So, how did you get into stalking?

[john.g]

Started snaring rabbits when I was about 10, got a hold of a air rifle when I was 12 then my mum bought me an old Damascus s/s 12 bore shotgun with hammers, god when I think back that thing was a accident waiting to happen , anyway got to the age when beer and the ladies became more interesting so knocked it on the head as other more pressing matters came 1st
wasnt until I was married and my daughter was 2-3 years old that I went back to shooting/fishing (ex wasn't happy) pmsl , got a rimmy , then .222 then onto .243 .270 now been shooting deer for over 30 year

 

[foxdropper]

First ever deer was taken with a lurcher way back in time when things seemed so much clearer.Wasn’t frowned on ,wasn’t ridiculed ,was just what country lads did .Ive always been around folk that hunted from keepers ,farmers and poachers .
My first deer shot was with a 410 shotgun ,shot tipped out of a 3 inch magnum and replaced with a lorry wheel ball bearing ,tried down the barrel first of course .The ball bearing held in place with a spot of hot candle wax .Practiced on fray bentos pie tins at 40 yards .The day arrived and a mate and myself ,both armed with said weapons ,walked a wood through on his dads farm .I remember that doe as if it were yesterday but in reality 35 years ago .Back of the head as she trotted past me .I was hooked and pestered my dad for a rifle .I Cant remember if a license was needed or not but I was given a 22 hornet which I used to very good effect on the local roe which were to all intents and purposes classed very much as pests and permission given freely .4x 32 scope off an old air rifle .
That hornet lived in my then work vehicle ,a mini pickup .
How times have changed for the better I would have to say .
I now still use the 410 and hornet but they are locked away in the cabinet of course .

 

[AN DU RU FOX]

As everyone else i suppose shot air rifles/catty,s for rats ducks bunnies then 410/9mm then cadets 303,s onto shotties for clay/game then on rimmies for fox control plus 223 then my 6.5 and 308 which i still use today ,its something ive allways done along with terriers and lurchers for fox. and now older not wiser moved onto deer more lesuirely i suppose but imho more enjoyable also joined s/d seven yrs ago and did the dsc1 and got an invite off two great lads on here for my first, it was a comedy of errors for me but it paid off and i will never forget it.

 

[takbok]

I started with a smoothbore Gecado model 16 not long after I could walk, then my Dad's Gecado model 35 when I was about 10. I'd also shot with my dad's .357 revolver & .308 rifle from a young age. I paid for my own Norinco JW-15 .22lr in my early teens. I was the only one interested in hunting in the family and eventually shot my first deer, a fallow buck when I was 19 or 20. I also shot occasionally with my dad's old rickety Thomas Bland and Son S/S shotgun.

Shooting took a backseat for the next 10 years after studying and moving to the UK. I was sad to leave a beautiful S&W .38 special revolver that I'd inherited from my grandfather in SA.

I managed to start stalking properly after a few years in Scotland and have met a couple of people that have given me amazing stalking and I haven't looked back.

 

[Overlay]

Got my first Airgun at 10 years of age, ( 55 years ago now ) joined the rat and sparrow club, got my first folding poachers .410, then 12 gauge single barrelled Coee.
Never looked back from then on, pigeon shooting , proper Wildfowling, ferreting, foxing, long netting, beating, keeping, any type of shooting, then i went to Scotland Wildfowling and got my second attempt at punt gunning, the guide I was with asked if I’d ever been deer stalking - no said I, well you will be in the morning as the winds are too high for the punt or we can try our hand decoying in a field, I plumped for the deer stalking. - OMG what an eye opener, that was me done - been doing it ever since and still love every minute and still get the colly wobbles after a shot, still ferreting, rabbiting, pigeon shooting, foxing and all fly fishing

In that time walked up ptarmigan, black cock, grouse and hares of course the mighty Red and my favourite Roe stalking

That first trip to Scotland was 40 years ago and I always look back and count my blessings of being so fortunate and meeting so many sportsman with true values and a will to help others joining the sport

 

[User00025]

First ever deer was taken with a lurcher way back in time when things seemed so much clearer.Wasn’t frowned on ,wasn’t ridiculed ,was just what country lads did .Ive always been around folk that hunted from keepers ,farmers and poachers .
My first deer shot was with a 410 shotgun ,shot tipped out of a 3 inch magnum and replaced with a lorry wheel ball bearing ,tried down the barrel first of course .The ball bearing held in place with a spot of hot candle wax .Practiced on fray bentos pie tins at 40 yards .The day arrived and a mate and myself ,both armed with said weapons ,walked a wood through on his dads farm .I remember that doe as if it were yesterday but in reality 35 years ago .Back of the head as she trotted past me .I was hooked and pestered my dad for a rifle .I Cant remember if a license was needed or not but I was given a 22 hornet which I used to very good effect on the local roe which were to all intents and purposes classed very much as pests and permission given freely .4x 32 scope off an old air rifle .
That hornet lived in my then work vehicle ,a mini pickup .
How times have changed for the better I would have to say .
I now still use the 410 and hornet but they are locked away in the cabinet of course .

Almost mirror image, except my first was a garden gun,9mm just the cap 2 iots of powder the home made lead ball and patch. A big Fallow buck, just under the ear at 15yds after a long stalk through bracken and watched every inch of the way by a keeper who was amazed how I managed it.

 

[foxdropper]

We could be bothers mate

 

[reloader54]

my first deer, ok long story short didn't have much of a family life, came home one day with a rescued lurcher, didn't improve matters at all so ended up living out of an american pick-up with said lurcher, while out searching for something to feed us both he saw something in the distance and froze,, I looked as best I could and saw a movement on the skyline so I slipped him,, and off he goes with me in hot pursuit, I should add at this point say I did have permission to be on the place and also to run the dog. so just as the dog homes in on what was sighted it fecking starts to stand up,,, sh1t its a red stag,, he piles in under the antlers hits it full in the chest and sits it on its ass and next thing I know hes flying through the air, and its trying to get on its feet again, he goes in again and by now I'm literally feet away from the pair of them there's blood everywhere but I cant see whose? I draw my knife I'v never been this close to a wild live deer, dog finds a good spot to hold on and I throw myself onto the whole wriggling mess of fur,and blood stained grass and at a chosen moment plunge the knife into the head of the deer, a few violent kicks and bucks,,, and all was still.
I looked at the dog,, I was horrified, he was opened up pretty bad underneath and had obviously lost a fair bit of blood, I quietened him down and got the truck as close as possible, and took him to my vet, we cleaned him up and fortunately he was not damaged internally, I came clean with the vet and said I cant pay until I get some extra cash, what about the deer? still there cant lift it, lets put the dog in the recovery room and let him rest, show me the deer. off we go and we get the deer on the truck and back at the vets we butcher it and the vets bill is paid,, in venison, with a decent amount left over for me to pick up when I want it.
I have grassed a good many deer since that day,, never quite like that though.
the dogs name was Jed, alsation / greyhound 1st cross, he was 15 when he passed, myself and the vet had a shot of scotch in his memory.
I have many happy memories of dogs I have been fortunate to share life with,,, humans,, not so much.

 

[User00009]

I was more into fishing when we moved to Cheshire from Liverpool with my dads job. I was a raggie arsed kid from a rough council estate. On my way cycling to Poynton pool I saw loads of rabbits in the fields, I was 11 years old. I asked the farmer if I could catch the rabbits, I remember like it was yesterday, he laughed and said feel free. My fiends dad explained how to use snares as he was a country man who had lurches. Needless to say I drew a blank. I asked my dad for an air rifle and he bought me a Diana .177. Again I was drawing a blank. I upgraded the Diana to a .22 relum tornado and I potting a few rabbits, this was once I’d learned the benefit of using the wind and doing a recy of my ground. I used to paunch the rabbits and give them to the old people on our estate. I learnt how to dress game as a Saturday butchers lad. From this day I was hooked on fishing (no pun intended) and shooting. Dad got me a whippet and I ran him on the rabbits and I joined the new mills whippet racing club. Mr X was his racing name, but he was a bit keen to say the least, so I was asked to only run him in the tapes and a flag. Around the age of 23 I got into springer spaniels and trialling, during this time I bumped into Des whilst on a shoot in holmfirth. He took me under his wing and I got my first .243 a Parker hale. Des and i went all over and he showed me the ropes of grollaching and field craft. I remember all of those days as if it was yesterday, albeit Its over 55 years ago with such joy, and the people whether lords or like me Labourer’s, I’ve met whilst loading, beating, picking up, trialling, stalking and training all kinds of dog has been a privilege as I enter the twilight of my hunting life.
Rgds
RS

 

[wheely]

I joined the air cadets at 14 and became a reasonable shot with the .22 on the indoor range. Progressed to the .303 as the last resort when the team was one man short (range officer didn't think I was that good lol). Got the highest score of the day on my first outing so my place on the full bore team was safe. I live on the outskirts of town and was looking for a saturday/holiday job. There was a farm 200 yards away so i jumped on my bike and went round to ask. The farmers never employed schoolboys but put a bag of pig food on my back heavier than me and sent me to feed the pig whilst they thought about it. This was something they had done before but i was the first to succeed without getting trampled by the pigs or running home to mummy. They said they would give me a chance and this was a turning point in my life. I spent every spare minute at the farm and went from a 7 stone weakling to the only boy at school that could lift more that his body weight above his head. The farmers leant me a single barreled shotgun to scare the pigeons and I was soon hooked and found I had some success on the pigeons and also wide ducks. A box of cartridges cost 2 1/2 days pay and only one chance with the single barrel so i made every shot count. When my career with the Royal Air Force as trainee pilot was cut short when i failed the officer training i found a job on a farm doing what i loved and became a good tractor driver. In those days people that could drive a tractor in a straight line were pretty rare and i went on to win some ploughing matches with a bog standard tractor and plough against some of the county champs and even one who had done well at the nationals. Fast forward to the Day I got the chance to be Head groundsman at a hotel that had 100 acres and wanted to establish their own deerpark. Needless to say I thought i had won the lottery. I did a deer management course and we set on an apprentise and i started showing him how we were going to run the grounds between us. Less than 12 months after starting the job i had a bad road traffic accident when i lost control of a landrover on a patch of oil on the main road. I broke my back in 2 places and am paralyzed chest down. My boss told me there were no desk jobs at the hotel for me so i better learn how to manage the grounds from a wheelchair. Wow that was the best thing that could have happened. I did a further 8 years there. The deerpark was set up, the boss had put it on hold for 12 months. We went from 12 hinds and 2 stags to over 80. I found a machine that would tow a wheelchair and did the culling. I joked with my consultant at the spinal injury hospital that I was probably the only paraplegic to gralloch a deer with the help of a vegaterian, Yes the apprentice was veggy lol. I have since helped control red deer on my mates farm and a few munties too. You would no believe it if it was a film but it is all true.

 

[Kjf]

Looks like we all had the same upbringing

Toe rags from council estates or just lads , wether we lived in the country side , or made sure we could do what is in our genes , to get in the the great outdoors

Being lads , that made us blokes,

And not snowflakes

Kjf

 

[Kjf]

I joined the air cadets at 14 and became a reasonable shot with the .22 on the indoor range. Progressed to the .303 as the last resort when the team was one man short (range officer didn't think I was that good lol). Got the highest score of the day on my first outing so my place on the full bore team was safe. I live on the outskirts of town and was looking for a saturday/holiday job. There was a farm 200 yards away so i jumped on my bike and went round to ask. The farmers never employed schoolboys but put a bag of pig food on my back heavier than me and sent me to feed the pig whilst they thought about it. This was something they had done before but i was the first to succeed without getting trampled by the pigs or running home to mummy. They said they would give me a chance and this was a turning point in my life. I spent every spare minute at the farm and went from a 7 stone weakling to the only boy at school that could lift more that his body weight above his head. The farmers leant me a single barreled shotgun to scare the pigeons and I was soon hooked and found I had some success on the pigeons and also wide ducks. A box of cartridges cost 2 1/2 days pay and only one chance with the single barrel so i made every shot count. When my career with the Royal Air Force as trainee pilot was cut short when i failed the officer training i found a job on a farm doing what i loved and became a good tractor driver. In those days people that could drive a tractor in a straight line were pretty rare and i went on to win some ploughing matches with a bog standard tractor and plough against some of the county champs and even one who had done well at the nationals. Fast forward to the Day I bgot the chance to be Head groundsman at a hotel that had 100 acres and wanted to establish their own deerpark. Needless to say I thought i had won the lottery. I did a deer management course and we set on an apprentise and i started showing him how we were going to run the grounds between us. Less than 12 months after starting the job i had a bad road traffic accident when i lost control of a landrover on a patch of oil on the main road. I broke my back in 2 places and am paralyzed chest down. My boss told me there were no desk jobs at the hotel for me so i better learn how to manage the grounds from a wheelchair. Wow that was the best thing that could have happened. I did a further 8 years there. The deerpark was set up, the boss had put it on hold for 12 months. We went from 12 hinds and 2 stags to over 80. I found a machine that would tow a wheelchair and did the culling. I joked with my consultant at the spinal injury hospital that I was probably the only paraplegic to gralloch a deer with the help of a vegaterian, Yes the apprentice was veggy lol. I have since helped control red deer on my mates farm and a few munties too. You would no believe it if it was a film but it is all true.

Good on ya mate , I doff thy cap to ya

KJF

 

[barbel]

I lived in a valley miles from anywhere, my dad gave me a catapult with 1/4 " elastic, I was 5-6 yrs old, then he gave me a.177 Diana air pistol, I can still smell the gun oil on it now, I was so proud of that gun, that was 1960 , thought I could kill any thing with that , then progressed like everybody else, but I still shoot with my friend of 55yrs.My dad was a firearms instructor for the ta and he gave me a Bren gun to carry which I remember was to heavy for me when I was about 8-9 yrs old ! how times have changed, had guns for a long time.

 

[sikamalc]

Not sure if I should put all this down on an open forum? Still I have nothing to hide.
Started at about 6 years old and managed to lay my hands on an old 177 air rifle. My parents had just bought a new bungalow and all the surrounding area was a play ground for me. Catching voles, frogs, lizards, I collected anything to do with natural history.

Moving on I started work at the Powell -Cotton Museum of Africa and Asian big game, and was taught Taxidermy by the then Curator Lester Barton, he was the only second curator to ever run the museum. I then started a game shoot on the estate, rearing and releasing all my own birds, also ran a duck shoot nearby. It was also about this time I started my own business and booked clients to shoot and stalk deer. The shoot was a 12 gun syndicate, 6 working, 6 paying.

In 1986 I made my first trip to Scotland, way up past Inverness. We had a 25,000 acre lease, with Roe and a few Reds. But with Ptarmigan, Red Grouse and Black Grouse. Most of it covered Ben Wyvis which is a munroe.

1990 I went to Africa for the first time, most fortunately through a good American friend who joined me stalking in Scotland. Botswana was open then and it was a 10 day hunt. Progressed to meet 2 other PH's and got them clients and eventually did Zimbabwe, Zululand, Transval and the Cape. By the time I was 45 I had shot both Elephant and Buff in the same week on the same trip in Zimbabwe.

In the meantime I managed to take on a 13,000 acre lease called Forest Farm, now called Croik Estate in Scotland, I had this for nearly 10 years, it was then sold. So I moved next door to Amat Estate and had this up until quite recently, its now all fenced off, so I left. I still have two other areas I stalk, and a lot of friends up that way who I also stalk on their grounds. One man I have known for over 25 years, now his son is managing the same estate near Rosehall. I still have access and stalk over 40,000 acres for both Red and Sika.

In between times I was asked to help out with the annual Red cull on Asynt Estate near Lochinver. Spent 2 years on Reds and helping the foundation out. It is about 44,000 acres and no roads in it at the time. The annual cull was 200 head. We achieved just beneath that over 2 years. I had a team of 8 other stalkers helping me out. In the meantime I was still running trips. Bill Ritchie and Alister McKaskill were the main players of the foundation. I think Alister has now passed on, but he used to run the butchers shop in Lochinver.

I left the museum after becoming the director and some 30 odd years service. The family died off, the last one being Major Powell Cottons son, who won the MC and was a great man to work for. Unfortunatley the whole estate is under reconstruction and those in charge are not the same people and really have no care in my opinion. I achieved a lot of work there and been involved with various institutions across the world in DNA projects, such as the Giant Sable, Quagga, Schimiter Horned Oryx, Abyssinian Wolf to name but a few.

I moved off the estate where the museum is based, carried on with my outfitting business, have all 6 species on my own areas, have a partner who stalks and cooks for all the guides and does all my books, and she also drives an 1100cc trike.

Bought this site along with JAYB some 15 or so years ago, as it was about to collapse. I am grateful for everyday, have met some fantastic people and had some great adventures, which one day I shall have to put pen to paper about. Sandra is always telling me I should write a book. But I am sure there are plenty of others, some on here like Boggy who also have just as many great stories to tell.

Keep safe everyone, keep well.

 

[bogtrotter]

Grew up in the country son of a keeper like many others started with air rifles shooting with dad's 12bore
hammer gun by the time I was thirteen 22LR a year later and soon after a full bore rifle.
Knew by the time I was twelve that I wanted to follow in dads footsteps shot my first stag at thirteen, naughty!
Those of you who have read changing times will know about that.
Left school at fifteen had a job for a year part river ghillie, part keeper, part handyman before landing a full time
Job as a trainee keeper, nineteen years keepering and then a full time stalkers job which was what I had always
wanted..
I had a life long interest in wildlife and still do ,deer in particular many get into stalking because of an interest
In shooting I come more from an interest in deer shooting is part of my job and a rifle is a tool that enables me to do
that job but shooting is not the main attraction.

 

[hendrix's rifle]

my first deer, ok long story short didn't have much of a family life, came home one day with a rescued lurcher, didn't improve matters at all so ended up living out of an american pick-up with said lurcher, while out searching for something to feed us both he saw something in the distance and froze,, I looked as best I could and saw a movement on the skyline so I slipped him,, and off he goes with me in hot pursuit, I should add at this point say I did have permission to be on the place and also to run the dog. so just as the dog homes in on what was sighted it fecking starts to stand up,,, sh1t its a red stag,, he piles in under the antlers hits it full in the chest and sits it on its ass and next thing I know hes flying through the air, and its trying to get on its feet again, he goes in again and by now I'm literally feet away from the pair of them there's blood everywhere but I cant see whose? I draw my knife I'v never been this close to a wild live deer, dog finds a good spot to hold on and I throw myself onto the whole wriggling mess of fur,and blood stained grass and at a chosen moment plunge the knife into the head of the deer, a few violent kicks and bucks,,, and all was still.
I looked at the dog,, I was horrified, he was opened up pretty bad underneath and had obviously lost a fair bit of blood, I quietened him down and got the truck as close as possible, and took him to my vet, we cleaned him up and fortunately he was not damaged internally, I came clean with the vet and said I cant pay until I get some extra cash, what about the deer? still there cant lift it, lets put the dog in the recovery room and let him rest, show me the deer. off we go and we get the deer on the truck and back at the vets we butcher it and the vets bill is paid,, in venison, with a decent amount left over for me to pick up when I want it.
I have grassed a good many deer since that day,, never quite like that though.
the dogs name was Jed, alsation / greyhound 1st cross, he was 15 when he passed, myself and the vet had a shot of scotch in his memory.
I have many happy memories of dogs I have been fortunate to share life with,,, humans,, not so much.

Funnily enough ive got a dog similar, a gsd ironically lol, she's daft as anything and will face off with some of the biggest stags I've seen, no fear in her. She's now used as my deer dog and probably accounts for around 80 percent of the deer i shoot. Shes the sort of dog that you could let out in the hills and she would be feral in a day or so, she'd have no bother finding her own food. Last night a neighbor asked what she was, my mrs reply was feral

 

[Musketeer]

I'm still trying to get into stalking.......

Mostly I carry out pest control using .17 hmr.

 

[hendrix's rifle]

I started out as a kid with my dad's Air rifle and pistol, at 12 i got a job on a fisheries and my dad bought me my own air rifle, an smk supergrade xs, told me to learn to shoot it with open sights before he gives me the scope to go on it. After a couple of months i had the scope on and was knocking pests over left right and centre, rabbits, rats, pigeons and rooks. At 14 i got kicked out of school and worked on the fisheries full time, had a 9mm garden gun to use to make life a bit easier, decided one day to open a 12bore cartridge, empty the shot (ssg) and powder and put it into this little 9mm case, went with a boom lol. There was a shoot that runs next to the fisheries and we used to watch as they came through driving the pheasants over, ended up on there doing squirrel control and taking the odd 1 for the pot. I managed to stalk in to a group of red hinds to maybe 15 yards in a little gully, i was watching over the top of them. From that point i was hooked on deer, got my license when i was old enough and things took off from there, rabbits, fox then deer. Worked hard to get to that point, not many want to trust a young lad but a couple of people did thankfully. Had no guidance, no one to show me the ropes so i learned it myself through trial and error, hopefully we never stop learning. There are now a couple of lads on here i go out with/take out and thankfully they teach me something new from time to time or a better way of doing something

 

[foxdropper]

Definitely need to write books you older gentleman .We are here for a blink of an eye in the scheme of things and without record ,no one knows what went before .
Malcohm — you have had a very varied life mate doing what you care about ,respect to you .
I could read things like all day and recently find myself doing just that

 

[sikamalc]

Definitely need to write books you older gentleman .We are here for a blink of an eye in the scheme of things and without record ,no one knows what went before .
Malcohm — you have had a very varied life mate doing what you care about ,respect to you .
I could read things like all day and recently find myself doing just that

Thank you. I have been fortunate in life, and I am eternally grateful to all those that helped me along the way. But I am a great believer in making your own luck too. May be if this pandemic carries on it will give me more time to think about putting pen to paper? I hope not for all our sakes.