Many of my more seasoned shooting friends have always told me to keep a shooting diary. I've shot driven & walked up feathered game for a good few years now and have hardly ever put pen to paper afterwards.
But after my first successful Roe buck stalk I thought now may be a good time to do so.
Not only my first Buck, but my first time to Scotland as well. After 5 hours in the truck, we dropped bags at base camp, got changed into our stalking gear and headed out. First job was recon... first time visiting the ground so we checked boundaries, familiarised ourselves with the area and spotted not only plenty of deer sign but deer dotted about everywhere. It felt good, worth the trip and worth the practice with the rifle punching paper.
After a swift chippy tea we headed back up to our chosen area for the evening stalk, slung the rifles, my stalking partner and I bid each other good luck and set off in opposite directions.
Within the first 15 mins I spotted a Roe doe happily grazing in shoulder height grass, with another off to her left with a kid at foot. Unaware of my presence they carried on.
I took this as an opportunity to try to stalk into them as there was no signs of any bucks and I didn't want to bump them and send them off barking. I managed to get within 30 yards of the solo doe and enjoyed watching her feed about (no binos required!) before she hopped the fence and disappeared into the rhododendrons.
Onwards I went, stalking into a lovely mature woodland strip, which by the tracks was like the M6 of the local deer populous!
Lots of glassing and spying with the thermal but to no avail. I came to a clearing in the middle of the block and the tracks that had been running down the length of the wood vered off into a cross roads.
I decided I liked the look of the side with the half grown wheat and carefully glassed the crop, noticing a strip of fenced-off grass along the headland separating the crop field from the woodland. And I thought,
"Damn that looks deery"..
I jumped the stone wall as silently as a 6'5" Welshman ever could
Set up on the sticks and within 5 mins I spotted a pair of ears and antlers heading down said strip directly towards me.
I didn't believe in buck fever... I do now. The heart started beating hard, my hands began to shake as I tracked his approach.
The grass was again shoulder height, and dense... no chance of a classic heart/lung shot here. He was in no rush, he came into 70 yards, stopped and turned to look into the woods.
Neck shot it would have to be...the practice would pay off here, confidence in the rifle and ammo.
As I rolled the safety off and squeezed the trigger on the Styer Mannlicher, letting the 95grn sst fly dropping the buck into the long grass on the spot... followed by a swift reload and check with the binos I noticed what he had turned to look at, a young red stag had just jumped the stone wall obscured to me by thick gorse. The young stag stood and stared, enough time for a shot but I was happy with the buck I had taken, and a wee bit high on the adrenaline of my first Buck!
But after my first successful Roe buck stalk I thought now may be a good time to do so.
Not only my first Buck, but my first time to Scotland as well. After 5 hours in the truck, we dropped bags at base camp, got changed into our stalking gear and headed out. First job was recon... first time visiting the ground so we checked boundaries, familiarised ourselves with the area and spotted not only plenty of deer sign but deer dotted about everywhere. It felt good, worth the trip and worth the practice with the rifle punching paper.
After a swift chippy tea we headed back up to our chosen area for the evening stalk, slung the rifles, my stalking partner and I bid each other good luck and set off in opposite directions.
Within the first 15 mins I spotted a Roe doe happily grazing in shoulder height grass, with another off to her left with a kid at foot. Unaware of my presence they carried on.
I took this as an opportunity to try to stalk into them as there was no signs of any bucks and I didn't want to bump them and send them off barking. I managed to get within 30 yards of the solo doe and enjoyed watching her feed about (no binos required!) before she hopped the fence and disappeared into the rhododendrons.
Onwards I went, stalking into a lovely mature woodland strip, which by the tracks was like the M6 of the local deer populous!
Lots of glassing and spying with the thermal but to no avail. I came to a clearing in the middle of the block and the tracks that had been running down the length of the wood vered off into a cross roads.
I decided I liked the look of the side with the half grown wheat and carefully glassed the crop, noticing a strip of fenced-off grass along the headland separating the crop field from the woodland. And I thought,
"Damn that looks deery"..
I jumped the stone wall as silently as a 6'5" Welshman ever could
Set up on the sticks and within 5 mins I spotted a pair of ears and antlers heading down said strip directly towards me.I didn't believe in buck fever... I do now. The heart started beating hard, my hands began to shake as I tracked his approach.
The grass was again shoulder height, and dense... no chance of a classic heart/lung shot here. He was in no rush, he came into 70 yards, stopped and turned to look into the woods.
Neck shot it would have to be...the practice would pay off here, confidence in the rifle and ammo.
As I rolled the safety off and squeezed the trigger on the Styer Mannlicher, letting the 95grn sst fly dropping the buck into the long grass on the spot... followed by a swift reload and check with the binos I noticed what he had turned to look at, a young red stag had just jumped the stone wall obscured to me by thick gorse. The young stag stood and stared, enough time for a shot but I was happy with the buck I had taken, and a wee bit high on the adrenaline of my first Buck!
