Stalking Woes

Shot a deer early morning near bonchester Bridge, got it to the truck, and loaded up the beast in the back of the pick up, opened back door and put all the kit ion the back seat ,along with my truck keys ,( which i religiously have on a lanyard attached to my belt , which is long enough to sit the keys in the bottom of my pocket) and closed the door ,I went round to close the tail gate up and canopy lid and heard , a dreaded clunk. ffs the car had auto locked with my keys inside!!!!! A rock soon solved this as I put the back door quarter light thru!!!!!@#£#@,
It was a costly and noisy/ windy journey down the M6 home lol lol

Kjf



















































































































































































































































A queck rock thru th on the back solved the problem, but its was a windy and noisy drive home































































down the M6
 
I once had a decent knife and took it to Scotland and I left it on a stone after gralloching a hind. Went back a year later shoot another hind in the same place and used the knife that was still on the rock. I lost the knife again on that trip and never found it again in ten years of stalking that same place. Ive never had anything but a mora from that day.
 
Shot 3 large fallow bucks within a few mins of each , walked back to get truck, left quad sticks resting against gate as I climbed over, drove off and loaded deer(almost killed me) , got home and realised quad sticks missing, drive the hour back to the ground, quad sticks missing, order new quad sticks,

Two weeks later on another bit of ground two hours from home, after a full days stalking, on way home realise no quad sticks in truck, turn back around to collect them, adding an extra hour onto the 2 hour trip home .

Now the quad sticks live on the front seat of the truck,

Definitely more haste less speed
 
Not so much a tale of forgetfulness, but one of pain which continues to affect me to this day.....
A long day on the hill in the Highlands and finally get on to a nice old switch which we had to stalk into - a stalk that took us into the most challenging terrain on the estate.... Finally was able to take the shot and that was when we couldn't get the Argo anywhere near the stag. After the gralloch it was a case of dragging the beastie down the rough, tussocky slope, both of us cursing and falling in various places. Then I stepped into the ubiquitous "hobbit hole" and one leg disappeared with me falling onto my right shoulder.....a sharp pain, like I'd been gaffed and back to hauling back to the Argo.
The rest of the week was spent fishing with a rotator cuff injury, which is still sore at times 6 or 7 years later..... unforgettable day , but hopefully never to be repeated:cry:
 
Shot 3 large fallow bucks within a few mins of each , walked back to get truck, left quad sticks resting against gate as I climbed over, drove off and loaded deer(almost killed me) , got home and realised quad sticks missing, drive the hour back to the ground, quad sticks missing, order new quad sticks,















Two weeks later on another bit of ground two hours from home, after a full days stalking, on way home realise no quad sticks in truck, turn back around to collect them, adding an extra hour onto the 2 hour trip home .















Now the quad sticks live on the front seat of the truck,















Definitely more haste less speed







Ha ha , done that loads of times but resting the sticks at bottom of high seat , got back to base n thought ffs where's my sticks !!! Found them nice and safe where I left them lol, I've just got a new van ,all my kit apart from grub , dog, rifle n ammo now resides in there under my bed
 
Shot a deer early morning near bonchester Bridge, got it to the truck, and loaded up the beast in the back of the pick up, opened back door and put all the kit ion the back seat ,along with my truck keys ,( which i religiously have on a lanyard attached to my belt , which is long enough to sit the keys in the bottom of my pocket) and closed the door ,I went round to close the tail gate up and canopy lid and heard , a dreaded clunk. ffs the car had auto locked with my keys inside!!!!! A rock soon solved this as I put the back door quarter light thru!!!!!@#£#@,
It was a costly and noisy/ windy journey down the M6 home lol lol

Kjf



















































































































































































































































A queck rock thru th on the back solved the problem, but its was a windy and noisy drive home































































down the M6
You may have just won The Longest Post competition! Though the spaces between lines may be ruled unnacceptable……
🦊🦊
 
You may have just won The Longest Post competition! Though the spaces between lines may be ruled unnacceptable……

Lol, just got a new phone mate feck knows why it's doing it , I've tried editing it 3 times !!!! Feckin gadgets , any way sod off you , lol, hop on lol


 
car gets stolen police recover it checking for evidence find ammo left unsecured = FAC lifted !
Blastardo car thieves planted it, plus those crack pipes, the machete is, however, mine.
Conceal the ammo in “ a locked compartment “ and I’m covered.
You guys do worry a lot about some very remote likelihoods.
I cross bridges as I get to them.
 
Blastardo car thieves planted it, plus those crack pipes, the machete is, however, mine.
Conceal the ammo in “ a locked compartment “ and I’m covered.
You guys do worry a lot about some very remote likelihoods.
I cross bridges as I get to them.
A guy i know literally just got his FAC suspended , cops came to inform him about an unfortunate family event and he was in his garden with the rifle out inside without him . 40 or so years a licence holder
Cars do get stolen and they are gone through very carefully for evidence . I have had two stolen over the years personally and cars like Land rovers for instance top the list of stolen .
There is that temptation but is it worth it ? I have driven from Lancashire to London for a buisness meeting the next day , opened my car boot on arrival and found i had left my suit at home. I have never stored a spare suit since and i dont keep any knife or knives in the truck ( even though i could never get through to the CPS charging stage through my
profesion )
People can make their own mind and review that situation but the FAC clearly states about ammo and firearms storage . I suggest perhaps a think and review for any who do this
 
After rabbit shooting a few years ago, I found out that shooting sticks inadvertently left on the ground behind your truck vs a reversing Nissan Terrano only has one winner. And it ain't the sticks 🤦🏻‍♂️

Pheasant shooting last season up in West Cumbria... last day.... last drive...... descending the slope back towards where we'd left the cars, all of a sudden I'm seeing the sky. Slipping on a pile of sheep sh1t is a very effective way of completely rupturing your left calf muscle it seems. And as an aside, getting "end of day" wellies off after you've just ruptured a calf muscle turns you into an instant gurning champion..... (Thank goodness for wellies with side zips, but even so I was this close to cutting my boot off.... and an equal thank goodness my car is an auto. Could have been quite the grimacing drive down the M6 if a clutch had been required.....😫)

Stalking reds a few years ago, my son dropped a hind down a ghyll that took 3 of us almost an hour to get out. Later that day we encountered another group of deer, and the stalker said "don't drop one into the (completely different but equally steep) ghyll, it will be a barsteward to drag out". So I waited until the hind I was after was on a small plateau next to the ghyll, bang, straight down. Result. Right until she did a small twitch. That was sufficient to make her roll a little. Roll right? Perfect. Away from the ghyll. Roll left? Straight into the ghyll. Not quite so perfect. Anyone want to hazard a guess which way she rolled? 😬. Let's just say it was quite the day for difficult retrieves...........
 
car gets stolen police recover it checking for evidence find ammo left unsecured = FAC lifted !
You'd be hard pushed to find a shooter's vehicle that didn't have a few live rounds rolling about in it somewhere. Who's ashtray isn't full of 22lr ammo?
Having said that, I was a tad concerned when I discovered that my wife had gone away to visit her mother for a week with 3 full boxes of 270 ammo casually covered up with an old coat on the back seat. However, no harm came of it, despite being parked on a town street the whole time.
 
You'd be hard pushed to find a shooter's vehicle that didn't have a few live rounds rolling about in it somewhere. Who's ashtray isn't full of 22lr ammo?
Having said that, I was a tad concerned when I discovered that my wife had gone away to visit her mother for a week with 3 full boxes of 270 ammo casually covered up with an old coat on the back seat. However, no harm came of it, despite being parked on a town street the whole time.
You know that is so way not the case! My truck isnt the tidiest and it wont be the first if i found an odd live round in a footwell etc . But i live in an area that is Game shooting central pretty much with various big estates all around me and a very major pheasant breeder just across the road.
Gamekeeper is about the second largest profession most likely and yeah things aint like town but keeping a store of ammo in the truck really is not an accepted thing
Like i stated earlier stolen and recovered are inspected for clues as a norm . I have actually been stopped and searched twice outside of area but then i did used to cover a massive area
Anyone who leaves ammo in the vehicle is gambling with their FAC . I find this unbelievable to flaunt on this media , do you even realise how the FEO teams search socials etc .
Shotgun shells of course are a very different kettle of fish but FAC ammo !?
 
A guy i know literally just got his FAC suspended , cops came to inform him about an unfortunate family event and he was in his garden with the rifle out inside without him . 40 or so years a licence holder
Cars do get stolen and they are gone through very carefully for evidence . I have had two stolen over the years personally and cars like Land rovers for instance top the list of stolen .
There is that temptation but is it worth it ? I have driven from Lancashire to London for a buisness meeting the next day , opened my car boot on arrival and found i had left my suit at home. I have never stored a spare suit since and i dont keep any knife or knives in the truck ( even though i could never get through to the CPS charging stage through my
profesion )
People can make their own mind and review that situation but the FAC clearly states about ammo and firearms storage . I suggest perhaps a think and review for any who do this
We live in countries with a very different attitude to firearms ownership, or have up to very recently.
Reading through various threads in the Legal section it seems to me that in mainland UK their is an active policy of revoking FAC’s or not granting them in the first place for very minor infringements and clinically precise interpretations of rules and conditions often backed up with with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight and scant regard for common sense.
We’re not quite there yet.
I’ll concoct an alibi to suit the circumstances should it become necessary but I don’t lie awake worrying about it.
A bit of solid advice, if the police arrive at your door without a warrant or an appointment to inspect your firearms and storage facilities, politely decline to admit them.
Make sure you have everything absolutely squared away before they call back, it might save a lot of trouble and if more people did it routinely a lot fewer FAC’s might be revoked.
 
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