a little story

griffshrek

Well-Known Member
Hello all ,not long back Beowulf mentioned a what if thread of stories and experiences I thought I would share with you this little tail.

I am lucky enough to live close to my parents and see them nearly every day, my father is more like my best friend and I have followed him with his love of fishing and shooting .he is my main partner when I go out lamping shooting etc. even at the still youngish age of 66 he is still very fit and I try incorporate walking the dogs with him every day . As he and my mother are retired this is also a godsend with the child care side

He has never owned a centre fire rifle (army lent him one for a few yrs some time back) but concentrated on shotgun stuff and working dogs. Since I got into the 17hmr and pest control then the .243 and stalking he has got the bug as well. He now has a FAC for the .17hmr and goes out with it but does not want to get the 243 on his ticket .He has shot deer in the past but that was when he was in his twenties with a shot gun and single ball ammo.
I have spent many happy hours in a hide pigeon shooting ,lamping , shooting rabbits with him, he has stalked with me and thought this was out of the world. Since loosing the land I had I havn’t been able to take him on my last couple of outings as I can only go alone as I am the guest I have almost begged the guy but its one only . I have offered to pay for him to have a stalk but he wont go he wants to see me stalk the deer and I want to see him stalk. I tend to do most of the shooting .

He loves to help out when I reload and tries his best to understand the ballistics and velocities and what comes with that aspect of shooting . He loves to partake when I go zeroing and I now try to have regular days out to take him and we set target out to 300+m and compare groupings and the like. I have even made some deer targets that we practice on. His eyes are not what they were and he is ok up to 170m

Last week a I was approached by a new comer to the village (only live here 8 yrs) who has been having problems with foxes taking his chickens. They live a mile or so outside the village with no close neighbours . The land around them is common on one side (no no for shooting) fields covered in reeds on the other (poor visibility) and they have a massive garden . I did not want to use the garden even though the people were more than willing for me to shoot from the upstairs window if wanted .

I like to not be seen or heard (hard sometimes with he 243) I don’t know why I just do, funny enough my father is the same . We checked the area out nearby the house where the guy said he had seen the foxes and found with an area 20ft x 2ft that we could bate up , we have been dropping off rabbits to the area and they have started to go so we decided to go out last Monday evening and get the fox.

The day was great nice and warm to begin with and cooled down nice for the evening, we got in position about 7.10pm and had a great couple of hours just watching the wildlife and enjoying each others company quietly chatting . There are a the odd red kite our way not and it was great watching them

The bait was about 280m from where we were I had decided that I was not going to shoot but get my father to do it. The rifle is a Sako 85 varmint laminate stainless T8 mod S&B 8x56 IR scope with a harris bi-pod ,the rifle is zeroed for 200m and at the distance from the bait if you aim for the top of the foxes back and the 75gr v max will be almost spot on its chest

I put the rifle in position bi-pod down so all you would have to do is lay down look through scope and your on target.

At 9.05pm the fox appeared it was still quite light and you could see it clearly with the naked eye , the fox was straight at the bait that we wired to a post. I then told my father I was not going to shoot ,he was . He protested that it was to far for him and his eyes were not good enough but I insisted .




My father got into position with the rifle, he slowed is breathing down then took a big breath and held I don’t know why had copied him I was half watching him and half on the fox. I was terrified and nervous for him I was praying he would hit the fox as this is the longest live target he has shot at . It seemed like an age of nothing then there was the crack of the rifle I was concentrating that much I jumped.

I watched the bullet hit the fox who collapsed to the floor, there was then the distinctive “thwack” of the impact noise echoing back , I was elated for my father who appeared proud as punch . We decided not to go to the fox just yet and give it a bit more time just in case there are any more about. We chatted quietly with my father over the moon at his shot and I felt very proud of him almost a role reversal.

At 9.20pm as the light was fading out came the second fox a great big dog fox. I switched on the IR on the scope and told my father to get the second one , he again protested but I was adamant. Down he went again slowed his breathing the held the breath , I again had copied his breathing but was a bit more relaxed.

The crack of the rifle seemed louder but it always does when it gets dark , in that split second I took my eye off the fox and lost it. I then heard the very definite “thwack “ and knew the fox was dead as the 75gr v max does not take prisoners .

We were both like excited school kids we packed up and went to check my father shooting , both foxes shot through chest and both never heard the crack of the rifle. I could see light on in the house that requested or services so put a rope on the foxes and dragged to the house , the gentleman was over the moon and thanked me , I told him my father shot them both and in the falling light showed him the distance. The bloke was amazed and was very grateful . We said our good bys to the gent and mad our way home a nice slow walk with us both chattering away like magpies .

I had a fantastic evening with my father who was over the moon with his shooting as I was.

I hope you enjoyed this little story i dont know why but thought i would share it with you …….neil
 
What a wonderful memory for you both. I lost my father about 5 years ago, and although he loved football which I hate, he always took an interest in what I did when I got older. I used to run a Pheasant shoot on the estate with a syndicate of 12 guns many years back, and my dad was back gun one day and shot a pheasant that ran down the lane and into the shoot hut and died under the table.

He must have told that story in front of me many times, and it got longer as the years went on!!!

Its great to read these stories, because it means so much to folk, and I am sure you will be telling your grandchildren in years to come this story.

Long may it remain so.
 
What a great tale Neil!
I can totaly grasp what you are trying to do, I'd love to get my Dad out with the .243, for a deer. He came out rabbit shooting with the .22 and loved it. He's 73 now, and I find myself wanting him to experience as much as he can with me while he still can. Congratulations to the both of you on your shooting and relationship.
Mark
 
fantastic story neil
i lost my father at 15 over 22 years ago now so never had the chance to experience any of this , when i hear such tales i always wondered what could of been, keep it up my freind and hope you enjoy many more like it
absolutely fantastic
 
Neil that was a fantastic read mate, I'm really chuffed that you put it on the site.

Thanks again, your story has made my day. ;)
 
thank you all for the wounderful replies. you may have a problem now as you are me to write encouraging more....neil :lol:
 
Go for it mate, we will be pleased to read them.

And that goes for the other members as well, this is your site, so lets see some more experiances put on the site. You only get out what you put in on a site like this, and last weekend just shows what can be achieved when folk get together.

Keep an eye out for future events and hopefully expansion of this site ;)
 
Great story Neil and fond memories for you. I lost my dad 37 years ago and we never hunted together as men, I would have really liked that.

More stories, more interest, more activities this site is going to sleep!

John
 
A heartwarming tale, sounds like some great shooting too a fox at 280 is a small target regardless of age!!!
 
Hi Gabriel,
I notice from your pictures in the trophy room that you are a hunter of the African game species, any chance of an account of your exploits on the Dark Continent?



Hi All Members,
As you can see we now have an articles section just waiting to be filled with stories of ‘Daring-do’. You never know we might even get a competition together and see if we can’t get the article published in the shooting press.

Please do not feel embarrassed about spelling or punctuation mistakes; I am at this very moment sat in front of the spelling and grammar search on my PC writing this! My wife then proof reads my articles and makes them appear half decent.

It’s truly liberating to share a life experience with online friends, I was in a foul mood just before I read Griffshrek’s story; talk about claiming the savage beast! It certainly lightened my mood. We are hunters but in these days of stress and worries we cannot sit infront of the fire and talk of our exploits like our ancient ancestors; lets make this site our hunters fire place! The young hunters will learn from the old and we can all learn from each other.

Come on folks, get tapping, and write a story/article you won’t regret it!
 
More stories like this, please. :D

Articles like this will make up for the deficiencies of Sporting Rifle and the loss of Stalkiing Magazine.

Nick
 
i think the 3 stage sound of fox shooting is excellent- the initial kerboom of the rifle, the wschhhhhhh of the round in flight, and finally the confirmation thwacccccccckkkkk. truly highlights the diffenece in speed of light and sound.

my dad was a bren gunner during his national service, but doesnt shoot game. grandad spent many years in germany post war dearming the germans and my keeper uncle still has a lovely krupps of essen 16g that mysteriously didnt get destroyed with all the others :evil:

my dad also thinks i'm ferkin mad gettin out of my bed at 4.00 in the morning to go out.

good story.
 
well i for one will post another story soon, i agree with the other posts that there is great section waiting to be filled here.

do we want just shooting and hunting stuff or stories that we think the others on the site would like to read in general?

what i mean is i have some very found and hopefully entertaing stories of my 2yrs backpacking around australia and south east asia,also there are a few military hero's on here who i bet have a tail or two to tell.

Beowulf once mentioned "HIS TURN IN THE BARREL ON BOARD SHIP" not being a nortical man i dont know what this means but i bet it would make a good eye watering read....neil
 
Stories any stories, so long as they are interesting, funny, hunting and shooting or not, it does not matter. Everybody knows enough to put their waders on before reading this forum :eek: :eek: So bring it on

John
 
Yes any stories. I used to buy Mayfair and Men Only just to read the stories about 'Spitfire Aces' and vintage race cars. :eek: :oops:

Honest!
 
stories

i may have to log in under another name if i have any input into this one . Or i may never return from north of glasgow again alive . They may be waiting for me on the M8
 
Lovely story that Neil.
Reading tales like that is to me one of the great things about this site.
Keep writing!
All the best,
Gyr
 
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