Am I cursed?

[filzee]

I departed my humble home at 3:30am off on the short 40 minute drive to have my third ever stalk.

The first stalk drew a blank having been outsmarted by a munty buck in the darkest part of Sherwood Forest. He only needed to move left by about 2m for a nice 25m shot but alas he was smart.

Second stalk drew a blank due to now sign of a munty buck and the fallow just not wanting to play ball.

Yesterday was my first stalk of the year and to say I was excited was an understatement, I even cancelled a wedding reception to make sure I could go.

The day was beautiful. The sunrise was worth getting up for alone.

I met the stalker at 4:15 and it was decided we would have a mooch for a roe buck and if unsuccessful a look for a munty buck. This stalking is purely for experience and meat and not for trophies so I was really not fussy.

First field we looked in had a red hind but no roe so we made a plan to go to another area. We spotted two roe shapes on the thermal so disembarked the vehicle and had a walk. When we got back to where we spotted the shapes they were gone but after a bit of glassing I spotted the does head in the tall grass. No buck!

A lovely 30 minute walk saw us in a small meadow where we stopped to glass. Slowly we started to spot the 6 fallow grazing away and even had a trial stalk which got us within 50m of a pricket which was a great experience.

Onto the woods to look for a munty we go.

Within 20 minutes we spotted our first but alas it was a doe and although we couldn’t spot a youngster I was in no rush to shoot something and potentially leave dependant young.

We saw 2 more munty does before the end of the session including one that was absolutely beautiful but again no rush from me just to kill something.

On the way back to my car we spotted 4 red stags and some more hinds and a couple more fallow.

So no deer for me again but I saw 4 species of deer, 4 foxes and a lot of squirrels. One thing I was really happy about though was I spotted deer really quickly which may sound stupid but learning to look for something like an ear or a spaniel sized deer in a forest is hard to do.

Hopefully I can get back out again in august when there are 4 species available and finally get my first deer and carry on learning.

Phil

 

[T.eddie]

Blanks are all part of it and make it more rewarding when you do eventually get one. Keep on trying and eventually the stars will align!

 

[VSS]

Don't worry, after my first few outings I was beginning to suspect that deer were nothing more than a figment of my imagination as I never even saw any. You've made a better start than I did

 

[Suilven]

That morning doesn't sound like a curse to me!

 

[User00053]

Great morning out, more blessed than cursed sounds good to me and many more to come with plenty blood on the hands no doubt.

 

[filzee]

It was a great morning and the knowledge I gained was well worth the fee.

Luckily I’ve been shooting long enough to know that these wild animals can sometimes put smart us.

Roll on the next one

 

[75]

Any time with John spent on that ground is a pleasure!

 

[Rhodesianjess]

Slightly different to you as I'm employed on the estate but being out at daylight ie 0400 every day this time of year is wonderful. As I go about my work I'm constantly scanning the place,if it's a fox it's cured,if it's deer you put the sightings in the memory. Then when the boss has a guest or a paying client you have a picture of where best to look. Individual deer can be found at any time because of being on the ground at all times, you build up a picture of their movements. Got to be one of the best bits of my job, building up your knowledge so you have a bank to draw on when you need to. Time spent on reconnaissance is never wasted:- very true.

 

[mudman]

I have just brought a run of 8 blanks to an end, shot a roebuck friday morning, nine stalks after my last. Had 5-6 stalks without success before but cannot recall going eight. I’ve seen deer just about every outing but non right for a shot, either wrong sex, wrong body position or unsafe background.

 

[filzee]

Any time with John spent on that ground is a pleasure!

You’re right. John is a great guy and knows every inch of it. He knew a lot of places that would have deer on them and they all did just the wrong ones

 

[Franchi Matt]

"Buy some lucky heather sir?" (In a thick irish accent)

 

[Erik Hamburger]

Plenty of very experienced stalkers have periods where they blank multiple times.
Things will even out, as sometimes you will get two or even three in one session.
Best of luck, and enjoy.

 

[muddy42]

It'll even out. You do get the occasional days where you're 'in the right place at lots of times or stalk in to a group. Summer stalking (aside from he roe rut) can be tricky - lots of leaves and cover to hide the deer. We don't have any arable fields here, so I pretty much mothball the rifle up between June and August.

 

[filzee]

Hopefully with these long nights I’ll be able to get a session after work in the week. To be fair living and working in a city it’s worth it just to be outside.

 

[tozzybum]

Best part of it being out amongst the wildlife and learning habits ,patterns and signs.
You day sounded fantastic and even though you didn't ground a deer you saw plenty

 

[AndyTheSilent]

Sounds very similar to my experiences. First five outings where blanks due to only seeing out of season deer or deer on the wrong land! On 8 subsequent stalks I've managed 5 successes.
The way I looked at the earlier stalks was as an initial steep learning curve, subsequent stalks have continued in that trend.

 

[JTO]

I had more than a dozen nights out after the FoD pigs before I got a couple.

 

[JH83]

It’s a very tough time of year, plenty food in the woods, undergrowth well up, roe bucks are still very much pre rut so on and off. If I take a guest out I’ll generally only do it when I know the rut is on (but I’m not doing it on a professional basis!) so I’d be confident of finding something. I’ve had some agonising runs at this time of year, now I basically sack off June and the first 3/4 July.

 

[filzee]

So 4th stalk booked for august 16th and very high hopes.

Of course the weather completely turned from beautiful sunshine to rain, rain and a dash more rain.

The stalk was almost cancelled but we decided to give it a go as the rain appeared to have left and I think the stalker felt sorry for me having failed to connect on the previous 3 occasions.

Met the guide at 19:00 and no rain so a plan was made to sit in a high seat overlooking a ride towards a big field of maze which has been severely mown down by the local deer population.

We drove into the woods and of course the rain returned. It started to get so heavy that when we decided to make our way to the high seat the dog refused to get out of the truck. Anyway we continued into the wood and as we rounded a bend to the high seat and in true fashion there was a munty sat directly below it. The munty had the advantage and dashed into cover.

So we sat in the high seat contemplating why on earth we were out in torrential rain when a beauty of a muntjac buck appeared out of nowhere on the ride. My mind ran wild with thoughts of a delicious venison dinner and a well earned shoulder mount on the wall. I got straight on the rifle and had him in my sights but he was almost head on and not offering a good shot. Just as he turned to present himself he decided to jump back into cover, never to be seen again.

We stayed for another hour and the rain didn’t let off at all!

So I learned a couple of things;
Firstly keep your eye on the ride you’re covering when in a high seat.
Secondly always expect a deer to be in the place you least expect them.
Thirdly my jacket and trousers may be shower proof but they are not torrential rain proof!! I had very wet pants.

I’ll be trying to book another stalk soon.

The tale is TBC

Phil

 

[The Singing Stalker]

You had potentially 3 opportunities to shoot muntie does. So who made the decision not to shoot and why?