A night on the deer with Wadashot

Wadashot kindly took a day out of his stalking weekend up in the borders to come along and have a walk around my patch with me on Sunday.

We met up at lunchtime, and by way of introduction I gave Wadashot a can of coke and he showed me a deer's head. Just the way it should be.

After a quick cuppa in my Father Ted caravan I took him on a tour of the place. My motivation was to pick his brains about deer in general and also have someone cast an expert eye over the ground and estimate the numbers of deer I have there as well a identify good spots for stalking.

We spent a fascinating hour or so touring the boundaries and spotting wildlife signs before getting down the fun part of the day - me demonstrating my lack of talent with a rifle.

It's actually quite challenging terrain and finding a clear flat 100 yrd safe area to zero wasn't that easy - but we managed it, and I did the jungle warfare bit up and down gullies to set up some targets.

I wasn't exactly making it easy on myself - new rifle, never fired it before, range of homeloads, unzeroed scope. But Wadashot donated his bipod and from a prone posistion half on an anthill and half sliding down a 45 degree slope underneath the bracken in the rain I took my first shot. In retropsect , that's would be how I'd be taking shots at deer so it's probably a good thing.

Big bang and astonishingly I hit the target - we decided that we'd forget about letting the barrel cool between shots, and with Wadashot spotting and calling out scope adjustments (he being the one in the comfy deckchair) I worked up through the loads and ended up with something like a half decent group more or less where it needed to be.

I also had a couple of shots with his Mannlicher 270, very nice - but we disciovered I like my scope 6 inches further forward than most normal people so I looked like a flamingo with a neck cramp getting lined up. Wadashot had a few shots for fun and we headed back to base to dry out and have a real man's tea - pot noodles and kitkats.

About 6.30pm we headed out for a stalk - a real stalk! I must admit I had more faith in my ability to make a mess of things than to get things right so the experience was my objective, not making a kill - but if the opportunity presented itslef I was happy to have a go. Wadashot brought his 270 along to ride shotgun in the event of me making a mess of things or finding a shot out my effective range/ability. Although excited, I was in no rush to shoot a deer, and certainly in no rush to send one away injured so I told Wadashot I was deferring to him in all things and that he'd be the one to say whether a shot was on or not.

We got to a point on the other side of Lowes Gully, and Wadashot spotted a buck immediately, about 400 yards off, it was just a head and it took me a few minutes to see it - and only then when a Doe got up and the two started playing chasy. We sat and watched for a while and Wadashot announced he was going to call the buck over.

I was sceptical - on the basis that if you have a woman, why leave her to look for another - but bucks obviously think like blokes i.e. one woman is never enough, and amazingly after 10 minutes or so he came trotting over. I couldnt believe it.

Wadashot then led us down the hill to get into position for a shot, using all of his expertise and years of experience to lead us right through the middle of every single gorse bush there was on the way down :)

Even with me crashing out of the bottom like a drunken elephant I saw through the trees that the buck was still on his way, and was now over the boundary onto our bit.

Now at this point, if Wadashot had taken the lead we would have had a shot, but I went first, and as we got nearer, instead of lying flat to peer through the trees (and probably have a shot on), I crept forwards to peer round them.

The buck saw something he didn't like (me) and took off. He must have been only 70 yards away.

We hid ourselves in the heather a little way back up the valley side and waited to see if he would reappear but no joy. We spent the final hour in the heather discussing life, the universe and everything, and it was very enjoyable. It was only when we got back I realised how wet and midge bitten I was.

In retrospect - I should have done the gentlemanly thing, Wadashot being my guest I really should have told him to take the shot from where we were - sorry about that. I get a bit competitive at times.

I certainly can't complain, because I know the opportunties exist there, and it will just be a matter of time before one comes good.

Without Wadashot I'd wouldn't have even seen the deer, and then his experience turned what I considered a no-hope siutation into one where we could have taken a deer.

Big thanks to Wadashot - you're great company, and put in a lot of work for my benefit. All you got back was a pot noodle, a kitkat, a can of coke and my incessant, inane jabbering.
We need to do this again soon.
 
Liam, you are more than welcome ;) You were also great company, and i love kitkats :lol:

It is a cracking bit of ground you have there, 15 acres, with a nice little caravan sited might not sound much, but it`s all you need for recreational use with the family at weekends to chill out on and have the odd stalk when you fancy. You have a bit more knowledge than you had this time last week and an eagerness to learn. If ever i can help again in the future, just gives a call.

wadas
 
Hi Snowstorm,
Good write up mate and I still have the pleasure of meeting the legendary wadas, but we have spoken over the phone and really looking forward meeting.
There is nothing like being given advice to help with the confidence, so good on wadas for taking the time out to give you some pointers and help.
Just another example of this site bringing like minded people together to help each other out. :)

Smithy
 
Well done to the pair of you one wanting and willing to learn, the other able and willing to teach, that really is what it is all about.

Mind you that wadas is any one's for a kitkat :eek:

John
 
What many do not know is that Wada's is a quiet but very professional stalker. And althoguh I have yet to stalk with him, he is coming up to Scotland on my lease this autumn for a shot or two with Smithy and the lucky winner of the auction.

Ian (aka Wada's) is a gent, and a very knowledgable stalker and as JAYB has already stated this is what this site is all about. Well done to the both of you. All the Level ones and two's in the world cannot make up for pure experience and knowledge that comes over years of practice and hard knocks.
 
crikey malc
you will hav wadas weeping in his tea with praise like this :lol:
and i totaly agree , ian is such a fantastic fella and turned out to be a very good friend ;)
as snowstorm will of noticed , ian will of given so much of his knowledge that he can and i am sure will be at the other end of the phone helping as much as he can when ever he can
good lad wadas
and what a cracking time snowstorm and wadas had together
ian told me this on the phone today
ATB
stone
 
Just got in from a few days away and read the SD.

That buck was nowhere to be seen near my caravan up near Driffield. I reckon he has either been shot or maybe taken away by a doe.
I expected to see more movement around from the last time, thrashing, scrapings, etc, but nothing, not a carrot. :rolleyes:

Thanks for the kind word everyone. I may not be able to offer anyone any stalking, but i like to think that i can help out in other ways.

Cheers guys. ;)

wadas
 
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