I’m a bit disappointed with the replies at this post , since none of you have been “stalking “there you should leave your replies to yourselves . I will tell you about my “stalk “at this estate .
This may be graded as a level-1 stalk but let me tell you its not that easy , you had to be ready by 11am that meant I was up by 9am breakfast, dressed , I barely made it.
Then it was a quick chat with the keeper about what “I” wanted from the day , I explained to him I had some big empty spaces in the trophy room and needed them filled with animals and money was no expense .I think the keep has poor blood circulation and feels the cold as all he kept doing was looking at me and rubbing his hands together (to keep warm).
By now it was lunch so off we went and had a splendid five course lunch (fully recommend the beef Wellington) then it was to he range for the not so easy hitting the target thing to see how you shoot. It amazes me how even though I have the best rifle and scope combination money can by I can not get the staff to zero it properly for me.
When I booked this hunt I asked the rifle smith to check the zero he told me to my face
“ she is shooting just under inch groups at 200m” how can this man have the audacity to say this to me then when I try the rifle I’m lucky to get two into the 6” circle at 100m. You cant seem to get the staff these days.
Anyway the keeper said not to worry about hitting the target the deer might if im lucky be a bit closer. As it was lady luck was on my side and the keeper told me that a lot of the deer needed their 6 monthly vitamin supplements and we might be able to stalk up or drive close while they were eating this essential requirement . So we let the quad bike with a couple of bags of this essential vitamins and minerals go in front.
These deer must are the smartest deer in the world as they know they must need the essential vitamins and minerals and all came towards the quad bike and feed right off the back . With the keepers advice we saw our window of opportunity and slowly advanced at the herds of deer getting the essential vitamins and minerals from the open sacks on the bike.
We got as close to these animals as we dare without spooking them , the keeper said that I should shoot from the rear passenger side window of the vehicle where I was sat ,as the opening of the range rovers door might spook them and our opportunity on this stalk would be lost.
Try as I must I could get a clear sight picture on the magnificent stag I wanted with it being at least 30-40 meters away , so the keeper who by luck had a few pocket full of the essential vitamins and minerals proceeded to throw these out of the window and in doing so by accident also threw out five loafs of bread he also had in the vehicle .
Anyway this by luck seemed to work and the deer came close to the car where I selected my trophy (they did seem to like the bread ), I lined him up with a good heart lung shot held my breath and squeezed the trigger . The deer I was aiming at went straight down but the deer behind him got clipped by the exiting bullet . I felt a bit bad at first but the keeper said not to worry as the enclosure was very small and he will be easy to find.
It was then straight over to the deer for some trophy pictures , the deer would not leave the area as they wanted the essential vitamins and minerals so the chap on the quad bike had to drive away with the deer following him it was like something out of pied piper of hamlet . Several pictures later I was whisked off to the estate house for a good single malt and sort out the bill.
To this day this was one of the most rewarding stalks I have been on, the wife and sister in law were also lucky enough to bag a stag each , please don’t be so dismissive of this place with trophey fee's and the weekend at the spa ,you will get change out of £20,000 .