Advice ?
- Thread starter MarkL
- Start date
Exactly this, move a little, look alotWalk little look lots ,
I confess that is exactly what I was taught as a youngster and/or "Get them bled" because you don't want the butcher selling blood, or the taste of it or the resultant mucky butchers' block/chopping board.
People used to laugh at me running over the ground to get the knife in, and the deer bled out as soon as possible after the shot.
I was also taught to try to get two thirds to three quarters of the cull in the first half of the season in order to be able to be more picky in the latter part of the season and or to be able to balance up the desired age structure in a herd (NEVER a precise art).
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Ah perhaps he got it from the James Douglas video from many years back.No it was a wise old guy down the pub late one Saturday night (an old poacher)
This is how I can now sneak up on a group of sika stags
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The version I was taught: ‘if you see the deer first, you have to make a mistake to fail. If it sees you first, it has to make a mistake to die’.
In my friends wood with the muntjac they are shot hung bled as we go, then circle back to deal with the rest of the process.
you need a decent slope to drain the chest of a big deer this is why I like to get them up in the air on the hoist.
I don't have cull targets but do agree it is better to get things done early, people ask about fixing a part so I often do it right away as if you leave it then it gets left longer and longer.
That's such good advice - In my early days the number of times I looked directly at a buck's head at an odd angle when couched down and not worked out what I was looking at.
The other for me has been to spend a huge amount of time unarmed learning all of my routes around the permissions - crossing points on fences and watercourses. best points to leave a woodland without spooking whatever is in the field etc. When possible/allowed I tie-wrap plastic sacks around barbed wire. Find out which gates are noisy when opened. At the same time you'll get to know the entry and exit points and routes that the deer use. Do this in all seasons and all weathers and you will soon build a really good picture. I can get round at whatever speed I need to as quitely as possible and also know the easiest routes back to the vehicle.
I've also learned where the fox earths and badger setts are, partly so as not to walk right into them at first/last light and partly as good spots to dispose of grallochs. I learned the very, very hard way at aged 22 with all the gear and 2 roe in a sack that stepping into a deep sett unexpectedly puts you out of action for up to 4 months.
Knowing any footpaths and public access habits is also a very good idea - one of mine has no footpaths and should be clear of the public but they keep on bimbling around with with their dogs upsetting everything and attacking kids
MAH
Well-Known Member
Practice Practice Practice
Practice your marksmanship on paper, preferably over different distances, using the techniques you'll use stalking. e.g.
Sticks, standing or sitting, prone of rucksack, or whichever you intend to suit your ground.
The paper will highlight 'your' optimum range limit for each technique. So you'll be confident about, when you can take a shot, or when you lnow you need to get closer.
M.
Luckily I know 2 lads who are very experienced stalkers and they have given me guidance over the last 18months
I get your point but I dont compromise on a good rest to gain distance. I would rather shoot 100m prone than 50m off a wall top.
This!!!
billy_boyle_2010
Well-Known Member
Enjoying this thread.
I moved too quickly and too carelessly initially. I still do tbh. Someone said "town pace" above which sums it up nicely.
I moved too quickly and too carelessly initially. I still do tbh. Someone said "town pace" above which sums it up nicely.
