That’s my first stag season done after starting shooting and stalking last November. I have been looking forward to it all year and it did not disappoint!
First outing was late September in Dumfries and Galloway in a mix of hill and Forrest. Pretty early in the season and had to work hard to make it happen. Very little movement all day seeing only one lone hind in the morning outing. Evening outing after stalking the hill for a few hours we set up overlooking a Forrest outline and after waiting ,a few hinds came out, followed by a stag. 110 yard high shoulder with the 30-06 dropped him on the spot. My first red stag and one I will always remember. A small 6 point head but one that will be on my wall for the rest of my days.
Mid October had two days on the hill near Oban and what an experience it was. The rut was just starting to kick off with stags roaring, chasing and holding hinds.
The day started off well with my friend getting a nice stag. We could see him chasing a hind about 500 yards away and managed to call him in to 260 yards, where he stopped head on and a cracking front on neck shot dropped him.
Later on in the day we were walking on the open hill in torrential rain and heard a few stags roaring in the distance. We spotted multiple stags chasing and holding hinds about 1000 yards away on the other side of the valley. A few calls to try and get their attention and we heard a roar from our right and there was another stag we hadn’t noticed holding about 20 hinds on the hill face about 500 yards away. We decided to stalk into him and see if we could make it happen. We had to go down and around to keep the wind in our face so he was out of view for a good half hour but when we approach from the other side he was where we expected. An old white faced lead hind could sense something wasn’t right and was on to us so we had to just sit tight and not move for a good while. She finally relaxed and we got the gun on the bipod waiting for the stag to come into view. Finally he came into view, a nice nine pointer, at around 100 yards, roaring away and when he paused the high shoulder shot with the .270 copper bullet dropped him on the spot. The hinds ran off and straight away we could see a few stags going to have a look at them.
Got the stag gralloched and started the long drag down.
We had left my friends stag on the hill from earlier so we made our way to it. As we were walking down a big stag chasing two hinds came out of nowhere and ran about 30 yards in front of us. They were moving at a fair rate and I didn’t get a proper look but could see he had nice crowns on each antler and looked liked a decent stag. I made a mental now of where they disappeared into the woods and hoped to see him again the next day.
The next morning we headed out and the rain and mist was intense and the roaring we had heard the day before had totally disappeared. We did see one decent stag in the morning and made a move on him but the wind was poor and I just couldn’t get a shot on him as he was surrounded by hinds that were obstructing a safe shot. Eventually the hinds caught our wind and took off over the hill taking the stag with them.
After this we walked for hours and hours not seeing or hearing anything. We were fairly high on the hill and the mist was so bad we decided our only chance was to get lower to the Forrest outline and hope that something happened. As we made our way down two hinds came charging out of nowhere, followed quickly by a stag. I’m almost certain this was the same stag we had seen the day earlier chasing the two hinds. I dropped onto the gun but by the time I was settled and in position they were over 300 yards away and I just didn’t want to take that shot. The stag broke off from the hinds and disappeared into the woods on the other side of the valley. We sat down for half an hour glassing to see if we could see him but no joy. We decided to call it a day and head back to the truck. As we were walking back, now at the bottom of the valley with the woods where the stag had disappeared into on our left, I kept glassing hoping to spot him. Finally I noticed the distinct caudal patch of a red deer. Initially I wasn’t sure if it was the stag or a hind but seeing his antler crowns appear above the brush confirmed it was him. He was at about 175 yards and way above us so used a tree to rest the gun on but just could not get steady. I lay down with the bipod at max height and chin scraping the floor in what can only be described as the worst shooting form ever. He was angled way away from us and not moving so put the cross hairs as far back on the body as I dared without risking hitting the guts. Click. In the heat of the movement fannying around I didn’t put a bloody round in, so reload with haste and the stag clocks us. He now turns and starts to walk into the thick bush. He stops broadside with his shoulders covered by a tree so I put one as close to the tree as I can without hitting the tree or being too far back. He runs into the trees and disappears. At this point I don’t know what to think, it was all a bit rushed and I wasn’t feeling too confident and his shoulders were behind the tree and I feared the shot was too far back . We gave it ten minutes then went to look. That dreaded feeling started to creep in but thankfully found him tangled up in some trees about 20 yards from the shot sight. A good ten pointer with nice crowns and cracking symmetry. The shot was further back than I would typically aim and I feared a liver / gut shot when I initially saw the impact site but it took the lungs out and liver and guts were untouched so all good.
Having done all my stalking so far in farmland around the Aberdeenshire area. Getting out into the open hill was something else and a totally new experience. I really enjoyed the challenge, the landscape and the totally wild feeling of it all.
All three stags that I shot were taken home in my truck, chilled for a week and butchered and processed in my garage and now in my freezer to feed myself, friends and family. The heads are all on the wall also. Butchering and packaging two stags in one day myself was seriously ambitious and took me all day! I was bloody knackered after. Freezer is absolutely stuffed and the meat is delicious. A lot of people say rutting stags don’t taste good. I think there is a lot of folklore in this and the fact that the fur will likely stink puts people off. Prepared and cooked properly I honestly cannot tell the difference.
I cannot wait for next year!
