Salutations to all.
I’m a 36 year old Brummie, now living in County Galway.
I moved here 3 years ago following marriage to a local girl, and we have laid the foundations to a great future out here.
After joining a shooting range with the primary incentive of later getting licensed to hunt and shoot deer, I made an application for my first firearm after completing a compulsory firearms safety course -a used CZ 452 chambered in .22lr. I knew this would not be legally permissible for shooting deer, but I was so desperate to get some range time and get behind a gun. It had seen some use, but it was still pretty accurate, despite being topped with an awful scope… the glass was as clear as the bottom of a dirty pint glass, but I was proud of punch with my first ever gun, and had some great evenings on rabbits with it.
With my range membership and compulsory firearms safety course competed, and my little plinker to keep me amused for the meantime, I then put a holding deposit on a used Tikka T3 Varmint chambered in 6.5x55, and registered for Country Sports Ireland’s deer stalking training. CSI are one of three providers of a mandatory course that must be completed prior to applying for a deer hunting license in Ireland.
With that passed, I started to put together paperwork for my application for both my deer hunting license for the season ahead, and the firearms certificate for the 6.5 swede.
I couldn’t wait to get going, but being a complete novice to stalking, I thought it was best to seek help and advice from some seasoned stalkers…
Facebook helped me get in touch with Martin Curran of Midlands Deer Stalking, based out of County Carlow. Martin was kind enough to talk me on a few guided stalks without a firearm on the 2,000+ plus lease that he manages and runs in county Wicklow. The experience was invaluable, and I will always be very appreciative of the time and tutelage he gave me with regards to making stalks on sika and understanding their behaviors.
Richard Kelliher the get in touch with me - a great chap based out of West Co. Limerick. He’d heard that I was new to the game, and explained that he’d be assembling a syndicate in County Kerry. It all sounded too good to be true, me, a complete newbie and an Englishman in a country where oftentimes less than welcome in years gone by, being offered such assistance and opportunity in my new endeavour.
I met Richard and he showed me around his grounds… I paid him there and then, we must’ve seen 100+ animals with 2 hours, all on the side of the most breathtaking backdrops you could imagine, this was no farmland, but instead what I’d call backcountry/mountainside forestry. It felt so wild!
With a lease spot secured, and all my paperwork submitted, it was just a case of waiting for The Gardai (Irish Police) to process my application, as I had everything in order, and could now demonstrate a place on a lease had also been secured, they were quite quick to sign off.
I went and picked up my Tikka T3 the next day, along with about 200 rounds.
With just a week to go to the start of the season, I was all set to go, and then had another stroke of luck…
There’s some pretty good hillside walking trails just a short drive from my house, and having just bought a baby carrier backpack, I set out with my daughter, who’d have been 11 months old at the time, for a Daddy and daughter hike in the woods… oh my! Nobody had told me that these hills were also covered with deer! I saw footprints and deer droppings everywhere, and on occasion we’d see a fallow run out on the track in front of us.
“This is great! if only I could hunt here”
I thought to myself, it’d definitely be nice to have something so good and so local, and I wouldn’t always have to make the 5 hour round trip to Kerry if I wanted to stalk…
Then a complete God send… hallelujah! A lovely bloke who was working in the forrest cutting timber stopped me and ask what I was doing on the trail, explaining it’s so rare to get walkers up there. He also noticed I had my Birmingham City shirts on, and told me how much he loved Trevor Francis as a kid. We got chatting and he told me that he owns land nearby that’s covered in deer, gave me his phone number and told me to arrange a visit with him… a week later and I’ve a written letter of permission from him saying I can hunt and kill deer on his lands too.
And that’s how it all started for me, in a long and drawn out way lol.
12 months on and I have permission for 4 local farms, some fantastic friends have been made and I’ve also taken 13 fallow in my opening season.
The Tikka T3 will be staying with me for another season or two, but I have got my eyes on a Sako 90 in .308.
The CZ 452 has been replaced with a Tikka T1X that was ripped out of its plastic stock and immediately put in a Vision Pro Chassis… I’m gonna have a good go at PRS in the near future too, but I think that’s for another post.
God Bless to all!
