So on Sunday i has been invited out with a friend who i have stalked with before, to assist with getting the Doe numbers down on one farm he manages before the end of the season.
Met up at 0500, parked up the van and got my gear on. Having recently purchased a Monarch Country Products Compact Roe Sack that folds nicely into a waist pack, i was keen to christen it having failed a few times previously. It has plenty of room for my knives, gloves, small bone saw, and first aid kit in the main zip pocket. There are two additional pouches that can be removed if not wanted. I like to put some snacks in these if im out foxing on a long night, however today they just had my spare rounds in my leather holder, courtesy of @@@ from this forum.
The weather was clear and due to be a sunny day, the sun was already beginning to break through the dawn sky. The weather was crisp with a ground frost in the low areas, albeit the temp soon rose when the sun cam up.
The area had been recce'd the days previous and my friend had reported regularly seeing 15-20 deer in these fields. A quick scan of the thermal showed there were multiple deer approx 6-700m in the middle of the ground we were stalking. Now, I'm quite new to stalking and am happy to work on my stalking fieldcraft skills and enjoy glassing with my binos, rather than using thermal. However, in this instance with it being a management outing, i can understand the appeal of thermal as it quickly gets you onto deer. I normally take mine out with me, but the twice I have had the opportunity to use it, has been to find a downed deer that i struggled to locate. When foxing the thermal is a no brainer for me and i use it weekly at least.
Anyway. We stalked into position on an embankment that provided a good approach and prevented us from being skylined. There is an abundance of deer here due to the arabal land and the new tree plantation that is growing along the same embankment we were stalking along. The gradient of the embankment was quite steep so a careful approach was required.
We managed to get within 100m of a Doe and i set up the sticks ready to take the shot. I would like to have got closer however there was little to no cover over the ground in front to close the distance, She wouldn't turn and started making her way away from us without presenting a shot. As she moved out of range for a shot from sticks, we pushed forward, stopping every time she stopped or raised her head. She joined up wit another Doe which looked to be her mother. The range was now 230m and i wasn't confident about a hot from the sticks. I managed to crawl into a position in front and get the bipod set up.
Range checked again at 230m. I zoomed in to 16x on the scope (just a Nikko Stirling Diamond Long Range 4-16x50) but i could make out clearly that both were Does. I checked again and lined up on the Mature Doe for a heart/lung shot, range checked again and adjusted my Elevation 4 clicks up. (I have been load testing and working out drop for when I'm foxing so was confident of the adjustment). I loaded the bipod, safety off, breath in, breathe out, breath in, breath half out, squeeze... Bang. I sent the 100grain Pro hunter homeload down range at 2850fps out of my Howa 1500 in .243win. Shot felt good and a solid hit. She ran 10 yards then dropped.
I reloaded and started waiting and watching before moving forward. The Follower took off never to be seen again.
While waiting, another Doe appeared on the skyline 90 yards to my left. I waited to see what it would as it sauntered along on the skyline. She then turned and started heading downhill with a solid back stop behind her but she wasnt side on. She then changed direction presenting a broadside traget for another heart lung shot. A quick shot was released and she ran 5 yards and tumbled 15 yards down the bank.
5 more minutes and neither beats had moved. My friend sent his Springer out who quickly found the closest beast at 75yards. I dragged her down the bank and went to collect the first beast.
When I found her she was down, and I'm devastated to say this, but still alive. I quickly followed up with a second shot and dispatched her. I was broken. I thought the shot was clean as she dropped and didn't get back up. I was concerned that id gut shot her and had that sinking feeling that id caused undue suffering to her, but when i turned over the exit wound looked good, although no sign of heart or lung tissue When i inspected during the gralloch, i found that the round was slightly back 1"-1 1/2" but had missed both the heart and lungs, but in front of the grass bag etc. It looked to have passed straight through the cavity and exited. I am still getting over the feeling of dread that i had felt when i found her alive. My friend had never seen that before.
Would i take the shot again, yes. The shot felt good, i knew my drop and im happy with the performance of the rifle, round and myself. I was still within what should have been a fatal shot. If circumstances had been different i would have stalked in closer.
With two deer on the ground i started the gralloch. This was the first time is have done this by myself and was keen to gain some experience after completing DSC1 over the Christmas period. I performed the gralloch on the ground as there was nowhere suitable to suspend the deer for gralloch I can hear the gasps about best practice and all that. Im pleased with how it went and all checked out ok. I had a faff on removing the head and ended up with some fur ont he meat but hey ho its a learning process.
Resulted in two deer hanging in my chiller at home ready for butchering this week.
Met up at 0500, parked up the van and got my gear on. Having recently purchased a Monarch Country Products Compact Roe Sack that folds nicely into a waist pack, i was keen to christen it having failed a few times previously. It has plenty of room for my knives, gloves, small bone saw, and first aid kit in the main zip pocket. There are two additional pouches that can be removed if not wanted. I like to put some snacks in these if im out foxing on a long night, however today they just had my spare rounds in my leather holder, courtesy of @@@ from this forum.
The weather was clear and due to be a sunny day, the sun was already beginning to break through the dawn sky. The weather was crisp with a ground frost in the low areas, albeit the temp soon rose when the sun cam up.
The area had been recce'd the days previous and my friend had reported regularly seeing 15-20 deer in these fields. A quick scan of the thermal showed there were multiple deer approx 6-700m in the middle of the ground we were stalking. Now, I'm quite new to stalking and am happy to work on my stalking fieldcraft skills and enjoy glassing with my binos, rather than using thermal. However, in this instance with it being a management outing, i can understand the appeal of thermal as it quickly gets you onto deer. I normally take mine out with me, but the twice I have had the opportunity to use it, has been to find a downed deer that i struggled to locate. When foxing the thermal is a no brainer for me and i use it weekly at least.
Anyway. We stalked into position on an embankment that provided a good approach and prevented us from being skylined. There is an abundance of deer here due to the arabal land and the new tree plantation that is growing along the same embankment we were stalking along. The gradient of the embankment was quite steep so a careful approach was required.
We managed to get within 100m of a Doe and i set up the sticks ready to take the shot. I would like to have got closer however there was little to no cover over the ground in front to close the distance, She wouldn't turn and started making her way away from us without presenting a shot. As she moved out of range for a shot from sticks, we pushed forward, stopping every time she stopped or raised her head. She joined up wit another Doe which looked to be her mother. The range was now 230m and i wasn't confident about a hot from the sticks. I managed to crawl into a position in front and get the bipod set up.
Range checked again at 230m. I zoomed in to 16x on the scope (just a Nikko Stirling Diamond Long Range 4-16x50) but i could make out clearly that both were Does. I checked again and lined up on the Mature Doe for a heart/lung shot, range checked again and adjusted my Elevation 4 clicks up. (I have been load testing and working out drop for when I'm foxing so was confident of the adjustment). I loaded the bipod, safety off, breath in, breathe out, breath in, breath half out, squeeze... Bang. I sent the 100grain Pro hunter homeload down range at 2850fps out of my Howa 1500 in .243win. Shot felt good and a solid hit. She ran 10 yards then dropped.
I reloaded and started waiting and watching before moving forward. The Follower took off never to be seen again.
While waiting, another Doe appeared on the skyline 90 yards to my left. I waited to see what it would as it sauntered along on the skyline. She then turned and started heading downhill with a solid back stop behind her but she wasnt side on. She then changed direction presenting a broadside traget for another heart lung shot. A quick shot was released and she ran 5 yards and tumbled 15 yards down the bank.
5 more minutes and neither beats had moved. My friend sent his Springer out who quickly found the closest beast at 75yards. I dragged her down the bank and went to collect the first beast.
When I found her she was down, and I'm devastated to say this, but still alive. I quickly followed up with a second shot and dispatched her. I was broken. I thought the shot was clean as she dropped and didn't get back up. I was concerned that id gut shot her and had that sinking feeling that id caused undue suffering to her, but when i turned over the exit wound looked good, although no sign of heart or lung tissue When i inspected during the gralloch, i found that the round was slightly back 1"-1 1/2" but had missed both the heart and lungs, but in front of the grass bag etc. It looked to have passed straight through the cavity and exited. I am still getting over the feeling of dread that i had felt when i found her alive. My friend had never seen that before.
Would i take the shot again, yes. The shot felt good, i knew my drop and im happy with the performance of the rifle, round and myself. I was still within what should have been a fatal shot. If circumstances had been different i would have stalked in closer.
With two deer on the ground i started the gralloch. This was the first time is have done this by myself and was keen to gain some experience after completing DSC1 over the Christmas period. I performed the gralloch on the ground as there was nowhere suitable to suspend the deer for gralloch I can hear the gasps about best practice and all that. Im pleased with how it went and all checked out ok. I had a faff on removing the head and ended up with some fur ont he meat but hey ho its a learning process.
Resulted in two deer hanging in my chiller at home ready for butchering this week.
