I appreciate that this may be a bizarre title but it serves to highlight the madness of shooting 
and was the time the alarm went off Friday, Sat and then Sunday. I ll skip Sat as this was just a quick session on the corvids with 24 shot.
One of the farms I look after has issues with fallow and the farmer wants them gone due to crop damage, hedge damage etc. He has been seeing 20 or so most of the time so I wanted to make a good start on the 01st Aug. Alarm sounded at 3.00 and off I headed (hour drive to the ground). Quick walk down the track in the dark and I spotted a likely thermal signature over the hedgeline so needed to backtrack so the wind was in my favor. Over the gate and there were 7 bucks (well 6 bucks and a pricket) I was still dark and I had about 10 mins before legal light . This worked well as I had to make about 1/2 mile to approach the deer from upwind. I got into a shootable position but one of the big bucks headed in my direction before pronking off...game over I thought but he went back to the group and settled. The deer were in a dip in the field so just heads and necks on show but still not light enough for the day scope. I made a little bit more of an approach and the group were about 70 yards away. I picked one of the group that was clear of the others (and close to the side of the field (shortest drag)) and the 140 grain 6.5 creed bullet did its job dropping him on the spot to a high neck shot. The rest of the group ran into the middle of the field and stopped but I was happy with just the one and didnt want to be dragging deer through 150 yards of the farmers crop.
Bled the deer and dragged him out ready for loading. Dropped off at the butcher with a dead weight of 54 Kg. Good start to the season with the first one on the deck at 5.05 a.m ...my mate joked that I may well have shot the first fallow in England in the 2025/2026 season
Out again Sunday on the same patch but the wind was all over the place so I wasnt confident. Spotted a group around 4.30 and could clearly see another reasonable buck so was hopeful there were some prickets in the group. 15 mins to close the gap and it turned out to be one buck with 3 does and 2 fawns. I made a slow approach and managed to get to about 85 yards and managed a chest shot off the sticks. He ran about 20 yards and dropped.
Another tidy animal with a dead weight of 52 Kg.
Not a bad start to the season.
and was the time the alarm went off Friday, Sat and then Sunday. I ll skip Sat as this was just a quick session on the corvids with 24 shot.One of the farms I look after has issues with fallow and the farmer wants them gone due to crop damage, hedge damage etc. He has been seeing 20 or so most of the time so I wanted to make a good start on the 01st Aug. Alarm sounded at 3.00 and off I headed (hour drive to the ground). Quick walk down the track in the dark and I spotted a likely thermal signature over the hedgeline so needed to backtrack so the wind was in my favor. Over the gate and there were 7 bucks (well 6 bucks and a pricket) I was still dark and I had about 10 mins before legal light . This worked well as I had to make about 1/2 mile to approach the deer from upwind. I got into a shootable position but one of the big bucks headed in my direction before pronking off...game over I thought but he went back to the group and settled. The deer were in a dip in the field so just heads and necks on show but still not light enough for the day scope. I made a little bit more of an approach and the group were about 70 yards away. I picked one of the group that was clear of the others (and close to the side of the field (shortest drag)) and the 140 grain 6.5 creed bullet did its job dropping him on the spot to a high neck shot. The rest of the group ran into the middle of the field and stopped but I was happy with just the one and didnt want to be dragging deer through 150 yards of the farmers crop.
Bled the deer and dragged him out ready for loading. Dropped off at the butcher with a dead weight of 54 Kg. Good start to the season with the first one on the deck at 5.05 a.m ...my mate joked that I may well have shot the first fallow in England in the 2025/2026 season
Out again Sunday on the same patch but the wind was all over the place so I wasnt confident. Spotted a group around 4.30 and could clearly see another reasonable buck so was hopeful there were some prickets in the group. 15 mins to close the gap and it turned out to be one buck with 3 does and 2 fawns. I made a slow approach and managed to get to about 85 yards and managed a chest shot off the sticks. He ran about 20 yards and dropped.
Another tidy animal with a dead weight of 52 Kg.
Not a bad start to the season.
