the headlights picked up a large obstruction in the road. I slowed to a halt, and identified the lump as a smallish owl (Athene noctua, I think). I waited. He waited. I retrieved my iPhone from my pocket, adjusted the settings and took a picture. He glared at me. I had reached the point where I was about to exit the car and either shoo him away, or capture him and spend half the day trying to find a vet who'd deal with him, when he finally got bored and flew off, apparently uninjured...

Was asked to trim up some Reds on a place I have been to pre covid also this time I have installed a small unit made a internal frame and have my hangers (Thank God) as they would just not fit hanging by the hocks. It is a bit of a drive so one is enough to cleaned out and on the road. Weights after 4 days 96 94 kg which over time I have noted they loose 3-4kg with the unit sitting.

Well I finally managed to get the last of the uk deer species, my Sika. I have just returned from a booked outing with Kevin Rigler down in Dorset. I arrived early Sunday afternoon with the intention of going out on the Monday. On arrival Kevin showed me to his on-site accommodation & asked if I fancied going out that afternoon. Well of course the answer was yes. So about 3.30 we loaded up on his Gator & went and looked over a couple of areas. On the 3rd area we stalked through a small area of gorse to a field/marsh area where Kevin had explained where he was expecting to see deer. He was spot on as we set up on the edge of the cover he spotted a stag out in front of us. I was set up on my sticks & he tried to call the stag in but he...

Pre covid I had a great trip to Essex to shoot my first muntjac with @Tim.243 Now, 3 years later I would visit him to carry on where we left off. After a pick up from the station and a quick cuppa and say hi to the dogs, it was straight out to the "honey hole", a paddock that has produced a lot of muntjac in the last few years. The weather was glorious, with a rainbow prominent after a few spots of rain. There was a bit of wind, unfortunately blowing in the wrong direction. Scanning with the thermal soon revealed a pair of muntjac working the hedgeline ca.150-160 m away. A quick deployment when they were feeding or looking the other way soon narrowed the gap to 125m. I waited patiently on the sticks for the buck to present a clean...

It's Thursday and last night the Castle was filled with ten 'clients' from around the world. A sporting syndicate formed through business and its associated trappings. They are dropped on the front lawn by helicopter - not a 110 in sight.:-| This syndicate has taken all three Estates on the Isle and consequently it is all 'hands to the pumps' for the staff - Guides, Ghillies and Stalkers are roped in from about the Isle to help out. My Stalker is rather too honest (is there such a thing?) and tells me that this is his first time 'guiding'. I do my very best to put him at ease, and explain that there is absolutely no pressure today. I do not care if I do not shoot a Stag, literally, do not care. We will (I hope) enjoy each other's...

I needed to feed the pheasants today prior to our next shoot on Friday. I looked at the forecast and thought "Oh dear, well .....it might not be that bad ". I can't feed tomorrow as I have a hospital appointment, so today it had to be. I started early, thinking I might just get away with it. I was wrong. I did not get away with it. The heavens opened up and it was a constant deluge. Puddles appeared before my eyes. The tracks disappeared into lakes. I hid for a bit, but it just got heavier and heavier and heavier. I was soaked right through to the skin as my coat decided to die. If I was not a really good swimmer I do not think I would have made it out alive. Bloody weather !

Another great afternoon on the boat today (In-spite of what people may think from my posts on other topics, Arabia is a truly amazing and varied place, with many generous and kindly people too) A 3:30 pm cast off. New leaders on the fly-rods. Flies selected. A bit of a lottery. There is no "matching the hatch" with this Blue Water fly-fishing malarky. Previous knowledge helps a bit so I elected to go small (A three inch baitfish imitator is small for this game) Stayed local and looked for signs of activity. No "rising fish" for this caper - though sometimes a fish leaping can be a clue Local artisanal fishermen are always a great sign , but there were none today (funnily enough they did turn up once we were into fish, so it...

A couple of mornings ago I was back at the scene where I had seen a big bodied boy with the unmistakable look of a stag walking home with head down but for the life of me I could not ID his antlers so he was watched as he melted into the bush. I was back the next morning for the following. It may look nice and open and yes where he is right there it is 'good' however the spot is surrounded by untouched native forest for kilometres and has log trash windrow heaps covered in blackberry canes and there are lots of 6'-7' high Dogwood thickets. I was fortunate enough to have been there before daylight to set up and then at first blink of light observe two Askari stags jousting below me although only through proper bino`s in light too...

After spending the last 7-8 months with a target club, the time for the does finally came back round and so I duly booked myself out with a chap down in Kelso. Got numbers 1 and 2 in the book last night and this morning. Sadly no photos from last night, as we knocked her just afore last light, and by the time we managed to find her, we were fighting what little light remained. Morning outing was short and sweet, first tried to stalk into a small group of 4 or 5, but someone (not me... 😅) tripped over a trunk and spooked them 😂 Back to the car to skip a few fields back to see if we could intercept them again. Stalking down to where we thought they'd hold up, 2 does were munching about 10-20 yd into the field from the edge. Carefully...

Had a half day today and was feeling a bit groggy from catching my daughters cold. Decided I needed to get outside so managed to have a walk about on the farm just down the road to test Major with the shotgun for the first time. Had a few hares run that I left and then flushed up one pheasant ( no one puts them down for the last few years so they are savvy now) the one that went up went straight into the sun so I couldn't see it, still a good flush so he had a good boy. I let a shot off when he was about 50yds away and he didn't bat an eyelid other than looking at me as if to say well..... Good walk about and really helped clear the sinuses

COVID last week has left me with a legacy of aches and pains. Every bone including teeth hurt still and it's getting me down, the hips especially hurt! Everything is hard and the drive to get out is waining, especially to go get this season's first pheasants. Well after a long night out with technology and aching all over for it the next day I decided a gentle waddle into some wild pheasants on my patch with some primitive hardware and no tech was in order! It's been so long since I've been out with this flintlock I felt bloody naked! No thermal, no optics, no binos, just a knife, flint and black powder! At first I was rushing and not looking but I soon got back into the rhythm. Slowed down and started to watch more, move less. Now...

Having acquired a variation and subsequently a nice little Sako .222, life and Roe got in the way. So back on it in the last few weeks. First outing blank, no worries. Second outing Munty buck in velvet, ran on a fair bit which worried me. Third outing another young buck in velvet, kicked for a fair while which again I was not keen on. I am used to my .243 with 105grn which drops them on the spot. But a fair bit of damage on a Munty, hence the .222 . So back to targets with the .222 ( light trigger v the two stage on my .243) . Also gave my self a good talking to re concentration, shot placement etc and some more practice rounds. Out this evening, sitting in the hedge on the side of bean field newly harrowed where I have seen...

Says it all really. My wife has been going slowly 'stir crazy' in the cottage, whilst I have been galavanting all over the Isle. I tell the Ghillie that I will not be needing him for the last day - he looks suitably delighted, as the Castle is now rammed with rich clients, and they all need looking after. We spend the next couple of days just bimbling around Harris & Lewis. St. Clement's Church in Rodel (bottom of South Harris).