Visited my patch today & as I pulled up at the gate in the wood I had 9 fallow watching me from the neighbours side of the track, trying to open the tempermental combination padlock for about 2 minutes & no further then 20 metres away & down wind.
As I parked up I noticed them running through the wood, followed by some small dog & dog walker who had decided to cut through the wood off the footpath.
Still they cut back to the far side of the meadow & the wind was in my favour so I tried to stalk them. I got to about 150m from a pricket & 3 does standing against the far hedge( No safe shot), the other 5 does broke left out of sight.
I sat & watched the pricket through my bins, for a while before he left with the 3 does through the hedge & onto the neighbouring land.
So I crept left across to a hedge/scrub that was about 100 metres long & 5 metres wide.
I laid down & scanned the area for the remaining does, no joy. After about 20 mins just laying here watching the rabbits playing on the far bank about 80 yards away I was contemplating moving to the other side of the field, where I have previously seen deer entering. I had a good look around to my left with my bins, looked back towards the rabbits & there was a nice large doe, standing about 70 metres away full broadside, nice safe back stop (text book stuff). After a double take I realised that here was my first solo beast on my own bit of ground. I slowly lowered my bins, & moved my rifle across, as I raised the rifle to my eye it was bang on the engine room, perfect I didn't have to make any adjustments. There was even a nice hollow that my left elbow was in, this was just perfect nice & steady.
The cross hair was dead still & this was it, I was more than happy that this was it, really confident to take the shot, I went to slip of the saftey.
I would be posting "MY FIRST SOLO BEAST ", with some pictures . When she turned 45 degrees away from me, No clear shot, so I waited, then she was facing the opposite direction. Then she reared up onto her hind legs & started to nibble the bottom of a small tree, as she came back down to the ground she moved to her right & was now obscurred from view by part of the foliage. I waited what seemed like a lifetime & during this I realised just how hard & fast my heart was beating.
Then out of the corner of my eye & through the hedge at last movement, NO 200 metres away t& closing fast a big black dog & another bloody dog walker, miles off the path. Looked back to see my first beast trotting off with the other 4 across the field. The dog & dog walker ended up walking past me about 30 metres down wind & totally unaware that I was lying there.
I was tempted to get up & say something but thought against it,new bit of land & all that & I can just imagine how the 999 call to the police would that have sounded, along the lines of." There's a strange male in combat gear & a big gun, he's just come out of the bushes".
So I laid there & swore to myself a few times feeling really ****ed off, then after a few minutes, about 20 long tail tits worked their way along the hedge that I was in. I watched them within touching distance as flittered around all around me, then I thought to myself, well this aint so bad, I'm out in the countryside with nature. Its the first time I have seen a deer feeding on its hind legs in the wild, something that I have only seen on TV before. I know there are deer on my land & have gained some more insight to their areas & routes. It gives me more of an excuse with the missus to get back out there & get my first solo beast. It will come & this will only go to make it more special.
Cant wait to post it though!!