Early Wednesday morning I loaded the car for a trip to chard in somerset to spend a few day With my mate Owen aka the stalker, with heavy traffic on the west bound section of the m25 I made slow progress and arrived around lunchtime,
We spent the afternoon catching up on all the news had a meal then headed out to the high seat, unfortunately the Roe were already out and ran off barking as i approached the seat, I sat till dark enjoying the scenery but the deer decided not to play ball.
Thursday morning we left around 5am for an eighty mile trip to Barnstable to try our hand at a fisheries that specialise in big brown trout,
On arrival Owen quickly tackled up and started fishing whilst I was attaching a new leader and getting organised, by the time I got to him he was into a nice trout that took him down to the backing on several occasions but alas it came off, he started again an was quickly into another one which again came off,
We spent the next three hours thrashing the water but despite several takes we left the water fishless.
Friday morning we were out before daybreak there were plenty of Roe about but all does, eventually we spotted a Buck and drove across several fields before Owen was in position, a shot rang out and we had got our first buck. We went back for breakfast and decided that I should get into the high seat by about 4,30pm I case they came out early, it was a beautiful afternoon but nothing showed until 8pm by which time I was very cold, a buck walked out into the field at around 150 yards I waited ages for it to stand broadside, eventually it did and I squeezed the trigger, the buck arched its back and stood still for a while walked two paces and due to the undulations went out of site, I knew I had hit him back a bit so decided to wait fifteen minutes in the hope that he would expire.
Owen picked me up and we drove to the shot site and fifty yards if front of us was a roe buck in hard antler lying down head up looking at us so we stopped the car went for the rifle and at that moment it got up and ran off towards a pheasant pen and got trapped in the fencing, as we approached it struggled free and knocked Owen sideways as it bolted away. By now it was too dark so we drove home.
During the night I kept waking up and thinking about what had happened and decided I had to go back in daylight to check again,
We took Owens little Bedlington terrier and once we reached the shot site she trotted off in the direction the deer took the evening before, as we new the way the animal had gone we called her away and whilst Owen walked along the high side of a bank thick with blackthorn bushes I walked below looking up, the little dog went over the bank then emerged in the open looked up at Owen wagging its tale and went back into the bush Owen Followed and there it was a nice buck in velvet, so the Buck laying in the field was just a coincidence
As there had been a hard frost the animal was still in good condition so we performed the gralloch and yes it was hit back a bit but we managed to make a clean job of it and on the way back to Owens he swapped the carcass for a chicken and a pack of bacon with the local butcher so we had egg and bacon sandwiches for breakfast. I am so pleased we went back and found it with the help of the little dog. Cheers Geoff
We spent the afternoon catching up on all the news had a meal then headed out to the high seat, unfortunately the Roe were already out and ran off barking as i approached the seat, I sat till dark enjoying the scenery but the deer decided not to play ball.
Thursday morning we left around 5am for an eighty mile trip to Barnstable to try our hand at a fisheries that specialise in big brown trout,
On arrival Owen quickly tackled up and started fishing whilst I was attaching a new leader and getting organised, by the time I got to him he was into a nice trout that took him down to the backing on several occasions but alas it came off, he started again an was quickly into another one which again came off,
We spent the next three hours thrashing the water but despite several takes we left the water fishless.
Friday morning we were out before daybreak there were plenty of Roe about but all does, eventually we spotted a Buck and drove across several fields before Owen was in position, a shot rang out and we had got our first buck. We went back for breakfast and decided that I should get into the high seat by about 4,30pm I case they came out early, it was a beautiful afternoon but nothing showed until 8pm by which time I was very cold, a buck walked out into the field at around 150 yards I waited ages for it to stand broadside, eventually it did and I squeezed the trigger, the buck arched its back and stood still for a while walked two paces and due to the undulations went out of site, I knew I had hit him back a bit so decided to wait fifteen minutes in the hope that he would expire.
Owen picked me up and we drove to the shot site and fifty yards if front of us was a roe buck in hard antler lying down head up looking at us so we stopped the car went for the rifle and at that moment it got up and ran off towards a pheasant pen and got trapped in the fencing, as we approached it struggled free and knocked Owen sideways as it bolted away. By now it was too dark so we drove home.
During the night I kept waking up and thinking about what had happened and decided I had to go back in daylight to check again,
We took Owens little Bedlington terrier and once we reached the shot site she trotted off in the direction the deer took the evening before, as we new the way the animal had gone we called her away and whilst Owen walked along the high side of a bank thick with blackthorn bushes I walked below looking up, the little dog went over the bank then emerged in the open looked up at Owen wagging its tale and went back into the bush Owen Followed and there it was a nice buck in velvet, so the Buck laying in the field was just a coincidence
As there had been a hard frost the animal was still in good condition so we performed the gralloch and yes it was hit back a bit but we managed to make a clean job of it and on the way back to Owens he swapped the carcass for a chicken and a pack of bacon with the local butcher so we had egg and bacon sandwiches for breakfast. I am so pleased we went back and found it with the help of the little dog. Cheers Geoff
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