Evening all,
Some may have read previous threads from my seemingly cursed start to the world of deer stalking but the short of it after about 2 years, 5 UK stalks and 2 days hunting in Spain I have finally pulled the trigger.
It started with a meet on the estate yesterday at 3:30 where the deer manager informed me he had spent an hour watching a block of forestry where he saw about 20 fallow and 4 reds so a plan was put in place to drive into the estate and stalk into where he believed they would walk back to.
We parked up and slowly started stalking down a long grass ride. He said we wouldn’t bother with the high seat because either the deer would see us or if they came out where he thought they might then the shot would be 200m.
We stalked with the wind on our backs and slowly started to make our way into the forest parallel to the grass ride. Once we were a couple of hundred meters in we stopped and got comfortable with the rifle on the sticks and a tree to our back.
Within less than 5 minutes 4 fallow were spotted to our left but they appeared to be buggering about and very quickly disappeared and that’s when I thought to myself they’ve done me again. Two minutes later and I hear a “bloody hell”. I look to my right and 30 reds have appeared out of nowhere. I managed to get the sticks moved in what must be the most amateurish way possible and waited. Slowly a hind started making her way down the grass ride towards us.
I thought to myself this is it. This is what all the hours have been for don’t mess up now….Calm……when she was about 50m she stopped in her tracks and just stared right at us. With the feeling this thing could flee at any moment I heard “shoot her in the neck”. Feeling calm, stable and confident I squeezed the trigger. She dropped on the spot.
What an experience. What relief.
Slowly the rest of the herd decided to wonder off back into the forest unfazed.
Now the work really begins. Like the nice guy I am I dropped the hind on the grass ride so the gralloch was fairly easy and we could get the truck right up to her. The stalker explained all about the process and how to look for disease. She had not suffered a bad winter and was thick with fat. I got stuck
In as best I could. 70kg larger weight.
What have i learned?
1 - the time and money is well worth it
2 - I need to get better at handling a rifle, sticks and binos all at the same time
3 - I have a huge respect for anyone that can handle a beast like that on their own
4 - pulling the trigger is the easy bit
So below is my first deer and not only that it’s a Sherwood Forest Red hunted by Robin Hood, Kings of England and now Me.
Some may have read previous threads from my seemingly cursed start to the world of deer stalking but the short of it after about 2 years, 5 UK stalks and 2 days hunting in Spain I have finally pulled the trigger.
It started with a meet on the estate yesterday at 3:30 where the deer manager informed me he had spent an hour watching a block of forestry where he saw about 20 fallow and 4 reds so a plan was put in place to drive into the estate and stalk into where he believed they would walk back to.
We parked up and slowly started stalking down a long grass ride. He said we wouldn’t bother with the high seat because either the deer would see us or if they came out where he thought they might then the shot would be 200m.
We stalked with the wind on our backs and slowly started to make our way into the forest parallel to the grass ride. Once we were a couple of hundred meters in we stopped and got comfortable with the rifle on the sticks and a tree to our back.
Within less than 5 minutes 4 fallow were spotted to our left but they appeared to be buggering about and very quickly disappeared and that’s when I thought to myself they’ve done me again. Two minutes later and I hear a “bloody hell”. I look to my right and 30 reds have appeared out of nowhere. I managed to get the sticks moved in what must be the most amateurish way possible and waited. Slowly a hind started making her way down the grass ride towards us.
I thought to myself this is it. This is what all the hours have been for don’t mess up now….Calm……when she was about 50m she stopped in her tracks and just stared right at us. With the feeling this thing could flee at any moment I heard “shoot her in the neck”. Feeling calm, stable and confident I squeezed the trigger. She dropped on the spot.
What an experience. What relief.
Slowly the rest of the herd decided to wonder off back into the forest unfazed.
Now the work really begins. Like the nice guy I am I dropped the hind on the grass ride so the gralloch was fairly easy and we could get the truck right up to her. The stalker explained all about the process and how to look for disease. She had not suffered a bad winter and was thick with fat. I got stuck
In as best I could. 70kg larger weight.
What have i learned?
1 - the time and money is well worth it
2 - I need to get better at handling a rifle, sticks and binos all at the same time
3 - I have a huge respect for anyone that can handle a beast like that on their own
4 - pulling the trigger is the easy bit
So below is my first deer and not only that it’s a Sherwood Forest Red hunted by Robin Hood, Kings of England and now Me.
