Set off to my usual Devon/Cornwall border, with outings booked in for Thursday PM, Friday AM/PM and Saturday AM. Surely I’ll get something I thought.. my usual 6.5 is left at home and a shining new Rigby highland stalker in 30.06, paired with fusion 180s takes it’s place. Hopefully it shoots well and the new calibre does the job without causing too much damage.
Thursday night through thick woodland with it pouring, my lovely new rifle drenched, barbed wire fence every metre or so, I’m sure you have all been there!! Heart wasn’t honestly in it and the highlight was seeing a bunch of red hinds, maybe 30 in all, who we promptly spooked and ran off barking their heads off, no joy.
Back at 11pm and up at 3.30am for the next one equally unsuccessful. The PM on Friday was thundering down rain wise and the guy I go out with said it wasn’t worth it, but should clear up for the AM. By then I was feeling the pressure and perhaps even a bit disheartened, pulling on still damp boots despite my best efforts at 4am on Saturday.
Walking around some beautiful big fields close to Dartmoor at about 5, saw a fox with an almost totally black coat at 200 yards unaware of us - never seen anything like that before and was about to take him off sticks but then thought, what if there’s a buck in the next field, and despite not feeling too lucky, left him for another day. Rounded the hedge and 300 yards off I see a Roe doe.. well it must be worth going in for a closer look so we crouched and got to a low hedge, then crawled, dragging myself through countless cowpats and smearing the lovey walnut with it as well. “If I don’t find a decent buck at the end of this hedge I will be pretty peeved” I remember myself thinking. At the end of the hedge about 150 yards off we see there’s a second Roe.. we aren’t too sure but then one drops it’s head and chases the other one about, In that unmistakable way! No bipod so we put down the Bino’s and I rested on them - for a surprisingly comfortable shooting position!
Make sure you see antlers I’m told, and zooming in a bit he looks great, he’s larking about and there’s no doubt he has a decent pair of antlers on him. He’s quartered from me and then back to me but I know we are well covered, prone and still and there’s no chance of spooking him, so I wait and watch and wait for a perfect shot. For me this is the best part of the outing and I want to do a great job and have no idea how the rifle will do.
With him facing slightly away and to the left he turn a bit more and I have a lovely shot just behind the left shoulder. I take it and with a big thump he’s bowled right over into his back where he stands. A few seconds of kicks, he tries to lift his head and I quickly chamber another round, heart beating, but he’s already gone. The knock down power vs my 6.5 is absolutely brilliant and I’m really elated! We walk up slowly and he’s stone dead, a lovely 8 pointer. The sun is rising up from the valleys around us and we load the roe up and take him back to the larder. I feel great, really happy with the stalk - we moved well in quite open ground and the shot was absolutely perfect.
Back at the larder the shot has broken a few ribs on either side, expanded well and hit the heart, 80% of which is liquified. There’s almost no bruising to the meat and damage is much less than the 6.5, which is a bit of a surprise. I don’t think I will ever go out with anything but the larger calibre going forward!
Thanks!
Ed
Thursday night through thick woodland with it pouring, my lovely new rifle drenched, barbed wire fence every metre or so, I’m sure you have all been there!! Heart wasn’t honestly in it and the highlight was seeing a bunch of red hinds, maybe 30 in all, who we promptly spooked and ran off barking their heads off, no joy.
Back at 11pm and up at 3.30am for the next one equally unsuccessful. The PM on Friday was thundering down rain wise and the guy I go out with said it wasn’t worth it, but should clear up for the AM. By then I was feeling the pressure and perhaps even a bit disheartened, pulling on still damp boots despite my best efforts at 4am on Saturday.
Walking around some beautiful big fields close to Dartmoor at about 5, saw a fox with an almost totally black coat at 200 yards unaware of us - never seen anything like that before and was about to take him off sticks but then thought, what if there’s a buck in the next field, and despite not feeling too lucky, left him for another day. Rounded the hedge and 300 yards off I see a Roe doe.. well it must be worth going in for a closer look so we crouched and got to a low hedge, then crawled, dragging myself through countless cowpats and smearing the lovey walnut with it as well. “If I don’t find a decent buck at the end of this hedge I will be pretty peeved” I remember myself thinking. At the end of the hedge about 150 yards off we see there’s a second Roe.. we aren’t too sure but then one drops it’s head and chases the other one about, In that unmistakable way! No bipod so we put down the Bino’s and I rested on them - for a surprisingly comfortable shooting position!
Make sure you see antlers I’m told, and zooming in a bit he looks great, he’s larking about and there’s no doubt he has a decent pair of antlers on him. He’s quartered from me and then back to me but I know we are well covered, prone and still and there’s no chance of spooking him, so I wait and watch and wait for a perfect shot. For me this is the best part of the outing and I want to do a great job and have no idea how the rifle will do.
With him facing slightly away and to the left he turn a bit more and I have a lovely shot just behind the left shoulder. I take it and with a big thump he’s bowled right over into his back where he stands. A few seconds of kicks, he tries to lift his head and I quickly chamber another round, heart beating, but he’s already gone. The knock down power vs my 6.5 is absolutely brilliant and I’m really elated! We walk up slowly and he’s stone dead, a lovely 8 pointer. The sun is rising up from the valleys around us and we load the roe up and take him back to the larder. I feel great, really happy with the stalk - we moved well in quite open ground and the shot was absolutely perfect.
Back at the larder the shot has broken a few ribs on either side, expanded well and hit the heart, 80% of which is liquified. There’s almost no bruising to the meat and damage is much less than the 6.5, which is a bit of a surprise. I don’t think I will ever go out with anything but the larger calibre going forward!
Thanks!
Ed
