Job Done!

Lakey

Well-Known Member
Hi All,

Isnt it a good feeling when everything goes right and you do what you set out to do.

On my patch, I knew for a pair of buck twins in a small area of woodland as I had seen them on and off since the start of the doe season. I have monitored them and one had grown noticably bigger than the other, so this morning I set out to cull the smaller one, as the body was a bit on the runty side.
Well the green stuff is getting taller and taller and I know that it wouldnt be too long before the bracken started to hide the deer bigtime. with this in mind ,and the fact that it isnt easy to locate specific animals in thick woodland at the best of times, I handn't got my hopes up too high.
I gently stalked through the wood to their favoured area, and climbed up a high seat in the general area noticing how much the scrub holly had grown up around the seat .

I settled in the seat, and a green woodpecker started up in one of the oaks in front of me. I fished around for my camera, hoping to get a picture but in typical form the woodpecker took that as its cue to exit stage left. The sun was peeping through the clouds, and being on a south facing bank, it was quite warm. About 20 minutes in, I noticed a buck come around behind a low scrub holly bush, followed by a second animal, so I slowly raised my binos to check them out. Sure enough they were the twins, and the second of the two deer was my target animal. they were gently feeding towards me in a 'Now you see me, Now you dont' kind of a fashion, so I guessed I would have to act quickly if I was to take a shot.
I started to think "this ones in the bag" which is usually the time when it all turns to rat sh*t in front of your very eyes, and the emerging opportunity evaporates. But on this occasion the deer kept on coming?

I got the rifle ready, and watched as the smaller of the two disappeared behind an oak tree, then did an abrupt about-turn and walked back the way it had just come. It stopped momentarily with the front half of the animal visible, but the back half still hidden behind the tree. There was my chance. I fired and the animal just collapsed in its tracks and twitched once or twice. the other deer, of course wondered what the hell had happened, and it occured to me that I could of course, continue and shoot the second animal with ease, however I stuck to my original plan, and just took a couple of pictures of it with the camera instead.

So, there you have it, the deer I set out after, culled and in the larder, and it all went right for a change. Maybe this is the start of a trend:D

Here is a picture of me with the deer (thanks to my cameras timed shutter release and a convenient stump)
YoungBuck030510.jpg



And here is the bigger and better twin that I left

YoungBuck2.jpg




All the best

Lakey
 
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Cheers John .

Young deer are stupid. And whilst it wasnt any sort of difficult shot, I took pleasure in being out in the woods on a lovely morning, and getting a simple cull job sorted before the green jungle makes woodland stalking nigh on impossible.

Simple pleasures, and I always appreciate when it all goes right:D The deer made 25lb larder weight, so a fair bit on the small side. the remaining twin was a good bit bigger in both head and body.

Andy
 
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Thats a nice story Andy and some lovely looking woodland judging from your photo. Hope that you are able to keep track of the buck that you left and see how he develops. JC
 
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