Sika Stags

sikamalc

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imgSika06001.jpg


Now I am getting the hang of this photo bucket lark, I thought I would show you guys a good Scottish Wild Sika Stag taken by a good friend of mine in 2006 with me guiding him. In fact we stalked and shot 2 stags in about 90 minutes. Including the big lad here, who I had seen last season but did not take.

Anyone fancy a trip up there in October?
 
that's the biggest sika stag i hav ever seen , no wonder he was smiling
make sure your inbox is clear as it may not won't take long to fill
amazing beast truely amazing
 
That is a grand looking beast indeed, I would love to see one firsthand also I will have to bring along a nice bottle of scotch and practice my networking skills to death ..lol
 
Hi Alled. No it was not a particularly long shot, but for inside a forest it was.
The friend that I had with me is the head Stalker for the Duke of Northumberland, and although a Scotchman, he had never shot a Sika Stag or a Red on the open hill. He spent a week as my guest, and stalked a massive area on the West Coast (see landscape photo section) and then halfway through the week we drove over to the east coast to my personal lease which is mostly Caledonian Forest and is about 8000 acres.

This particular stag I had seen 3 times in the previous season, but after the Stags were finished. One one occassion I crept up on him laying down, and on another occassion he wlaked right by us at about 50yds, but not in season. In 2006 I had a feeling he was still in the area, and I had already seen at least two others of similar size on my lease. You can see from the picture that he is well in rut, and I assumed he would be trying to hold the same area as the previous year.

On the evening in question it was warm and very little wind, and it is very difficult to stalk this ancient woodland without making a great deal of noise, plus the wind was very fickle. However my intention was to stalk to a certian spot where I though he might show, without bumping anyhting on the way.

Within 20 minutes of leaving my truck, we had stalked into an area that often produced deer, and as I stood quietly listening I could see a 6 point Sika walking through the forest straight towards us, I told my friend to take it as soon as it stopped, which it did at about 60yds, and his 308 steyr scout knocked it off its feet, and he had his first Sika Stag.

He thought that was it for the night, but my friend did not realise that I intended on letting him take this trophy animal. We dragged the 6 pointer to a spot and marked the tree, and then moved off to the area I was originally heading for.

The area looks across a large open area with an ancient Scotsh Pine growing laying down (Mr B has stood there :) I had just set the sticks up and explained to my friend that if the deer show they normally come down off the bank to our left. We had only been there about 10 minutes when down the bank came this huge stag, trouble was he was about 130yds away and was not stopping. He did briefly stop and a hurried shot was taken. The stag did not react to the shot and I watched it through the bino's as it ran into the undergrowth/bracken in the distance, it never faltered.

I was convinced my friedn had hit the stag, and he agreed. We both made our way over to the area where the stag had stood, and for sometime could find no evidence of a strike. Then I found blood high up on some tall heather, bright red blood. Not a good sign, it usually indicates a high shot possibly back a bit and Liver.

We blood spoored for about 80yds and then finally lost all the sign. (oh for a dog, which I did not have at the time) After about 20 minutes of searching it started to look bad. The bracken in that area is chest high and the gound rises to about 150ft and is covered in dense trees and bracken. we met back at the final blood spoor that we could find, and my friend asked me what we should do.

Sika will nearly always run for the nearest cover every time they are wounded or hit. And they will as will most deer run with the wind on their nose or the edge of their nose. I decided to go with the wind on the dge of the nose route, and my friend followed directly into the wind. After about 10 minutes more he found the stag about 60yds further on behind a large rock dead. It was in fact shot exactly where I though it had been hit, high, back and liver.

That Stag had covered about 150 to 170 yds and had shown not the slightest sign of being hit when he shot, No lurch, no jump, no flinch .........nothing, typical bloody Sika, hard as nails.

We got back to the larder to find George a guide who works for me with an American client, and another 8 pointer which he had shot off the back of Heartbreak ridge, a very nice stag, but not as big as the one in the photo.
 
sikamalc said:
Hi Alled. No it was not a particularly long shot, but for inside a forest it was.
The friend that I had with me is the head Stalker for the Duke of Northumberland, and although a Scotchman, he had never shot a Sika Stag or a Red on the open hill. He spent a week as my guest, and stalked a massive area on the West Coast (see landscape photo section) and then halfway through the week we drove over to the east coast to my personal lease which is mostly Caledonian Forest and is about 8000 acres.

This particular stag I had seen 3 times in the previous season, but after the Stags were finished. One one occassion I crept up on him laying down, and on another occassion he wlaked right by us at about 50yds, but not in season. In 2006 I had a feeling he was still in the area, and I had already seen at least two others of similar size on my lease. You can see from the picture that he is well in rut, and I assumed he would be trying to hold the same area as the previous year.

On the evening in question it was warm and very little wind, and it is very difficult to stalk this ancient woodland without making a great deal of noise, plus the wind was very fickle. However my intention was to stalk to a certian spot where I though he might show, without bumping anyhting on the way.

Within 20 minutes of leaving my truck, we had stalked into an area that often produced deer, and as I stood quietly listening I could see a 6 point Sika walking through the forest straight towards us, I told my friend to take it as soon as it stopped, which it did at about 60yds, and his 308 steyr scout knocked it off its feet, and he had his first Sika Stag.

He thought that was it for the night, but my friend did not realise that I intended on letting him take this trophy animal. We dragged the 6 pointer to a spot and marked the tree, and then moved off to the area I was originally heading for.

The area looks across a large open area with an ancient Scotsh Pine growing laying down (Mr B has stood there :) I had just set the sticks up and explained to my friend that if the deer show they normally come down off the bank to our left. We had only been there about 10 minutes when down the bank came this huge stag, trouble was he was about 130yds away and was not stopping. He did briefly stop and a hurried shot was taken. The stag did not react to the shot and I watched it through the bino's as it ran into the undergrowth/bracken in the distance, it never faltered.

I was convinced my friedn had hit the stag, and he agreed. We both made our way over to the area where the stag had stood, and for sometime could find no evidence of a strike. Then I found blood high up on some tall heather, bright red blood. Not a good sign, it usually indicates a high shot possibly back a bit and Liver.

We blood spoored for about 80yds and then finally lost all the sign. (oh for a dog, which I did not have at the time) After about 20 minutes of searching it started to look bad. The bracken in that area is chest high and the gound rises to about 150ft and is covered in dense trees and bracken. we met back at the final blood spoor that we could find, and my friend asked me what we should do.

Sika will nearly always run for the nearest cover every time they are wounded or hit. And they will as will most deer run with the wind on their nose or the edge of their nose. I decided to go with the wind on the dge of the nose route, and my friend followed directly into the wind. After about 10 minutes more he found the stag about 60yds further on behind a large rock dead. It was in fact shot exactly where I though it had been hit, high, back and liver.

That Stag had covered about 150 to 170 yds and had shown not the slightest sign of being hit when he shot, No lurch, no jump, no flinch .........nothing, typical bloody Sika, hard as nails.

We got back to the larder to find George a guide who works for me with an American client, and another 8 pointer which he had shot off the back of Heartbreak ridge, a very nice stag, but not as big as the one in the photo.

Fantastic post. One of the best I've read on here yet.
 
greggsika031.jpg




Hello 300wsm. From my memory he was a very respectable weight for a highland scottish Sika, about 120lbs clean, which is a good weight seeing as he was nearly run. Generally they weigh in at about 80lbs to 90lbs at this time of year, but the heaviest I have had from an area nearby was 175lbs clean, which is very heavy.

This was taken the year before the photo 2005, and was about 15 miles from my area, and was again a very big 8 pointer.

I also held the Scottish record for a while, head wise, and that Stag was only 85lbs. I think it is number 3 now :confused: This was with a client who is returning this year to hunt with me again, after about a 12 year gap. This is the photo above. This stag was called out with a No5 Achme predator call, works a treat sometimes ;) and was taken on a 12000 acre lease I had which ajoins the property I now have.
 
greggsika032.jpg


How about a brace of big un's, these two were taken by myself with one client, and George with another client. George is pictured here, very pleased with himself. He is a very professional guide, and gets the goods, most times. The stag on the right is an old beast and has lost it on the top, two years previous to this he would have been a beautiful 8 pointer.

Sorry guys now I have the knowledge of how to put photos on the site I am getting carried away :oops: I have too many thats my problem, I hope I am not over doing it, please tell me if I am ;)
 
No please keep them coming malc. I find the diverse range of animals you have hunted and stunning trophys that you have been lucky enough to shot yourself and your clients fascinating.
 
Keep the stories and photos coming, they are very enjoyable reading.

I'll have to wait a week before I can see the photos though because they are filtered out by the firewall at work.
 
greggsika033.jpg


Ok one more, this was the longest stalk on a Sika I ever did with a client. I spotted it from about a mile away walking along the edge of a plantation. The client and myself legged it over an open hill, to get into a large gorge, climed up the other side and crawled into position. We had to take the beast through a deer fence that was running the length of the hill, and luckily after legging it all that way, the stag had hardly moved position. At the shot from my 25.06 it dived into the plantation, however it had only gone about 50yds, and was really dead on its feet. Not a very tall head, but still a very nice mature 8 pointer, and a memorable stalk.

The year 1999. I would have trouble running across a mile of hill now. I would be bloody knackered :eek: I can trot but run NO!
 
Stringer said:
sikamalc said:
Hi Alled. No it was not a particularly long shot, but for inside a forest it was.
The friend that I had with me is the head Stalker for the Duke of Northumberland, and although a Scotchman, he had never shot a Sika Stag or a Red on the open hill. He spent a week as my guest, and stalked a massive area on the West Coast (see landscape photo section) and then halfway through the week we drove over to the east coast to my personal lease which is mostly Caledonian Forest and is about 8000 acres.

This particular stag I had seen 3 times in the previous season, but after the Stags were finished. One one occassion I crept up on him laying down, and on another occassion he wlaked right by us at about 50yds, but not in season. In 2006 I had a feeling he was still in the area, and I had already seen at least two others of similar size on my lease. You can see from the picture that he is well in rut, and I assumed he would be trying to hold the same area as the previous year.

On the evening in question it was warm and very little wind, and it is very difficult to stalk this ancient woodland without making a great deal of noise, plus the wind was very fickle. However my intention was to stalk to a certian spot where I though he might show, without bumping anyhting on the way.

Within 20 minutes of leaving my truck, we had stalked into an area that often produced deer, and as I stood quietly listening I could see a 6 point Sika walking through the forest straight towards us, I told my friend to take it as soon as it stopped, which it did at about 60yds, and his 308 steyr scout knocked it off its feet, and he had his first Sika Stag.

He thought that was it for the night, but my friend did not realise that I intended on letting him take this trophy animal. We dragged the 6 pointer to a spot and marked the tree, and then moved off to the area I was originally heading for.

The area looks across a large open area with an ancient Scotsh Pine growing laying down (Mr B has stood there :) I had just set the sticks up and explained to my friend that if the deer show they normally come down off the bank to our left. We had only been there about 10 minutes when down the bank came this huge stag, trouble was he was about 130yds away and was not stopping. He did briefly stop and a hurried shot was taken. The stag did not react to the shot and I watched it through the bino's as it ran into the undergrowth/bracken in the distance, it never faltered.

I was convinced my friedn had hit the stag, and he agreed. We both made our way over to the area where the stag had stood, and for sometime could find no evidence of a strike. Then I found blood high up on some tall heather, bright red blood. Not a good sign, it usually indicates a high shot possibly back a bit and Liver.

We blood spoored for about 80yds and then finally lost all the sign. (oh for a dog, which I did not have at the time) After about 20 minutes of searching it started to look bad. The bracken in that area is chest high and the gound rises to about 150ft and is covered in dense trees and bracken. we met back at the final blood spoor that we could find, and my friend asked me what we should do.

Sika will nearly always run for the nearest cover every time they are wounded or hit. And they will as will most deer run with the wind on their nose or the edge of their nose. I decided to go with the wind on the dge of the nose route, and my friend followed directly into the wind. After about 10 minutes more he found the stag about 60yds further on behind a large rock dead. It was in fact shot exactly where I though it had been hit, high, back and liver.

That Stag had covered about 150 to 170 yds and had shown not the slightest sign of being hit when he shot, No lurch, no jump, no flinch .........nothing, typical bloody Sika, hard as nails.

We got back to the larder to find George a guide who works for me with an American client, and another 8 pointer which he had shot off the back of Heartbreak ridge, a very nice stag, but not as big as the one in the photo.

Fantastic post. One of the best I've read on here yet.

some crawling technique you hav :lol: :lol: :lol:
sorry stringer could not resist

malc
your pics and the story behind them just the biz
just glad you hav conquered your greastest test of all PHOTO BUCKET :lol: :evil: :lol:
best wishes
stone
 
greggsika032.jpg


How about a brace of big un's, these two were taken by myself with one client, and George with another client. George is pictured here, very pleased with himself. He is a very professional guide, and gets the goods, most times. The stag on the right is an old beast and has lost it on the top, two years previous to this he would have been a beautiful 8 pointer.

Sorry guys now I have the knowledge of how to put photos on the site I am getting carried away :oops: I have too many thats my problem, I hope I am not over doing it, please tell me if I am ;)
030.jpg
Another nice brace.
 
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