Well what a trip last weekend was!
I'd booked a day on the roe with a chap who due to crops not being cut on his ground couldn't accommodate and so put me in touch with Andrew and I'm glad that he did.
We met just outside March, did the usual introductions and from the off knew it was going to be a good trip from how knowledgeable Andrew was about the land, where animals would be even down to calibers, ballistics and all things country. We had a chat about what I was after, this being a larger buck as I've shot a good few before but nothing approaching a medal.
My other half came along and Andrew was nothing short of a gentleman with her, something we've had issues with when on trips with other stalkers.
My only potential concern was his choice of vehicle - a Ford Ranger but it was very clean and tidy and didn't break down so I suppose I cant really complain.
Due to the nature of the ground - huge fields - we drove around a little to start with but in no time at all were into bucks. I'm not sure we saw any that were less than 6 pointers and really nice shaped heads - I asked Andrew about this and he's put a lot of work over the last 10 years into removing poor genetics and now the typical size and shape of the heads on his land is fantastic for anywhere never mind the Fens.
It was also obvious just how much time Andrew spends out spotting as the amount of times he said where a specific animal would be before we got there was uncanny.
A little way through the day in the distance was a wood of perhaps 3 acres and we were told a real big chap lived in there but he rarely came out.
After plenty of glassing we found what looked like a nice 6 pointer over towards the wood where the big chap lived and went for a closer look.
When we were still perhaps 500 yards off something spooked the 6 pointer and he ran into the wood. We went round the far side of it hoping that he'd come out - this he most definitely did with the big chap tearing into him. I thought the original buck looked smart from a distance until he was next to the other one.
The younger buck was chased around the field for perhaps 30 seconds until the big chap stopped and I took a neck shot which dropped him instantly. Andrew whispered that I could shoot the other if I wanted which I did with a chest shot as he was a fair bit further out however had stopped to presumably see what had happened.
Elated is an understatement, the whole trip was nothing short of fantastic.
When I cleaned the head and left it overnight to dry it weighed 530g - it will be getting sent off for measuring but has anyone any ideas what it would make?
Cannot wait to get another trip booked soon - if you're on Instagram his page is worth a look - @fenlandhunting
) - from finding deer to gralloching.
