First stalk in Command!

Just thought I would share an awesome experience. I have stalked a fair amount alone but have never had the responsibility for leading a stalk under pressure for someone else. On my syndicate ground I took my new brother in law out and we were under orders to get on with the cull. As a group (3 parties) we set out and spotted deer straight away. The other 2 kindly said all yours and we set off with our heads into a southerly. I climbed a burn to the high ground and was just popping my head up and I could see pricked ears. hmmmmm, not good, then whooof they were off! The wind had changed to a NE blowing our scent up the gully to the herd.....Bugger


We set off trying to shadow them but with drifting hill fog we were always onto a losing battle. After a long slog to gain a lot more height and then punch back to the head of the glen we finally got into a good position for the wind. I led off clambering down the face till we got just under the fog line. I scanned hard and heard over the radio that there were deer heading for us but couldn't see any. We lost a little more height and then set off across some peat hags. I warned my Brother in law that it was looking poor and 10 minutes later we both stopped and looked over our right shoulders at the same time. There was a group of 10+ hinds tracking towards us 300 metres away!!!!! Resisting the urge to do cartwheels ( the relief was massive) we dropped slowly and crawled 100m forward onto a peat hag. We set up in ambush and the deer continued to move in. A group of 3 led the party and as they moved behind a hag i warned Olly to take the shot when they reappeared. They did and immediately the hind stopped, knowing something was wrong she looked straight at us without clocking us. I hissed " shoot her in the neck", he did so and she dropped. The other 2 ran then turned to have a look. Olly took 1 with a textbook chest shot, typically it ran and seeing a leg swinging I grabbed the rifle and got it into my shoulder as the hind collapsed.

I gave Olly a huge pat on the back and was v relieved. Post Gralloch we sat and had some lunch, then dragged them off almost the hardest bit of the ground back to the main track....Bloody hard work but v satisfied! In the larder the first shot had clean broken the neck halfway up and the second had gone in through the nearside shoulder with no lungs left - perfect!

A great day to live on in the memory for a while!



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Well done Jinga. Now you know what it's like with the pressure on!

Give me a shout when you have spare time to get back down again...
 
Well done Jinga. Now you know what it's like with the pressure on!

Give me a shout when you have spare time to get back down again...

Brian - Will do, I might have to wait a little, apparently we are on an economy drive (the Mrs has declared!). Sorry to hear about your dog the other day. The pressure certainly brings an extra dimension!
 
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