Going back to the basics!

[Norfolk Deer Search]

Tens of thousands of deer are successfully night shot each year in the uk. I’d rather follow up a deer with my dog at night than in the day anyway.

99% of the time in Scotland, different world north of the wall

 

[6mmarc]

Had a similar experience in Scotland couple of weeks back
I’m not sold on the thermal scopes yet first time using it on deer and not as impressed as I thought I would be with the results
The spotters ok but just not sure on the scope you don’t get the detail you do with good old conventional optics

 

[mike308]

I've taken my Alpex off of my deer rifle and put it on my fox rifle. The Alpex was fine for early/ late shooting but I was finding that during the day it was difficult to judge the angle of the deer resulting in carcass damage. So the Swarovski scope is back on and confidence restored.

 

[Donkey Basher]

That goes around full circle with new stalkers asking for stalking yet bypassing the basics which many people (the ones who could be taking them) learnt! The worst advice repeated time and time again to a person wanting to get into stalking (never shot before) is "just book a couple of stalks and get your DSC1 booked)
All land will have vermin which is a great start to pick up the "basics" which the OP explained in his post, quite often by the time I return with my cart it is pitch black so my "5th" stick has some reflective tape which even with the phone torch shines up as I have stuck it in the ground next to the deer.

Absolutely agree with Tim - no way are a couple of accompanied stalks & a DSC1 enough to prepare you for the variety of situations you’ll inevitably encounter when you’re out on your own!

 

[Donkey Basher]

Im not sold on digital / thermal scopes yet.

Don’t think I’ll ever use thermal due simply to the fact using my spotter has shown me on numerous occasions that deer I can see using it are actually the other side of cover sufficiently dense or with large enough structure to deflect a bullet.

 

[Cris]

Tens of thousands of deer are successfully night shot each year in the uk. I’d rather follow up a deer with my dog at night than in the day anyway.

And thats tens of thousands of risks being taken.

 

[dryan]

My thermal spotter is in for repair so have been back to basics the last few weeks, it’s ground I know well and frankly I haven’t missed having it. It does help you cover ground quickly though and get into place without spooking for first light.

 

[Tim.243]

I've taken my Alpex off of my deer rifle and put it on my fox rifle. The Alpex was fine for early/ late shooting but I was finding that during the day it was difficult to judge the angle of the deer resulting in carcass damage. So the Swarovski scope is back on and confidence restored.

Deer are often on an angle with it being in the right safe back stop area a clear line of sight and a decent enough distance.
it is rare to get a deer at 90deg to your barrel then the other factors come into play.
If you want no meat damage shoot them in the neck, the best cuts are not the front shoulders on the small deer, and plenty to cut around on the large ones.
Both muntjac I shot this evening will have a front leg wiped out, they never ran and were dead as a nit, if a big deer is trying to get up I will whack it again. More deer lost as the "car crash" moment when people are processing what to do.

 

[Mike1979]

Interesting write up, thanks for sharing.

I totally agree that tech helps but the basics are really important. If you think you can stalk into deer just because its dark and then wait until first light whilst the wind is against you it will never happen as deer are canny animals. The same is true of taking a shot on last light with glass or digital...if there is thick cover and the animal runs into it then you will have fun regardless if its 20 mins before last legal light or 30 seconds.

I have shot a few fallow and roe this year with the Alpex (maybe 20 or so) and its a tool and does its job...but I much prefer the Z6I....but I need to get number down and there is so much additional pressure on the deer that I have to use every tool to my advantage.

We make our choices and deal with the consequences.