Yesterday morning I had the opportunity (thanks entirely to David aka Max from on here) to get my first CWD, my fifth of the 6 UK species.
A 4am start from my end revealed a beautifully clear night and a light frost, I couldn't have asked for better weather for a morning on the Norfolk broads. We arrived at the farm at around 6, the plan being to sit out in a high seat for a while before stalking on foot, however on turning off the engine , straight away we spotted 3 chinkies in the field we were parked in, about 150-200m from the truck. 'Go on then' was the instruciton from David, so I hopped out of the truck, but in the time it took me to get my rifle out of the back of the truck, all three had gone. None the less I stalked the field boundary having been told there was a cover crop on the margin and sure enough, one of the three was still there.
As I got into position the deer ran 30m or so out from the margin barking, but she stopped long enough for me to get a a shot off, my first CWD was in the bag and I was a very happy chappy! it was a doe, and although I was visibly very happy I could tell David was keen for me to have a chance at a buck too cap it all off, besides, total time stalking at this point was probably under 10 minutes!
View attachment 13079
We returned to the truck with the carcass, then headed off on foot to follow a network of drains and dykes in search of number 2, after about 20 minutes of flushing noisy pheasants and mallard from their evenings rest we caught site of a lovely buck about 150 odd meters off mooching around a pheasant feeder.
He was onto us very quickly however and we spent the next 20 minutes bumping into him every couple of hundred meters, he would show himself
for a couple of seconds, then disappear into the safety of the woodland surrounding.
We broke out of the wooded area, and in the distance I spotted a buck stood by a gate, after not doing a very good job of trying to explain his wherabouts to David (there were several gates as it turned out, so my instructions weren't as clear as I thought.....) we ended up looking in the same direction, but by that time, the single deer I had seen was now 3, and they were heading our way.
I got into a good position to take a shot, the group now apparently 4, consitsted of 2 does and 2 bucks, the instruction from David was to take the one on the left, I didn't agrue, as I could see he was a lovely looking animal. I shot him around 100m and couldn't believe my luck, what a morning, a brace of Chinks, and my fifth UK species down, Sika next then........
View attachment 13080View attachment 13081
Huge thanks to David for what was an exceptional morning stalking, what a gentleman, and not a bad cook either, breakfast was the perfect way to end the morning.
ATB
Andy
A 4am start from my end revealed a beautifully clear night and a light frost, I couldn't have asked for better weather for a morning on the Norfolk broads. We arrived at the farm at around 6, the plan being to sit out in a high seat for a while before stalking on foot, however on turning off the engine , straight away we spotted 3 chinkies in the field we were parked in, about 150-200m from the truck. 'Go on then' was the instruciton from David, so I hopped out of the truck, but in the time it took me to get my rifle out of the back of the truck, all three had gone. None the less I stalked the field boundary having been told there was a cover crop on the margin and sure enough, one of the three was still there.
As I got into position the deer ran 30m or so out from the margin barking, but she stopped long enough for me to get a a shot off, my first CWD was in the bag and I was a very happy chappy! it was a doe, and although I was visibly very happy I could tell David was keen for me to have a chance at a buck too cap it all off, besides, total time stalking at this point was probably under 10 minutes!
View attachment 13079
We returned to the truck with the carcass, then headed off on foot to follow a network of drains and dykes in search of number 2, after about 20 minutes of flushing noisy pheasants and mallard from their evenings rest we caught site of a lovely buck about 150 odd meters off mooching around a pheasant feeder.
He was onto us very quickly however and we spent the next 20 minutes bumping into him every couple of hundred meters, he would show himself
for a couple of seconds, then disappear into the safety of the woodland surrounding.
We broke out of the wooded area, and in the distance I spotted a buck stood by a gate, after not doing a very good job of trying to explain his wherabouts to David (there were several gates as it turned out, so my instructions weren't as clear as I thought.....) we ended up looking in the same direction, but by that time, the single deer I had seen was now 3, and they were heading our way.
I got into a good position to take a shot, the group now apparently 4, consitsted of 2 does and 2 bucks, the instruction from David was to take the one on the left, I didn't agrue, as I could see he was a lovely looking animal. I shot him around 100m and couldn't believe my luck, what a morning, a brace of Chinks, and my fifth UK species down, Sika next then........
View attachment 13080View attachment 13081
Huge thanks to David for what was an exceptional morning stalking, what a gentleman, and not a bad cook either, breakfast was the perfect way to end the morning.
ATB
Andy
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