Well last week I had to have my Springer put to sleep, this really hit me hard. A few days later I saw that Colin (Solway Stalker) advertising a day on the stags that had become available on Tuesday 16th October. I had always wanted to try for a Red Stag in Scotland, so I bit the bullet & contacted Colin asking to take the day. He gave me details of a couple of hotels locally, which I quickly rang & managed to get a room booked for the 2 days.
Well after that I was busy getting everything sorted, packed, checked & rechecked. Monday morning soon arrived, & I started out on the 400 mile trip from a very wet & grey Essex rain, 8 Hours later I arrived on a beautiful sunny Autumnal evening in
I booked into Lochinvar Hotel where the owner was really welcoming & was more than happy for firearms to be in the room. I had a quick phone call with Colin who advised me that my guide Ray would meet me in the hotel carpark @ 06.30hrs in the morning. So I popped to the bar downstairs & tucked into a fantastic homemade pizza & a couple of pints in front of a roaring log burner. Then it was upstairs to my room, where everything was laid out on the floor ready for the alarm in the morning. Well I didn't need the alarm as by 03.30 I was wide awake & there was no way I was going to get anymore sleep. I was out in the carpark waiting & at 06.30hrs a pick-up swung in & Ray introduced himself & off we went for a short trip to the Forest Estate. Here in the dark,misty carpark, I quickly meet 2 other guns, who were going off with Kris & we chatted until the light of the morning started to show, then we were off to different sides of the estate.
Ray explained that we would go to a lower area on the other side of the hills as we should have better visibility there& sure enough as we arrived at the area, the visibility had improved, we got out on foot & walked towards a vantage point where we could view a large area. The wind had started to increase & with every gust more of the area came into view. We had been walking & glassing for awhile, when Guy spied a hind way out in the clearing. She was intently watching something to the left, but due to the ground we could not see what she was staring at. So we back tracked & stalked down the hill to our left alongside the tree line, hopeful to see what she was looking at & praying that it was a stag. However we couldn't see what had drawn her attention & after a while we watched her drift off into the tree line.
The rest of the morning we stalked a number of areas to no avail, however the scenery was amazing, especially when the sun broke th
3pm we were back in the carpark & Ray explained that we would check a number of other areas & if we were unsuccessful he said we would wait out for the last couple of hours on an area called the Cabbage Patch, as he was confident that this area would produce a stag later in the afternoon/evening.
We drove through the forest area & clocked deer in the trees to our left, including a young stag, so we continued for a while before parking up & stalking back up the track on foot. It wasn't long before I saw Ray setting up the sticks, so I moved forward & set myself up, almost immediately a hind appeared from my left about 70ms away and slowly crossed the track. I was settled behind the rifle praying that the young stag would soon follow her, we stood for what seemed like ages with a light drizzle blowing in our faces, but the stag didn't make an appearance. We continued stalking for a while but he was not to be seen again, at this point we could hear a stag roaring in the distance so we returned to the pickup and drove a couple of hundred metres to the edge of the forest where we could glass a large cleared area. Whilst we were sat here, Ray said, "Have you seen the rain?" I looked at him slightly bemused until he explained that it in the space of 200m, the wind was now blowing in the completely different direction from in the forest.
We continued to glass various areas with no joy, So we reverted to the plan & made our way to the Cabbage Patch. We stalked onto a small lump of grass/moss which gave us a fantastic position to view a large hillside clearing between to areas of forest. We made ourselves comfy on the wet grass & I set the rifle upon its bipod, whilst we glassed the area in the mist & rain. After a wait Ray saw a hind appear from the reline at bottom of the clearing on our left, probably 400-500m away, She didn't stray far from the protection of the treeline.
Next to appear long way off was a roe doe clearing the fence on our right into the clearing.
We continued to glass the area, regularly having to clear the rain from the binocular lens, then all of a sudden he appeared, a young stag wandered out of the tree line about 250m to our right. He was in a small strip of rough grassland between the Woodline & a stock fence standing looking out towards the clearing. Ray gave me the ok & I settled the cross hairs n him for a heart/lung shot & took the shot I heard the strike & watched him stagger back slightly. "Good shot mate, reload". I reloaded & watched him staggering, he then slowly turned back towards the treeline Ray said "Give him another round" I was just about to pull the trigger when he collapsed into the grass & gave a couple of kicks. "He's down". Ray watched him through his binoculars, whilst I covered him through the scope, when we were totally happy that there was no movement from him we made our way across the clearing to him.
There was my beast, I had achieved what I had set out for & crossed one thing off my bucket list.
He's not the biggest stag by a long shot, but he's mine & I will keep these memories forever.
Who knows, if I save hard enough I might just be back next year, trying for his dad.
Colin & especially Ray, thank you so much for your knowledge of your ground & your hard work in getting me my stag. I've learnt a lot from just watching how you did things & listening to all your advice & experience.
Well after that I was busy getting everything sorted, packed, checked & rechecked. Monday morning soon arrived, & I started out on the 400 mile trip from a very wet & grey Essex rain, 8 Hours later I arrived on a beautiful sunny Autumnal evening in
Saint John's Town of Dalry, Scotland.
Ray explained that we would go to a lower area on the other side of the hills as we should have better visibility there& sure enough as we arrived at the area, the visibility had improved, we got out on foot & walked towards a vantage point where we could view a large area. The wind had started to increase & with every gust more of the area came into view. We had been walking & glassing for awhile, when Guy spied a hind way out in the clearing. She was intently watching something to the left, but due to the ground we could not see what she was staring at. So we back tracked & stalked down the hill to our left alongside the tree line, hopeful to see what she was looking at & praying that it was a stag. However we couldn't see what had drawn her attention & after a while we watched her drift off into the tree line.
The rest of the morning we stalked a number of areas to no avail, however the scenery was amazing, especially when the sun broke th
rough the cloud& lit up a far peak in a golden beam, watching buzzards & a red kite soaring above.
3pm we were back in the carpark & Ray explained that we would check a number of other areas & if we were unsuccessful he said we would wait out for the last couple of hours on an area called the Cabbage Patch, as he was confident that this area would produce a stag later in the afternoon/evening.
We drove through the forest area & clocked deer in the trees to our left, including a young stag, so we continued for a while before parking up & stalking back up the track on foot. It wasn't long before I saw Ray setting up the sticks, so I moved forward & set myself up, almost immediately a hind appeared from my left about 70ms away and slowly crossed the track. I was settled behind the rifle praying that the young stag would soon follow her, we stood for what seemed like ages with a light drizzle blowing in our faces, but the stag didn't make an appearance. We continued stalking for a while but he was not to be seen again, at this point we could hear a stag roaring in the distance so we returned to the pickup and drove a couple of hundred metres to the edge of the forest where we could glass a large cleared area. Whilst we were sat here, Ray said, "Have you seen the rain?" I looked at him slightly bemused until he explained that it in the space of 200m, the wind was now blowing in the completely different direction from in the forest.
We continued to glass various areas with no joy, So we reverted to the plan & made our way to the Cabbage Patch. We stalked onto a small lump of grass/moss which gave us a fantastic position to view a large hillside clearing between to areas of forest. We made ourselves comfy on the wet grass & I set the rifle upon its bipod, whilst we glassed the area in the mist & rain. After a wait Ray saw a hind appear from the reline at bottom of the clearing on our left, probably 400-500m away, She didn't stray far from the protection of the treeline.
Next to appear long way off was a roe doe clearing the fence on our right into the clearing.
We continued to glass the area, regularly having to clear the rain from the binocular lens, then all of a sudden he appeared, a young stag wandered out of the tree line about 250m to our right. He was in a small strip of rough grassland between the Woodline & a stock fence standing looking out towards the clearing. Ray gave me the ok & I settled the cross hairs n him for a heart/lung shot & took the shot I heard the strike & watched him stagger back slightly. "Good shot mate, reload". I reloaded & watched him staggering, he then slowly turned back towards the treeline Ray said "Give him another round" I was just about to pull the trigger when he collapsed into the grass & gave a couple of kicks. "He's down". Ray watched him through his binoculars, whilst I covered him through the scope, when we were totally happy that there was no movement from him we made our way across the clearing to him.
There was my beast, I had achieved what I had set out for & crossed one thing off my bucket list.
He's not the biggest stag by a long shot, but he's mine & I will keep these memories forever.
Who knows, if I save hard enough I might just be back next year, trying for his dad.
Colin & especially Ray, thank you so much for your knowledge of your ground & your hard work in getting me my stag. I've learnt a lot from just watching how you did things & listening to all your advice & experience.
Last edited:
. Well done on the Stag - last day today for the Stags up here so it'll be a few months before the next outing after the big boys!
