Slow and steady plenty glassing/thermal shot 4 deer this year within 50yds of the car parked on a farm road one last year i had to stalk/creep 5yds to shoot a buck 4.30am Richard Prior told me if you have to travel distance to deer just go for it dont worry about the noise to much and then let it settle and wait
Regional differences in stalking technique
- Thread starter kingstonandy
- Start date
Added bonus if you've done it quietly enough for the wife not to realise until the shot rings out and she almost sh1ts herself especially in the days before sound moderators. Mind you the cursing and cold shoulder was the downside
Dunwaters
Well-Known Member
I tailor the stalk to the guests ability and expectations.
Their ability I assess for myself, their expectations I manage accordingly.
If you’re reasonably fit and happy to take a shot out to 200 or so I’ll go out on top above the trees and spot and stalk from a distance. The scenery is spectacular, you can pretty much guarantee seeing deer and the guest having a thoroughly good time.
If you are a bit less confident or not as fit I’ll keep you down around the trees, closer to the car, walking and spotting from the tracks. You’ll still see lots of animals but ranges will be shorter and generally the deer will be close to cover, so I want them pinned hard on first shot, just about the only thing I expect from you.
Finally,if you’re shaped like a tennis ball on stumps, are obviously unfit, can’t shoot or are a complete beginner I’ll set you up for a close range shot, 40-50 max, from a rested position and wait.
I suspect that a lot of “ regional stalking variations” are actually down to similar assessments.
I’m particularly wary of continental hunters with very old boots (they always boast about the old boots), because it means that they’ve spent all of their time sitting in high seats and have zero experience of stalking or of shooting from field positions.
These are the guys who will tell you that they are very experienced, have been shooting all their lives and have killed hundreds of animals.
They’re also the guys that you can pretty much guarantee will totally lose their shite when a big sika pops out and glares at them and then leave you to clean up the mess.
If your guide treated you as the OP was treated, you should be happy, your guide gave you credit for being both competent, trustworthy and fit.
Their ability I assess for myself, their expectations I manage accordingly.
If you’re reasonably fit and happy to take a shot out to 200 or so I’ll go out on top above the trees and spot and stalk from a distance. The scenery is spectacular, you can pretty much guarantee seeing deer and the guest having a thoroughly good time.
If you are a bit less confident or not as fit I’ll keep you down around the trees, closer to the car, walking and spotting from the tracks. You’ll still see lots of animals but ranges will be shorter and generally the deer will be close to cover, so I want them pinned hard on first shot, just about the only thing I expect from you.
Finally,if you’re shaped like a tennis ball on stumps, are obviously unfit, can’t shoot or are a complete beginner I’ll set you up for a close range shot, 40-50 max, from a rested position and wait.
I suspect that a lot of “ regional stalking variations” are actually down to similar assessments.
I’m particularly wary of continental hunters with very old boots (they always boast about the old boots), because it means that they’ve spent all of their time sitting in high seats and have zero experience of stalking or of shooting from field positions.
These are the guys who will tell you that they are very experienced, have been shooting all their lives and have killed hundreds of animals.
They’re also the guys that you can pretty much guarantee will totally lose their shite when a big sika pops out and glares at them and then leave you to clean up the mess.
If your guide treated you as the OP was treated, you should be happy, your guide gave you credit for being both competent, trustworthy and fit.
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Dunwaters
Well-Known Member
Replying to my own post is a personal first, however needs must and all that.
The OP was stalking Sika in Wicklow, deer densities are high/very high and sika don’t really herd up at this time of the year, so you have a lot of small family groups scattered about, hind fawn and hind yearling typically. The stags don’t really have territories but they do have preferred rutting areas and a big stag can “ collect” a few family groups which in turn will attract more stags into the area. Its impossible to travel any distance without bumping deer, single stags or unattached family groups are everywhere, so you dont try. Scan, if you dont see one you want move on, the deer you disturb generally don’t move far and the other groups will often ignore them.
So maybe less of a regional thing, and more tailored to the specific deer species?
Even if fit, they also seem to be extremely resistant to the idea of crawling. I’ve had extremely frustrating times with a few on open moorland who just could not be induced to get down.
Dunwaters
Well-Known Member
This is a relatively new development, it started about 20 years ago with every rifle sprouting a bipod, a moderator and a scope suitable for astronomical observations. The rifles often weighed almost as much as the guest and the bipod was never tall enough so we invented the quad sticks.
The rifles are still getting heavier, the scopes more complex, the guest now can’t or wont lie down or crawl, can’t see, and won’t use the rests provided by nature even if you point one out, but at least carbon fibre quad sticks are a bit lighter than the old steel or wood versions and expensive enough to give you that sense of smug superiority which would be totally missing from the experience if you didn’t have them.
I blame Blaser for a lot of this, not all of it, but a lot of it.
NickJ
Well-Known Member
The guys I know in Wicklow sit and wait for the sika so it can vary even within a county!
Heym SR20
Well-Known Member
Where you see big differences is the way people gralloch and larder their deer.
And many other skills are very regional - take a simple tool like a billhook, scythe or a shovel / spade.
But country skills are taught and handed down and its a generation or two ago when most people didn’t really ever go that far from where they were born. My first job on a farm in the late 1980’s, the old ploughman who was well beyond retirement age went to Oxford once or twice a year - five miles down the road and had only London once and didn’t like it. He had done national service and had to go somewhere overseas but didn’t know where but at least the baracks were warm. Other than that he didn’t much go beyond the parish boundary. And there were plenty more like that in every village and town. No wonder there were strong regional dialects, if not languages and local skills and local ways of doing things.
Nowadays not so much.
And many other skills are very regional - take a simple tool like a billhook, scythe or a shovel / spade.
But country skills are taught and handed down and its a generation or two ago when most people didn’t really ever go that far from where they were born. My first job on a farm in the late 1980’s, the old ploughman who was well beyond retirement age went to Oxford once or twice a year - five miles down the road and had only London once and didn’t like it. He had done national service and had to go somewhere overseas but didn’t know where but at least the baracks were warm. Other than that he didn’t much go beyond the parish boundary. And there were plenty more like that in every village and town. No wonder there were strong regional dialects, if not languages and local skills and local ways of doing things.
Nowadays not so much.
Andy seatrout
Well-Known Member
I do the same when I’m foxing…. Why not? Takes just an hour or two a year…..
scrumbag
Well-Known Member
Interesting. Did you tell him he was doing any of these things? Maybe nobody ever has...
No, there was a bit of a language barrier with this guy. Plus this particular outing was a last minute stand in because another stalker was unavailable. I couldn't really tell him to take the waxed jacket and trousers off too. I suppose stalkers almost expect anyone coming to shoot will have a degree of knowledge on animal behaviour and how to hunt deer. I did have one guy who I told he would have to be quieter tell me "deer can't hear very well". I didn't tell him but thought, mmm! they have ears about the size of my hands that they can focus to catch sound.
I have told other guests. One guy I advised him to practice getting ready for a shot from sticks in all the different stances so it's quicker and slicker when he comes for a weeks stalking holiday. His reply rocked me back on to my heels "you must not tell me what to do, I am here for my holiday, not to do your job". There were several other things that week where his attitude was poor to say the least. We ended up with a good few sika and a 13 point red. The following year he asked for another week with me and I politely said "NO"
Dunwaters
Well-Known Member
There are those who just don’t have the vocabulary.
I had a lovely guy out a fortnight ago, qualified hunter been at it for years, etc etc. We got into a group of stags I set up the rifle on the sticks and handed it over. It immediately became obvious that he hadn’t got a clue, rifle was dancing about like a night club stripper, he was moving his head like a snake charmers flute and I genuinely thought that he was going to have a heart attack, then he stiffened like a pointer pup on its first bird and said “ I see him” . I explained that he was looking at the wrong animal, too small. “ THIS IS SMALL” he yells and at that point I relieved him of the rifle…
It turns out that he was a shotgun shooter, hadn’t even held a rifle since his service days and had never used a telescopic sight.
Wish I’d known sooner, I would have done things very differently.
Sealgair nam fiadh
Well-Known Member
Think I might have had him as a guest!
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