Is that not 11.....?
How many rounds to you take Stalking
- Thread starter kip270
- Start date
I once emptied a 3 round tikka mag on a red ending with utter disbelief (loose moderator after a 150 yard crawl). Live and learn!
Paid red deer - full magazine and a sleeve of 10 (+10 for a hind day).
Regular Local roe stalking - 5 round mag and a couple in the pocket (never called upon them).
Paid red deer - full magazine and a sleeve of 10 (+10 for a hind day).
Regular Local roe stalking - 5 round mag and a couple in the pocket (never called upon them).
If I'm more than 30 minutes from home I generally carry two 5 round magazines and a small 20 round MTM box in my backpack. More often than not the first magazine still has rounds in it but I have dropped a rifle a few times. On a couple of occasions I've needed to dip into the MTM box to refill the mags after sorting it out so as it weighs so little I carry it anyway. If I'm going to carry it, it may as well be full.
I used to do a lot of my stalking very locally with an open sighted combi gun. For that there was no backpack. It was me, a knife and the rifle with a stock sleeve that held 7 rounds. A very basic but successful combination.
I used to do a lot of my stalking very locally with an open sighted combi gun. For that there was no backpack. It was me, a knife and the rifle with a stock sleeve that held 7 rounds. A very basic but successful combination.
Brittany boy
Well-Known Member
A box of 10-20 22.250 in the pocket each outing, might only shoot one round but like the comfort of having them, as for the weight issue if you shoot even a rabbit, then you won't notice the weight of the rounds. It's what your comfortable with to give you the confidence needed . If .22 rimmy then 75-100 for feral pigeons, rabbits and plinking, weighs the same.
I wonder what the record is for most rounds used to bring down a single deer...
... my worst was very early in my stalking career (I think my 3rd or 4th beast). 100 yard(ish) shot off sticks. Went low and smashed a front leg. It ran, but stood briefly at the edge of a thicket. Second shot grazed back. Bolted into thicket. Waited 20 mins (too short, I know, but I was inexperienced and impatient), then waded in. Bumped it and it limped into a clearing. Rushed a shot as it disappeared at far side of thicket - clean miss. Mag now empty, so fumbled to reload while trying to follow. Dropped 2 rounds in long grass - too thick to look for, and desperately trying to keep eyes on beast.
It then bedded/collapsed in a very thick patch of thorn scrub. Managed to crawl to within 5m of it. Attempted 2 head shots - completely failed to hold off at such short range, misses both. Finally ended up within about 1m, and sighted down the barrel.
6 shots and 2 lost cartridges for one deer.
Ever since then, have always had at least 10 on me.
I learned a lot from that one outing, and fortunately have never made quite so many mistakes in such rapid succession again!
... my worst was very early in my stalking career (I think my 3rd or 4th beast). 100 yard(ish) shot off sticks. Went low and smashed a front leg. It ran, but stood briefly at the edge of a thicket. Second shot grazed back. Bolted into thicket. Waited 20 mins (too short, I know, but I was inexperienced and impatient), then waded in. Bumped it and it limped into a clearing. Rushed a shot as it disappeared at far side of thicket - clean miss. Mag now empty, so fumbled to reload while trying to follow. Dropped 2 rounds in long grass - too thick to look for, and desperately trying to keep eyes on beast.
It then bedded/collapsed in a very thick patch of thorn scrub. Managed to crawl to within 5m of it. Attempted 2 head shots - completely failed to hold off at such short range, misses both. Finally ended up within about 1m, and sighted down the barrel.
6 shots and 2 lost cartridges for one deer.
Ever since then, have always had at least 10 on me.
I learned a lot from that one outing, and fortunately have never made quite so many mistakes in such rapid succession again!
First, thanks for the honesty.
One of my earliest deer stalks in the U.K. was similarly blighted. I was under the tutelage of a doyen of North Devon deer management and using his .243. On that occasion we were clearing a private estate of Hog deer. I made what the manager declared to be a good shot on a deer at perhaps 60m. It looked to be a lethal shoulder shot as the beast dropped on the spot, motionless. I was directed to concentrate on the next candidate.
And then, to our utter astonishment, the felled beast stood and walked into cover. I cantered after it and proceeded to make a series of poor free-hand shots before finally dropping the animal. From first to last shot would have been less than 6 minutes. But it was quite harrowing. I vowed to never repeat that and have ensured good shot placement ever since.
In the gralloch the vertebrae was found to be shattered. But somehow the spinal cord had remained intact!
A short time later, I experienced a bullet fail with that same .243: a Sika shot at 65m side on with a good hit just behind the shoulder was found to have bullet shards in the haunch on the same side. So heart destroyed, but also damage to a prime cut! I resolved never to buy a .243. And I am very happy with the 6.5x55mm I went on to buy instead.
There was a time that I did take 50. I never ran out but some days I did begin to worryI normally take about fifty just in case I get ambushed on the way home and need to hold them off until I get reinforcements
Roestalker39
Well-Known Member
Nope, there was just a couple of days when it paid offSurely not ..... you must be making it up
Roestalker39
Well-Known Member
I was just kidding mate I know you know your stuff
Brighty3006
Well-Known Member
5 in the mag. 4 in a belt pouch
I have lately realised it’s more useful and more believable if you broadcast your mistakes and only reveal triumphs under duress!
I’ve often wondered what would happen to a thread that tried to get people to admit to their biggest mistakes or worst outings...
Is there any other kind then?
Having stalked into the high seat tonight and seen nothing on the way....I clambered halfway up and cleared the hedge so I turned around and looked over my shoulder to see twenty pairs of Fallow doe eyes about 40 metres away watching my progress....there was a melanistic spiker with them, so maybe tomorrow.....
Alan
....or should that be melanistic pricket...yet another mistake...on a roll this evening.
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kip270
Well-Known Member
I normally take about fifty just in case I get ambushed on the way home and need to hold them off until I get reinforcements
Then Sod’s law it will be a sustained ambush and you wish you’d brought 100!!I normally take about fifty just in case I get ambushed on the way home and need to hold them off until I get reinforcements
My stalking tends to be on ground where Charlie is the #1 priority. As a result, when out for deer with the .270 a box of 20 rounds makes sure I have enough to spoil Charlies day, re-zero if required due to drops and knocks, and still be well equipped to settle down for deer. When I'm purely foxing with the .204R then I'll take whatever box I'm using (between 3 and 20 rounds) and a spare box of 20 in my bag.
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