How wild are the animals you stalk?
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pitiliedon
Well-Known Member
Hard to know exactly what original post is describing.where I shoot fallow the ground is pretty broken up with lots of humps and bumps with grassy flushes in the hollows with a moderated rifle I can cull a couple of does from one group gralloch them and stalk the next group maybe 400yrds away and they have not even heard the shot.On the same ground you can spend the best part of the day getting into red hinds knock a few down but then the rest and any that can see them move travel a couple of miles generally up and watch every move you make
mchughcb
Well-Known Member
Woodland stalking is far harder because of reduced visibility and potential to make more noise to alert the animal. Hence in most places in the world either a dog is used to drive the animal or an ambush along a game trail is required. A field containing food will have a higher amount of game trails leadibg to it resulting in a higher percentage of encountering game. Just like in the desert you can spend days stalking animals and call that elite or you can ambush at a waterhole and call that smart hunting.
mchughcb
Well-Known Member
Real hunting is relative term. If it makes people happy to be condescending to other hunters go for it. There are certainly people on this forum who question my skills. Quite frankly i couldnt give a toss as ive tried all sorts of styles all over the world and as long as its legal when in Rome as the saying goes.
Cootmeurer
Well-Known Member
Videos can be entertaining, but their very nature lends them to portray some behaviors that are not as common as you might think.
many true stalks/hunts involve low light conditions, snap shots, partially obscured targets, skittish animals, etc... All of that makes for poor video - so many video producers glean out that footage and over represent the calm animals strolling about in the clear well after light.
many true stalks/hunts involve low light conditions, snap shots, partially obscured targets, skittish animals, etc... All of that makes for poor video - so many video producers glean out that footage and over represent the calm animals strolling about in the clear well after light.
John Gryphon
Well-Known Member
Agreed,the usual pro productions are filmed mostly in ranch/pen/fenced areas for the sake of the buyer and for the sake of results as the buyers don`t want blurry shaky footage of any monster of any species being hunted.
As to the original q`s the animals here are as wild as all hell and rarely step out of their chosen hidey holes until its so dark that ID is very tough. A mate from Perth WA sat and watched 22 deer including a pair of stags in a pushing match..two dark shapes pushing each other with ID impossible in those light conditions. Rarely do they show in decent light at least the big boys dont.
They get well back into the bush too as evidenced by my game cameras,way back at times. They are wild and super man wary.
If you’re genuinely curious about hunting in the U.K. you should just come over here and try it. See how easy it is for you? .....don’t believe everything you see on YouTube
kieran222
Well-Known Member
Should have made it a bit clearer. I was wondering if the original poster could post some links to the videos that he has been watching as we have no idea what he has seen. He could have been watching park deer being culled, so his comment may be appropriate for the videos he had seen. Would be interested to see before commenting.
Kieran
alberta boy
Well-Known Member
I do hunt in some very remote places , true wilderness in some cases . They are definitely wild animals , but some have never seen a human before and are relatively easy to approach . When I hunt White-Tails close to home , it's a different story . A mature farm country WT buck is a ghost and probably one of the most difficult animals to hunt that we have . Elk are right up there too , they're spooky at the best of times , if they're subjected to any hunting pressure they head for the black timber or just leave the area .
For what it's worth , I've found that UK hunters are very good at stalking close to game . I've always put it down to the fact that you guys hunt deer that are subjected to a lot of hunting pressure and are more difficult to hunt .
AB
For what it's worth , I've found that UK hunters are very good at stalking close to game . I've always put it down to the fact that you guys hunt deer that are subjected to a lot of hunting pressure and are more difficult to hunt .
AB
John Gryphon
Well-Known Member
Yes agreed AB,the harder the game to hunt the better the human becomes the hunter. And while not everyone is fit and able those that are would most likely enjoy their hunting far more than those that take the farm reared beasts.
Schitt even I could take a caged lion...with my 220 Swift mind you.
I shake my head in disbelief at seeing the posed up photos of those that buy the insane pen collectors heads...I dont label them trophies and the buyers miss out on the whole package that comes with hunting truly wild in the wild.
paul o'
Well-Known Member
far from it , park deer maybe ? A few jam rolls and you can ride one home 
, but one shot at free to roam deer and they're be away with the Fairies at top speed , it also go's If they wind you Then you could walk all day to get back on them , but if the wind is with you and your any good you can Stalk within a few yards and stand up give them a Big smile ? then your see how wild and ****ed off they can get 
2130martin
Well-Known Member
guy in Suffolk phones his boss, says "I cant come to work today I'm sick"
"how sick are you?" questions the boss.
"pretty sick,,,, I'm in bed with my sister"
Is Suffolk near Camborne??
reloader54
Well-Known Member
mchughcb
Well-Known Member
Spot on Cootmeur. The difficulty of filming foxes during the day when i hunt is only surpassed trying to film deer during the day in areas under high pressure. Last light through trees in bad angles where the deer is ready to bolt is extremely hard. My best footage is during ambush as you have time to get the camera out and put the rifle down undetected.
Yes, and no. I think it is highly variable, the behaviour of wild deer, a function of several factors including species. Fallow in particular are highly variable, they can be the toughest in a large mob (lots of sentries) and the most stupid alone (like an old feeding buck). But all the UK stalking I did growing up and subsequently was way easier than sambar in dry Vic High Country eucalypts, or sika in the Kaweka forests. No comparison. The wild roe and fallow I hunted in England in the 80s were like estate pets compared to sambar and sika.
kenbro
Well-Known Member
I went half hour earlier with dogs yesterday and there was already a lady walking 3 dogs were i’d seen the roe the day before. Saw no deer.
Today i got to park just after 06.30. Had small camera in pocket and saw these. They were on the footpath (100+ metres away) when they saw me and they jumped up the small retaining wall and carried on feeding in the wood. There were 3, which would probably be the ones i saw 2 days ago.
This footpath is used by many dog walkers every day.
Not the best pics, but the best i could do with this camera.
Ken.
I have shot a lot of reds and fallow in nz, they were more what I was comparing with our deer. Your deer seemed pretty docile. But then, my annual pilgrimage to South Island nz certainly isn’t for deer, it’s the tahr that get me to fly half way around the world!!
Minikeeper, I think you’re right about reds and fallow in NZ, sometimes they can be too easy especially if they are used to getting hours of uninterrupted grazing on good pasture, they certainly let their guard down. The proviso being these are the one’s that don’t get shot at a lot, particularly if there’s vehicles involved. When the wind is right sometimes its amazing how close we can get to both species, good camouflage helps a lot as well as moving slowly under the bush line. Fallow in particular are easy to approach like that.
But put them under pressure and its a totally different story. They’ll likely bugger off at the first sound of a quad and will often move quite far away, across 2 or 3 watersheds sometimes. Blokes in our area have lost their wild deer altogether due to too much pressure and have had to pull right out for a whole season or longer to get them to come back in. Too much pig hunting with dogs doesn’t help.
But sambar and sika? Totally different story. Different habitats, different habits. Bloody hard going. If I go out for a hunt after reds or fallow, I’ll be disappointed if I come home empty handed, its very rare for that to happen. If I go after sambar or sika, I expect to come home empty handed.
But put them under pressure and its a totally different story. They’ll likely bugger off at the first sound of a quad and will often move quite far away, across 2 or 3 watersheds sometimes. Blokes in our area have lost their wild deer altogether due to too much pressure and have had to pull right out for a whole season or longer to get them to come back in. Too much pig hunting with dogs doesn’t help.
But sambar and sika? Totally different story. Different habitats, different habits. Bloody hard going. If I go out for a hunt after reds or fallow, I’ll be disappointed if I come home empty handed, its very rare for that to happen. If I go after sambar or sika, I expect to come home empty handed.
I wondered that too but thought yup, even if that’s the case, its an interesting question. For me it comes back to canned hunts and estate culls masquerading as stalking. Some of the stuff guys get up to claiming to be hunting is no harder than fishing in a trout farm.
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