Me and my shooting buddy went out yesterday and to fill the gap between work and late on when the activity starts, we decided to have a go at spinning the lakes that are on our perm as the landowner wants rid of any pike to encourage the other species to grow on!!
As you can see we are lucky to have these on the perm which we regularly shoot around, but rarely fish!!
The wildlife likes to take a stroll aroud them too, as you can see by the tracks!! We've seen deer, badgers and charlie all walking around the lakes!! Along with Polish poachers after the pike!!
I managed a little perch quite early on so stormed into a 1-0 lead, but that was it for a good while until we got to the final spot before changing for the rifles. That's when the fun started. I got into a pike that took the spinner not 15ft in front of me but my rubbish knot gave way as Dale readied the landing net and it made off with a spinner and trace hanging out of its gob!! I re-loaded so to speak and Dale tied another one on and quite quickly got another taker and this time we landed a nice little Jack Pike. Queue the celebrations and grin as it is the 1st pike I've caught since fishing as a wee lad and I stormed into a 2-0 lead!!
Not to be outdone the ex county fisherman trumped my effort with a bigger Jack of his own, compared to my boot and we called it a night with the rods!
Onto the rifles and we mooched to the highseat to see if any munties or Charlie presented themselves. Not 5 mins after sitting down a badger mooched along in front of us then, as I was daydreaming looking away to my right, Dale nudged me back into life coz a munty buck had popped onto the ride about 60 yards away!
Initially it was broadside so I carefully flipped the safety off, but the old Brno has the loudest safety in the world and again the click made it turn and look straight at us! After a second or so it carried on and walked towards us down a track in the grass but not presenting the ideal shot! A little squeek from me got its attention again which helped to get him side on enough to send the .308 165gr SP on its way before he decided enough was enough!! Even with that hitting home he still made it 25 or so yards into cover but the blood trail led us straight to him! Unfortunately the round must have clipped a rib or something and made it a messy old gralloch, as although it had hit the vitals it deviated wildly and exited half way down the body and caught the rumen too!!
As you can see he 'was' in good nick being a good weight at 15kg pre gralloch!
While I was doing the gralloch Dale stayed in the highseat to see if charlie joined the party but alas that was the end of the evenings entertainment, but a thoroughly enjoyable night it was in me old mate's company!!
Stratts
As you can see we are lucky to have these on the perm which we regularly shoot around, but rarely fish!!
The wildlife likes to take a stroll aroud them too, as you can see by the tracks!! We've seen deer, badgers and charlie all walking around the lakes!! Along with Polish poachers after the pike!!
I managed a little perch quite early on so stormed into a 1-0 lead, but that was it for a good while until we got to the final spot before changing for the rifles. That's when the fun started. I got into a pike that took the spinner not 15ft in front of me but my rubbish knot gave way as Dale readied the landing net and it made off with a spinner and trace hanging out of its gob!! I re-loaded so to speak and Dale tied another one on and quite quickly got another taker and this time we landed a nice little Jack Pike. Queue the celebrations and grin as it is the 1st pike I've caught since fishing as a wee lad and I stormed into a 2-0 lead!!
Not to be outdone the ex county fisherman trumped my effort with a bigger Jack of his own, compared to my boot and we called it a night with the rods!
Onto the rifles and we mooched to the highseat to see if any munties or Charlie presented themselves. Not 5 mins after sitting down a badger mooched along in front of us then, as I was daydreaming looking away to my right, Dale nudged me back into life coz a munty buck had popped onto the ride about 60 yards away!
Initially it was broadside so I carefully flipped the safety off, but the old Brno has the loudest safety in the world and again the click made it turn and look straight at us! After a second or so it carried on and walked towards us down a track in the grass but not presenting the ideal shot! A little squeek from me got its attention again which helped to get him side on enough to send the .308 165gr SP on its way before he decided enough was enough!! Even with that hitting home he still made it 25 or so yards into cover but the blood trail led us straight to him! Unfortunately the round must have clipped a rib or something and made it a messy old gralloch, as although it had hit the vitals it deviated wildly and exited half way down the body and caught the rumen too!!
As you can see he 'was' in good nick being a good weight at 15kg pre gralloch!
While I was doing the gralloch Dale stayed in the highseat to see if charlie joined the party but alas that was the end of the evenings entertainment, but a thoroughly enjoyable night it was in me old mate's company!!
Stratts