Finally, after 7 years stalking I recently acquired my first permission - nothing substantial, only a 6-acre small-holding with great ground that makes it bombproof for safe shots but it was mine! I have other stalking opportunities and have been a paying member of a large and very productive syndicate but there is something very special about having "your permission". The circumstances however, could not be more strange.
I have for a while sold the occasional carcass via GUTG on FB and a "regular" customer is a vegan who runs "back to the woods" experiences. Unusually, she is happy to eat any natural meat that comes from a healthy life. Indeed, she also tans the deer hides and uses every last bit of the deer - good on her! On her last collection, she confided that she had a 6-acre small holding south of Bristol where, having planted hundreds of trees, some were now being browsed. Ah ha - I was not slow on the uptake and quickly arranged to RV with her at the small holding later that day where I also met the other couple that she and her partner jointly own the ground with - thankfully, they were fully on-side too! I certainly was petite but had obvious potential with mature hedgerows, trees, 2 spring streams, tasty young shrubs and trees but most importantly, a sloping, folded ground arrangement which meant that a low-box on the access corner was invariably into wind, had an 80% view over the entire ground and had safe backstops.
The following night, I got there early and set-up a small cammo screen and the fishing chair I have not used for decades. Time ticked by slowly as I watched the steady procession of EasyJet flights making their approaches, listened to some fantastic birdsong, and watched cock pheasants sparring off over territory. Two hours in, I got bored and went for a wander with the sticks to look at a small (but totally unsafe patch of wood that was behind me in the farthest corner of the ground). As I bumbled back, I suddenly became aware of a young roe buck immediately behind the hedge in the field to the North of her ground, barely 20m from me. Off the ground - I looked at it, it looked at me and then the buck legged it at warp-factor 6! Bugger! I quickly returned to my hide fearing the enevitable....................
Another hour ticked by - nothing! Then out of the corner of my eye I caught the flash of a sillouette moving along the same hedge almost at last light! Through thermal, I followed its slow movement down the hedge until it then jumped the fence and entered "my" ground - bugger, bugger, bugger, it was a doe kid!
I watched it fully for what seemed like an hour but was much less as light faded and it did a steady precession around the ground, never more than 150m from me and mostly sub-100m.
I returned 4 nights later - nothing!
Last night I returned somewhat later. I have always "stalked-in" then returned to set-up - just in case. Nothing! Time ticked on and given the limited breeze, the midges feasted on both me and the poor dog. Suddenly, I became aware of a mature roe buck barely 20m from my right, slowly ambling down the slope. Whilst I had expected deer to emerge from the right, this one was 30m away from the hedge and had emerged from the small unsafe wooded area I had reconnoitred on that first outing. This time however, I had stupidly forgotten my tripod and rest so had shortened my Blaser quad sticks to their lowest and removed the 5th leg. However, as I went to mount the rifle's Spartan adapter on the grip's spigot, the buck stared intently at me. Despite having now taken several hundred deer, the adrenaline still flows and I could feel my heart thumping away, praying it would graze on down the slope and not run. Please, please PLEASE! The stalking Gods answered - it slowly moved on. On sticks, the dS said 53m but the aspect was not good. So far so good I thought, try to be patient and let it get further away. Slowly, it moved on down the slope, grazing a freshly cut strip of grass until having described an arc, and at 63m I had a broadside shot. It dropped to shot, my first "personal" deer on my first permission - the stalking Gods were truly with me". It was a good evening........................
I have for a while sold the occasional carcass via GUTG on FB and a "regular" customer is a vegan who runs "back to the woods" experiences. Unusually, she is happy to eat any natural meat that comes from a healthy life. Indeed, she also tans the deer hides and uses every last bit of the deer - good on her! On her last collection, she confided that she had a 6-acre small holding south of Bristol where, having planted hundreds of trees, some were now being browsed. Ah ha - I was not slow on the uptake and quickly arranged to RV with her at the small holding later that day where I also met the other couple that she and her partner jointly own the ground with - thankfully, they were fully on-side too! I certainly was petite but had obvious potential with mature hedgerows, trees, 2 spring streams, tasty young shrubs and trees but most importantly, a sloping, folded ground arrangement which meant that a low-box on the access corner was invariably into wind, had an 80% view over the entire ground and had safe backstops.
The following night, I got there early and set-up a small cammo screen and the fishing chair I have not used for decades. Time ticked by slowly as I watched the steady procession of EasyJet flights making their approaches, listened to some fantastic birdsong, and watched cock pheasants sparring off over territory. Two hours in, I got bored and went for a wander with the sticks to look at a small (but totally unsafe patch of wood that was behind me in the farthest corner of the ground). As I bumbled back, I suddenly became aware of a young roe buck immediately behind the hedge in the field to the North of her ground, barely 20m from me. Off the ground - I looked at it, it looked at me and then the buck legged it at warp-factor 6! Bugger! I quickly returned to my hide fearing the enevitable....................
Another hour ticked by - nothing! Then out of the corner of my eye I caught the flash of a sillouette moving along the same hedge almost at last light! Through thermal, I followed its slow movement down the hedge until it then jumped the fence and entered "my" ground - bugger, bugger, bugger, it was a doe kid!
I watched it fully for what seemed like an hour but was much less as light faded and it did a steady precession around the ground, never more than 150m from me and mostly sub-100m.
I returned 4 nights later - nothing!
Last night I returned somewhat later. I have always "stalked-in" then returned to set-up - just in case. Nothing! Time ticked on and given the limited breeze, the midges feasted on both me and the poor dog. Suddenly, I became aware of a mature roe buck barely 20m from my right, slowly ambling down the slope. Whilst I had expected deer to emerge from the right, this one was 30m away from the hedge and had emerged from the small unsafe wooded area I had reconnoitred on that first outing. This time however, I had stupidly forgotten my tripod and rest so had shortened my Blaser quad sticks to their lowest and removed the 5th leg. However, as I went to mount the rifle's Spartan adapter on the grip's spigot, the buck stared intently at me. Despite having now taken several hundred deer, the adrenaline still flows and I could feel my heart thumping away, praying it would graze on down the slope and not run. Please, please PLEASE! The stalking Gods answered - it slowly moved on. On sticks, the dS said 53m but the aspect was not good. So far so good I thought, try to be patient and let it get further away. Slowly, it moved on down the slope, grazing a freshly cut strip of grass until having described an arc, and at 63m I had a broadside shot. It dropped to shot, my first "personal" deer on my first permission - the stalking Gods were truly with me". It was a good evening........................
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Sadly, it's roe and munties I shoot weekly so not as "special" as say a sika or a fallow, but I do get the occasional opportunities on those. However, it was certainly a good evening in very many respects - thank-you!
