FFS

[dave booth]

I seem to be having one of those weeks been out four times this week and bumped or banged or gone the wrong direction and winded my quarry!! Went out this morning everything going well stalked into a nice doe got set up on the sticks all ready and my sticks decide to collapse

Anyone else gone through one of those periods! I’m down to two bags of stewing steak and a shank. The freezers getting bare

 

[Mungo]

I once went 16 successive stalks on the same bit of ground without success. Over a 3 week period. Saw deer every time, but something always went wrong, from forgotten equipment to deer in unshootable positions.

 

[Rhodesianjess]

I took a friend of the boss's out on 4 separate occasions. Showed him a total of 22 shootable deer, seen more but not suitable due to wrong age/lack of decent backstop etc.
He never fired a shot! Being the gentleman he was he insisted on tipping me though. Never quite understood how he never managed to get a round off, it's a standing joke between us now when he's a guest on pheasant days.

 

[Cottis]

I had a terrible run a couple of years back during winter on fallow. A combination of factors meant god knows how many attempts were made before success came my way.

I recall one of the more annoying mornings was the day after I had seen a group on the leeward side of a hill. The wind was perfect the following morning so I told my brother in law I would be having a go at them and approaching from the yard, so to ignore my headlights and noise in the morning. All was going well, i headed towards them in to the wind and despite the darkness, i could see a white animal giving the rest away with the thermal confirming there was a bunch of them. Cartridge in the chamber with a full magazine beneath. This was it, a whole heap of them are going down this morning. Well not quite. mateyboy decided the crack of dawn was a great time to let the dogs out and whilst I was downwind of the deer, the same could be said of the dogs in terms of my presence. So over they came bounding. Barking and making merry hell. A lab and an GSD making a din and me giving them the same amount of abuse as every deer in the county ran for its life. FFS my moron of a brother in law got it both barrels a few minutes later.

And of course a myriad of other issues. Deer not shootable, skylined, in front of buildings, they clocked me, wind changed, couldn't get close enough, got too close and spooked. In fairness, I only recall making one proper schoolboy error. The rest were really just a whole host of events that were beyond my control. That and fallow are a pain in the arse to shoot on open ground at times.

Of course, after a succession of failure, like buses they all came along at once and normality returned.

On the subject, I have been trying this week to shoot a roe or muntjac or two and have failed every time. Must be 4 outings on the bounce and I have not seen a single deer on my land. Seen deer just over every sodding boundary it would seem but none in front of me.

The moles are making a comeback, so I am taking my nephew out later to show him how to trap them. You can bet your last penny that with only a trowel, a dibber and some putangues in tow, we will see a bunch of deer of various species in very shootable positions. C'est la vie!

 

[FISH BOY]

Blanked Friday and Saturday too - like walking on crisp packets in minus 3.

Saw over 50 deer - all next door, bumped or skylined.

TBH with the icy road conditions, I’m just glad I made it there and home safely as I saw a couple of cars in the ditches down the lanes.

Hey ho - always next time.

 

[Jh1986]

like walking on crisp packets in minus 3.

This was our issue this morning. It's all woodland stalking, so you have to get pretty close. No chance.

Crunch, crunch, crunch.

I saw one on thermal, dart across the path ahead. Then we bounced a bunch of Fallow that ran off onto the neighbouring land.

Only chance was to get to a good spot and lay up for a while. Minus 7 though, so we went home and I had a bacon sarnie instead.

Freezer devoid of venison at the moment so I'll try get out again Wednesday

 

[TringSaint]

Blanked Friday and Saturday too - like walking on crisp packets in minus 3.

Saw over 50 deer - all next door, bumped or skylined.

TBH with the icy road conditions, I’m just glad I made it there and home safely as I saw a couple of cars in the ditches down the lanes.

Hey ho - always next time.

Friday was tough. I had exactly the same so instead of walking around and scaring the crap out of every deer in the vicinity, I found a nice vantage point and waited, hoping one or two would come past.
Thankfully they obliged and I bagged a couple.

 

[FISH BOY]

Friday was tough. I had exactly the same so instead of walking around and scaring the crap out of every deer in the vicinity, I found a nice vantage point and waited, hoping one or two would come past.
Thankfully they obliged and I bagged a couple.

Tried the same but after half hour plotted in minus 5 the dog started whining essentially saying move it fat boy.

 

[TringSaint]

Tried the same but after half hour plotted in minus 5 the dog started whining essentially saying move it fat boy.

I tend not to take the dog with me when it’s cold as she shivers and fidgets!
Fortunately, for me, I have my full winter plumage in place so can happily sit out in sub zero temperatures without any issue.

 

[dave booth]

I’m having better luck this afternoon stalking this bad boy

 

[Rasputin]

I seem to be having one of those weeks been out four times this week and bumped or banged or gone the wrong direction and winded my quarry!! Went out this morning everything going well stalked into a nice doe got set up on the sticks all ready and my sticks decide to collapse

Anyone else gone through one of those periods! I’m down to two bags of stewing steak and a shank. The freezers getting bare

Glad I’m not the only one. See deer every time I got out (least once a week) and for some reason they have a damn supporting attitude to being shot. Still as it’s mainly reds don’t mind not having the drags.

 

[DanM]

Same for me, 3 outings in just over a week - blanked each time. Plenty of deer seen, backdrop, wind, crispi underfoot. Fallow I find hard to stalk into in woodland at the best of times but even the Roe seem twitchier than usual.

 

[75]

Run like that for me before Christmas- saw deer pretty much every time I was out on a dozen or more tries. Wrong side of the boundary, no safe shot, spooked by dog walkers etc.

 

[25 Sharps]

I seem to be having one of those weeks been out four times this week and bumped or banged or gone the wrong direction and winded my quarry!! Went out this morning everything going well stalked into a nice doe got set up on the sticks all ready and my sticks decide to collapse

Anyone else gone through one of those periods! I’m down to two bags of stewing steak and a shank. The freezers getting bare

I took out my shiny new 300 PRC yesterday, first shot on quarry I completely missed a fox sat looking at me at 250 yards. Settled in for the shot off quads and held it like my .223, damn thing recoiled, jumped straight up off the sticks, knocked my hat off and the fox ran away as I shot straight over him.

Made up for it later in the day though with a 289 yard roe doe with the 300 and a 234 yard juvenile munty with the .280 right on last light that evening, straight through and though the top of the heart respectively .

 

[Ratel]

What really p... me off is the 120+ Fallow that I see every day just over the boundary. They have been hefted to that particular field for at least six weeks and never seem to leave it. Fat chance of trying to reduce numbers in the area as required by our local deer management group when some landowners allow this.

 

[sy247]

Blanked Friday and Saturday too - like walking on crisp packets in minus 3.

Saw over 50 deer - all next door, bumped or skylined.

TBH with the icy road conditions, I’m just glad I made it there and home safely as I saw a couple of cars in the ditches down the lanes.

Hey ho - always next time.

I was out and it was the same in Norfolk. Freezing fog limited visibility!

 

[The Singing Stalker]

Missus insisted we go away for Christmas. Well, hasn’t been a great couple of years, so darent argue, then back for new year and picked up the lurgie, so coughing and spluttering. On a positive note, I have been using the excuse to work from home, thus saving me nearly 2 hours travelling a day.
So hopefully, out next weekend…… finally.

 

[Taff]

Walked for a hour, to get to the opposite hill where the goats had been seen, only to see them where we had stood the week before, 450 mtrs away only had the 223, went back this week, to the opposite side , goats were over the other side. Spotted some wild cattle that needed shooting, wind in our face , so headed down, creeping up a gulley, we realise the wind there is behind us, cattle gone, killed a few rocks though at 350mtrs, with the 223, this helps keep the goats out of the young trees.

 

[triggertrix]

I once went 16 successive stalks on the same bit of ground without success. Over a 3 week period. Saw deer every time, but something always went wrong, from forgotten equipment to deer in unshootable positions.

Statistically seen this is then likely not very surprising, or you really f’d up you’ll have to do some analysis over a few hundred stalks before you can ascertain whether it’s you or just bad luck

 

[Mungo]

Statistically seen this is then likely not very surprising, or you really f’d up you’ll have to do some analysis over a few hundred stalks before you can ascertain whether it’s you or just bad luck

16 is more than enough to work it was mainly me.