16 years ago at the age of 17 I started stalking proper and I started with a sako 75 finnlight in .243 with a leupold variable, and a pes t12. I killed loads with it, got into park culling, fallow culling on the downs, red in Scotland etc etc etc. until then I’d used a ruger .22-250 and had happily killed a load of deer completely unaware it was illegal 
Lots followed, bigger deer, bigger rifles, a .30-06 from my parents for my 21st, moose in Sweden, reds in the eastern counties, a 6.5x55, chamois, more reds, trips to Germany, a dedicated foxing rig in .222, thermal, night vision, digital day scopes. Marriage, kids, a new tenancy on my family’s farm, and time slipping by very fast, less time for trips, more deer than ever to cull and aware of how fortunate I am for all of the above.
Several rifles came and went, a .308 tikka - .30-06 made it redundant, a 7x57 mauser98 - nice but impractical.
And finally the old .243, sold in 2018 in favour of the 6.5x55 which I always thought did basically everything a little bit better than the .243( I still think this, if you have a dedicated foxing setup aswell) . I’d find myself scoffing at mates still using it for larger deer and was often dismayed by the meat damage it caused when clients would use it on roebucks.
Then my mate decided to sell his, a sako 75 in .243 with a leupold variable and an ase mod. I couldn’t not have it.
Some very quick load development with the help of SD and I finished the fallow season with 3 fallow prickets stalked properly, during the day, & shot with a sako 75 in .243.
I’ve come home!
*the 6.5x55, .30-06 & .222 won’t be going anywhere
Lots followed, bigger deer, bigger rifles, a .30-06 from my parents for my 21st, moose in Sweden, reds in the eastern counties, a 6.5x55, chamois, more reds, trips to Germany, a dedicated foxing rig in .222, thermal, night vision, digital day scopes. Marriage, kids, a new tenancy on my family’s farm, and time slipping by very fast, less time for trips, more deer than ever to cull and aware of how fortunate I am for all of the above.
Several rifles came and went, a .308 tikka - .30-06 made it redundant, a 7x57 mauser98 - nice but impractical.
And finally the old .243, sold in 2018 in favour of the 6.5x55 which I always thought did basically everything a little bit better than the .243( I still think this, if you have a dedicated foxing setup aswell) . I’d find myself scoffing at mates still using it for larger deer and was often dismayed by the meat damage it caused when clients would use it on roebucks.
Then my mate decided to sell his, a sako 75 in .243 with a leupold variable and an ase mod. I couldn’t not have it.
Some very quick load development with the help of SD and I finished the fallow season with 3 fallow prickets stalked properly, during the day, & shot with a sako 75 in .243.
I’ve come home!
*the 6.5x55, .30-06 & .222 won’t be going anywhere
