Stalking Woes

[mel b3]

Not stalking , but worth a mention.
I once picked my mate up for a walked up day on the pheasants. When we got to the shoot , he went to the back of my truck to put his boots on . At this point he realised that he'd left his boots sitting in his porch .
Fair play to him , he walked the hedges all day in his bedroom slippers , he spent most of the day slipping over , and pulling his slippers out of mud holes . It goes without saying , that me being such a good and loyal friend, I didn't take the xxxx , not even once , and I definitely didn't tell any of our other shooting mates either .

 

[Foxyboy43]

That’s nice!

 

[bottletopbill]

Think we all need a check sheet before we set of

 

[Klenchblaize]

I once tried Summer stalking in shorts, no socks and plimsoles.

K

 

[VSS]

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 !?

I think you worry too much.

 

[Taff]

Drove or a hour, walked a couple of Ks only to realise left my mag out of my AR at home, lent my rifle to my son in law , who returned it in a my gun bag off I set to discover he had removed the bolt !, shot the foot off a very long bi pod I had once. Put my gun against a tree while dragging a deer out of dense Rhodes, funny how all trees look alike.

 

[Taff]

I once tried Summer stalking in shorts, no socks and plimsoles.

K

You a kiwi

 

[Klenchblaize]

You a kiwi

I said “shorts” - not budgie smugglers.

K

 

[Bowland blades]

I think you worry too much.

You think ? just spoken to a mate who has had his ticket from 13 or so now in his late 50s . Cops dropped over and he had his foxing rifle out in the house while he was in his back yard, some ammo also - lost his ticket . Cops only came to tell him of an incident with a family member!
Dont take these thing seriously ? Loose your gun ownership rights

 

[Mickeydredd]

Not stalking, but at a big falconry meet many years ago where the hotel venue was in Dundee. There was an eagle group that had to drive from Dundee up to Inverness to hawk blue hares.

Upon arrival, our Club Chairman opened up his travel box in the back of the pickup only to discover that his eagle was still on its block on the lawn at the hotel!

 

[Scapegoat]

Amusing but sobering tale.

My lad took me up to the hill at the back of his house for a buck which obligingly appeared where he said it would at the back of some forestry blocks. Once shot and gralloched he hoisted it onto his shoulders and set off back towards the track where we'd left the truck. The ground we were on was rough grazing so typical of Scottish hills and was criss-crossed with ditches and burns in and amongst tussock grass and rashes, giving me the impression it had once been a tree plantation many years ago. I spotted a dark patch in the knee-high stuff and stepped over it. My lad was a pace or two behind me and slightly closer to the fence line. I turned to say something to him and he dropped vertically his whole height, with just the buck visible across the top of what turned out to be a deep ditch. I lifted the buck off him, which was pinning him into the narrow ditch and helped him climb out. There was a godawful stench (this was July) and we realised he was standing on the rotting carcass of a ewe that had fallen into the ditch and perished, most likely a good few days previously.

Of course we were both howling with laughter, but it soon dawned on us that had he been alone there was a good chance he'd have really struggled to get out, and the thought that he might have broken his leg falling in a mile from the house and separated by huge swathes of forestry was slightly scary. He operated a "lone worker" strategy with his 'keeper from then on with regular pings so they could raise an alert if the ping was missed.

 

[Oldstalker]

I confess to ..............a number of stupidities, and like one contributor's strapline on here doing it more than once to prove my idiocy.
1. Leaving the bolt behind - twice. Once going to an estate in Yorkshire (62 miles) to assist in culling the park, the other time double that distance to the central borders. I spent the day lardering carcasses.
2. Inappropriate clothing .........I went roe stalking after work one balmy evening quite near midsummer's day 1500 feet up in Eastern Cumbria wearing trainers, some old canvas trousers and an old army shirt. Having stalked around the biggest wood I thought it was getting cold. It was. Within a twenty minutes there was 3 inches of wet snow on the ground and 6 inches before I got back to the farmhouse. Nothing a hot cup of coffee would not sort. The snow persisted overnight but disappeared completely the following afternoon.
3. Assisting a friend an hour west of Inverness for the final week of the stag season I nearly capsized the Argo with some extremely "expensive" merchant bankers in the vehicle with me on a side-slope. Later the same day after one lady shot a stag in the liver and the stalker decided to take luncheon in a nearby hollow I was instructed to bring the rest of the party to the top of the cliff above the stag. Arriving in place I was told by one of the guests the stag had risen to its feet and would I reshoot it. I duly did so. Dragging it off the hill it stuck between two rocks so I pulled harder snapping one of the cowbands I used to use as drag ropes and consequently flying horizontal through the air over the lady rifles' shoulder and landing on my kidneys on a small pyramidal stone. The guests all had to walk many miles back to the Lodge whilst the dead stag and I were put in the back of the Argo and rode rather uncomfortably back. Ginger essence in my bath eased the pain, if not the embarrassment, and the bruising took three weeks to disappear.

 

[NoIDeer]

Dog left a couple of fat ticks on the caravan seat/bed, oh how we laugh!

 

[Wmjas]

I went for a weeks hunting after tahr last year. Got all my kit sorted, double and triple checked. Jumped in the chopper and lifted into the area, dropped on top of the biggest and meanest mountain I’ve ever set foot on, unpacked the heli and waved it goodbye for the week. Shook out our kit and went to go sling my rifle…only I couldn’t because my sling was sitting in the car in Hokitika! Had to carry it African style over my shoulder for the whole week. As soon as I got home I bought a sling for every rifle I own so each one has its own and aren’t taken off.

As an aside there’s absolutely nothing wrong hunting in shorts…

 

[hendrix's rifle]

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 !?

That's literally like saying you will lose your ticket if your house gets burgled. If someone has taken precautions then they've complied with the condition on their ticket.

I don't expect my car to get pinched, if I've got a lockable box in it containing ammunition it's secure and safe. I'd love to argue that one through court and I'm pretty certain who would win.... And it wouldn't be the prosecution.

To the OP - I've dropped a few balls. Wrong ammo for the rifle, wrong ammo for the shotgun. I've 'lost' my quad sticks and have run over them, rendering them useless
Not long ago I lost my binos. Don't know where, don't know how. All I know is I don't have them anymore

 

[ben0850]

Stalking woes.. a number of years ago I was due to go out with Colin on Forrest Estate after Roe Bucks, had agreed to meet for tea in the clachan then head out. A66 was its usual pain in the arse and I essentially ended up being really late even though I’d driven the crocketford road like the late great Ayrton Senna. Duly arrived in a huge **** and panic… Evening stalk was quiet until last knockings when a chance presented itself, squeezed trigger to hear ‘click’ dopey sod hadn’t loaded the rifle.
My old mentor when picking up in the Dales once arrived at the head keeper’s house ready for a big day, as we all started loading up he opened his tail gate to realise his labs were all still at home.
To this day I’m always checking mag, bolt etc before setting off is it age?

 

[Foxyboy43]

Stalking woes.. a number of years ago I was due to go out with Colin on Forrest Estate after Roe Bucks, had agreed to meet for tea in the clachan then head out. A66 was its usual pain in the arse and I essentially ended up being really late even though I’d driven the crocketford road like the late great Ayrton Senna. Duly arrived in a huge **** and panic… Evening stalk was quiet until last knockings when a chance presented itself, squeezed trigger to hear ‘click’ dopey sod hadn’t loaded the rifle.
My old mentor when picking up in the Dales once arrived at the head keeper’s house ready for a big day, as we all started loading up he opened his tail gate to realise his labs were all still at home.
To this day I’m always checking mag, bolt etc before setting off is it age?

Age is defo in the mix. I love range days but the problem is you need to bring so many things over and above what is required for a day at the deer or night at the foxes.
As I got older I discovered the potential for forgetting something is inversely proportionate to the number of things to be brought but hey it’s a nice drive to my range and back…..

 

[Zetter]

A couple not stalking but after foxes and bunnies

1) Out shooting had a decent night so loaded up all the kit. Got the 35 minute drive home and found I had left my trigger sticks leaning against the gate of the field. So turned round at about 1am in the morning and drove all the way back to get them. Luckily as it was daft oclock in the morning they were still there.

2) The worst one. I was shooting rabbits at the first permission I ever got which is an hour away from home. I setup in a camping chair with my hornet along a hedge line and had a good night finishing about 1am. During this time I had for some reason (i think lack of pockets) stuck my brand new phone in the little drinks holder of the camping chair.
After packing up and walking the 10 minutes back to the car I thought about my phone and yep it wasnt in the now folded up chair............ Its now pitch black so I hoof it back to where I was set up with the torch but as I had moved spot a couple of time no sign of it.
Now I am panicking as it was a lot of money and had all my stuff on it. Also rain was forcast for the next day so I think that would have killed it.
I came up with a desperate plan and drove to my work site (about half an hour away) and picked up our site emergency phone which is stored in the offices. Then drove back to the permission (another half a hour) and walked back to where I was shooting ringing the phone. Fortunately it had landed screen side up so I could see it clearly about 20 feet from where I was searching.
Big relief I walked the 10 minutes again back to the car drove back to work to drop off the emergency phone (another half hour) and then home (another half hour).
I think I got in about 3.30am and by the time I put the gun and kit away it was about 4am. It being a school night I then proceeded to get up at 6am to go to work . Not much got done in the office by me that day.

Also I did do the common one of working up a test load for my .243 and booking a range slot at Calton Moor which is about two hours away from me. Only to get half way there and realise my reloads were safely locked away at home still in the ammo safe.

 

[Dave Lakes]

Driving back from Scotland on the M6, in the dark, on auto pilot. Stopped at Cairn Lodge services, which don’t have a particularly intuitive entry and exit.

After another half hour driving I was thinking I must surely be getting into Cumbria by now.

Sure enough, I soon saw the mountain cliffs all lit up….hang on, we don’t have cliffs like that next to the motorway, and why are they lit up? Oh they’re high rises, what an idiot….hang on we don’t have high rises like that….then it dawned on me, I had got back on the motorway heading North instead of South, and was just getting back into Hamilton!

 

[Bowland blades]

That's literally like saying you will lose your ticket if your house gets burgled. If someone has taken precautions then they've complied with the condition on their ticket.

I don't expect my car to get pinched, if I've got a lockable box in it containing ammunition it's secure and safe. I'd love to argue that one through court and I'm pretty certain who would win.... And it wouldn't be the prosecution.

To the OP - I've dropped a few balls. Wrong ammo for the rifle, wrong ammo for the shotgun. I've 'lost' my quad sticks and have run over them, rendering them useless
Not long ago I lost my binos. Don't know where, don't know how. All I know is I don't have them anymore

sorry but you do need to download guidance notes and read them . We must do what a court would see as reasonable once firearms and ammo are out of the std locked safe . Having said that if you have provable authorisation to do something out of the norm ( i know only one person who has such ) thats another matter.
I cant think how a person could justify leaving a bunch of FAC ammo in their truck 24 /7 .

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.

In the case in mentioned it was not intended to be a check or anything to do with the the guns . Just bad luck , seems a bit petty but perfectly legal on the cops side . Would be perfectly legal if someone else who held a licence for the same rifle was about inside the residence. Most regular coppers wouldn't know the law well enough to take note, wrong guy , wrong time , freak event ! wrong ? Yeah we should all know that
Some of the most experienced are the least attentive but that is something to work on