Headed up to Stranrear for my annual Rut mission hoping to get a nice beast. Very windy weather and to be honest it was so dark wasn't overly hopeful as it started to drizzle. After about an hour of stalking the perimeter and only seeing a small 8 pointer I was feeling even less hopeful as the afternoon wore on.
Finally heard my first roar which got the blood pumping and made a beeline straight for the wood it came from. This is what I love about stalking and something non hunters never understand. Creeping through the closely packed tree's in fading light the roars were getting louder and louder but visilbity in the thick cover was no more than 20ft at best. Still we pressed on through the wood unit we reached a break in the wood about 50 yards in front of us. At this point the roars were so loud we could feel them just not see the stags. A hind moved and we started crawling closer towards the noise. Everything went silent and thinking we had bust it we were contemplating marching out but then the biggest bodied stag I have ever laid eyes on stepped out but all I could see was his silhouette in the light. He was clearly on the job thrashing and marching around like a loon. Sat in the dark of the wood peering out at the stag we got to about 20 yards. Knew he was a strong one by his size but couldn't see his antlers however I knew there were big stags about.
Settled in and placed the crosshairs on his shoulder. Pulled trigger crack and nothing..... He just ran off as if nothing had happened. Waited a few minutes then went to examine the shot site . Couldn't find any blood or hair and thought ffs I have bloody missed something the size of a door from 20 yards away. Went back to where I was kneeled and looked at the line of site. All I could assume at this stage was that I must have hit a branch I couldn't see against his silhouette in the dark which took the bullet. At this point I'm fuming thinking this is going to be a nightmare if I have injured a big stag.
Back to the shot site we march and start to head of in the direction we heard him going. From our position he had just run sideways but when we got to the shot site we saw there was a very small dip which he headed towards. Literally no more than 30 yards from where I had shot him we found him laid up behind a load of bracken, ABSOLUTELY stone dead!! Not going to lie the relief was immense at finding him and even better was that the shot had been textbook. When gralloched the 156gr Creedmoor bullet had absolutely annihilated the deer turning its heart and lungs into a very bloody soup before exiting very neatly.
All in all a job well done and a very nice 10pt for my wall. Happy days
Finally heard my first roar which got the blood pumping and made a beeline straight for the wood it came from. This is what I love about stalking and something non hunters never understand. Creeping through the closely packed tree's in fading light the roars were getting louder and louder but visilbity in the thick cover was no more than 20ft at best. Still we pressed on through the wood unit we reached a break in the wood about 50 yards in front of us. At this point the roars were so loud we could feel them just not see the stags. A hind moved and we started crawling closer towards the noise. Everything went silent and thinking we had bust it we were contemplating marching out but then the biggest bodied stag I have ever laid eyes on stepped out but all I could see was his silhouette in the light. He was clearly on the job thrashing and marching around like a loon. Sat in the dark of the wood peering out at the stag we got to about 20 yards. Knew he was a strong one by his size but couldn't see his antlers however I knew there were big stags about.
Settled in and placed the crosshairs on his shoulder. Pulled trigger crack and nothing..... He just ran off as if nothing had happened. Waited a few minutes then went to examine the shot site . Couldn't find any blood or hair and thought ffs I have bloody missed something the size of a door from 20 yards away. Went back to where I was kneeled and looked at the line of site. All I could assume at this stage was that I must have hit a branch I couldn't see against his silhouette in the dark which took the bullet. At this point I'm fuming thinking this is going to be a nightmare if I have injured a big stag.
Back to the shot site we march and start to head of in the direction we heard him going. From our position he had just run sideways but when we got to the shot site we saw there was a very small dip which he headed towards. Literally no more than 30 yards from where I had shot him we found him laid up behind a load of bracken, ABSOLUTELY stone dead!! Not going to lie the relief was immense at finding him and even better was that the shot had been textbook. When gralloched the 156gr Creedmoor bullet had absolutely annihilated the deer turning its heart and lungs into a very bloody soup before exiting very neatly.
All in all a job well done and a very nice 10pt for my wall. Happy days
