So I shot my first ever deer last Friday (actually my first ever anything), and seeing as I found the opportunity through this forum and have gained a load of good advice from browsing around here, I thought I owed you all a writeup.
I booked a morning with Redcoat, aka Nick, down in Gloucestershire. All a bit last minute as I had a day booked off work and cleared with the wife. I'm in Leeds so it was a bit of a trek down and Nick very kindly let me stick a tent up on his lawn the night before. A very comfortable lawn it was, and at 6am I was ready to go. Following a chat around expectations, safety, etc. we were off to our start point. I'm not much of a morning person, but getting out in the countryside before the sun's up and watching everything wake up around you is an experience I wish I could bring myself to repeat more often.
Because of the hour I didn't get a chance to take any practice shots, but I had a play around with the sticks and did a few dry fires to get a feel for the trigger and scope. My experience of shooting to date is a reasonable amount of .22 targets when a teenager (now 37) and a few rounds with a big gun at a range in Sweden this summer, including a couple off sticks. So very much a beginner, but I felt reasonably comfortable with the rifle (a CZ 601. 243 with 90 grain soft point PPU, or so I'm told!).
After that we were off, watching my feet, avoiding sticks, etc. Nick scanned the horizon and identied a couple of roe does at about 300m. How he knew they were roe, does or even deer is beyond me! We decided to let them be and carried on around the track. Nick spotted another one or two roe in the distance, but nothing worth chasing. The light was improving now and the pheasants were out in force. I assumed their noise may give us away, but was assured that the noise was normal.
A little further, and about half an hour or 45mins in, we came round a corner in an open strip between a field of maize and the woods. Around 10 pheasants were out, wandering around casually, and two muntjac does were lurking nervously around the pheasant feeders. That's nice, I thought, maybe we'll watch them for a bit. But Nick already had the sticks up and this time the gun was going on, not the binoculars. Maybe I'll watch them through the scope, I thought, get a bit of practice holding it on a target. Safety's off, when you're ready... Oh right, I'm shooting this one!
The sticks were great at keeping the crosshair stable, but the target was much smaller than I had envisaged- we were 60m out with a 6x scope. I had expected the deer to fill the scope, but I could see the whole thing and a fair bit around it too. One of the does was half behind the feeder. I thought about it but it was too tight. The other was moving around, but then came up to feed. Ok, I thought, hypothetically if I was going to shoot this deer, where would I aim? No, that's not quite right, how about now? Getting better, finger on trigger, breathing's ok, maybe squeeze a bit... bang. It wasn't an accident so I assume I was just in the zone, but it surprised me when the gun went off and I don't recall consciously deciding that now is the time- it just sort of happened. Interestingly there was no rush of adrenaline, no nerves or second thoughts, it just happened; a bang, a thump and confirmation that that meant it was on target.
We chambered another round, made the gun safe and after a couple of minutes walked down to the site. The blood trail confirmed heart shot and we tracked it through thick undergrowth until we spotted it maybe 5-10m in. Tracing the blood was much more of an adrenaline rush than the actual shooting, and that gave way to joy and relief when we found the deer.
I carried it out and Nick demonstrated a very efficient gralloch, after my not particularly elegant attempt at getting some hands on experience. The bullet had entered just in front of the leg, but because the deer was angled slightly towards the rifle, the bullet had passed right through the heart and out through the top of the far leg. Unfortunately that meant I lost most of the meat on that leg, but more importantly the kill was clean so I was satisfied.
Gralloch done and disposed of, Nick disappeared to fetch the vehicle and I was left waiting. That was a magical time- a mix of adrenaline, relief, respect and gratitude for the deer, and the reverence of being out in nature on your own as the sun comes up, reflecting on all that's just happened.
An egg sandwich, chat and a long drive later I was back in suburban Leeds buying nappies with blood still on my hands, then hauling a deer up the drive into the garage, half hoping the neighbours are watching. Next day I spent 6 hours skinning (carefully, so I can keep the hide), butchering and packing. A lot of work for 5kg of meat, but definitely worth it. That first taste of tenderloin, rare in butter and garlic, was unlike anything I've ever tasted. Now I just need to eat the rest so I can get back out and do it all again!
So thanks to Nick for a great outing and for making it so easy for me. And thanks to the forum for getting me into something that a few months ago I was barely aware existed.
I booked a morning with Redcoat, aka Nick, down in Gloucestershire. All a bit last minute as I had a day booked off work and cleared with the wife. I'm in Leeds so it was a bit of a trek down and Nick very kindly let me stick a tent up on his lawn the night before. A very comfortable lawn it was, and at 6am I was ready to go. Following a chat around expectations, safety, etc. we were off to our start point. I'm not much of a morning person, but getting out in the countryside before the sun's up and watching everything wake up around you is an experience I wish I could bring myself to repeat more often.
Because of the hour I didn't get a chance to take any practice shots, but I had a play around with the sticks and did a few dry fires to get a feel for the trigger and scope. My experience of shooting to date is a reasonable amount of .22 targets when a teenager (now 37) and a few rounds with a big gun at a range in Sweden this summer, including a couple off sticks. So very much a beginner, but I felt reasonably comfortable with the rifle (a CZ 601. 243 with 90 grain soft point PPU, or so I'm told!).
After that we were off, watching my feet, avoiding sticks, etc. Nick scanned the horizon and identied a couple of roe does at about 300m. How he knew they were roe, does or even deer is beyond me! We decided to let them be and carried on around the track. Nick spotted another one or two roe in the distance, but nothing worth chasing. The light was improving now and the pheasants were out in force. I assumed their noise may give us away, but was assured that the noise was normal.
A little further, and about half an hour or 45mins in, we came round a corner in an open strip between a field of maize and the woods. Around 10 pheasants were out, wandering around casually, and two muntjac does were lurking nervously around the pheasant feeders. That's nice, I thought, maybe we'll watch them for a bit. But Nick already had the sticks up and this time the gun was going on, not the binoculars. Maybe I'll watch them through the scope, I thought, get a bit of practice holding it on a target. Safety's off, when you're ready... Oh right, I'm shooting this one!
The sticks were great at keeping the crosshair stable, but the target was much smaller than I had envisaged- we were 60m out with a 6x scope. I had expected the deer to fill the scope, but I could see the whole thing and a fair bit around it too. One of the does was half behind the feeder. I thought about it but it was too tight. The other was moving around, but then came up to feed. Ok, I thought, hypothetically if I was going to shoot this deer, where would I aim? No, that's not quite right, how about now? Getting better, finger on trigger, breathing's ok, maybe squeeze a bit... bang. It wasn't an accident so I assume I was just in the zone, but it surprised me when the gun went off and I don't recall consciously deciding that now is the time- it just sort of happened. Interestingly there was no rush of adrenaline, no nerves or second thoughts, it just happened; a bang, a thump and confirmation that that meant it was on target.
We chambered another round, made the gun safe and after a couple of minutes walked down to the site. The blood trail confirmed heart shot and we tracked it through thick undergrowth until we spotted it maybe 5-10m in. Tracing the blood was much more of an adrenaline rush than the actual shooting, and that gave way to joy and relief when we found the deer.
I carried it out and Nick demonstrated a very efficient gralloch, after my not particularly elegant attempt at getting some hands on experience. The bullet had entered just in front of the leg, but because the deer was angled slightly towards the rifle, the bullet had passed right through the heart and out through the top of the far leg. Unfortunately that meant I lost most of the meat on that leg, but more importantly the kill was clean so I was satisfied.
Gralloch done and disposed of, Nick disappeared to fetch the vehicle and I was left waiting. That was a magical time- a mix of adrenaline, relief, respect and gratitude for the deer, and the reverence of being out in nature on your own as the sun comes up, reflecting on all that's just happened.
An egg sandwich, chat and a long drive later I was back in suburban Leeds buying nappies with blood still on my hands, then hauling a deer up the drive into the garage, half hoping the neighbours are watching. Next day I spent 6 hours skinning (carefully, so I can keep the hide), butchering and packing. A lot of work for 5kg of meat, but definitely worth it. That first taste of tenderloin, rare in butter and garlic, was unlike anything I've ever tasted. Now I just need to eat the rest so I can get back out and do it all again!
So thanks to Nick for a great outing and for making it so easy for me. And thanks to the forum for getting me into something that a few months ago I was barely aware existed.
