Many years ago I went out with a stalk with a chap around Macclesfield area. It wasn't a great outing and we spent a lot of time driving around the area, not much time on the ground and very few deer seen. However, we did have a brief look at a bit of ground adjacent to some I already had permission on. I shot a red stag with a very poor head and it turned out to be the only deer we saw all evening. Fast forward about 7 or 8 years and it turns out the farmer whose other bit of land I shoot started renting this ground over the summer - no one had been shooting it for a few years apparently, including through lockdown when the deer population in the area seemed to take a big jump.
He sent me a lovely text a few months ago - "Do you want to shoot some more deer infested ground?"
Deer infested is a huge exaggeration but there are some big, transient groups of reds in the area so the farmer rarely sees one or two - more like 20 or 30 so it does feel infested when they appear and hammer all his turnips! But they can disappear for weeks on end and are hard work to manage. Especially with a partridge shoot on the ground a twitchy keeper who doesn't want any disturbance between Aug and Dec! Anyway, couple of messages over the weekend - "They're bloody everywhere" so I was out last night. He wasn't wrong and 30 lying out in front of a highseat I'd put up. Wind was wrong and I had a bugger of a job getting into them without being seen or winded. Eventually I got in and got right side of the wind but they were all lying in the sun and lots of cover between me and them so just couldn't find a clear shot. I was stood under my highseat which would have given me a perfect view but couldn't climb it otherwise they'd be off. Must have been 20 mins of faffing before finally I got a neck shot on a hind and she didn't even move. It was about 5 yards from where I'd shot the stag years earlier. The others all bolted but not far. I took my chance to get up the highseat and within 5 mins half the herd were lying back in the sun and totally relaxed. There were a few spikers and a really big stag in the group but I was just after the hinds to try and keep on top of numbers - after another 15 mins or so they wandered out from some trees and a hind did present at the front of the group. Down she went and then the rest of the herd actually ran towards me so a third one down. Still they didn't go far but 3 big reds on your own is enough for one evening
This is the view after I got up the seat and waiting for the herd to settle - one down to the right on the edge of the old game cover and a bunch of them still milling around lower down the hill (with no backstop) but the majority behind that belt of firs. Beautiful view out over Manchester!
And as I was watching / shooting these ones, my phone pinged to let me know there was a new image (actually 41 new images) from my trailcam on the main farm 2 miles down the road:
He sent me a lovely text a few months ago - "Do you want to shoot some more deer infested ground?"
Deer infested is a huge exaggeration but there are some big, transient groups of reds in the area so the farmer rarely sees one or two - more like 20 or 30 so it does feel infested when they appear and hammer all his turnips! But they can disappear for weeks on end and are hard work to manage. Especially with a partridge shoot on the ground a twitchy keeper who doesn't want any disturbance between Aug and Dec! Anyway, couple of messages over the weekend - "They're bloody everywhere" so I was out last night. He wasn't wrong and 30 lying out in front of a highseat I'd put up. Wind was wrong and I had a bugger of a job getting into them without being seen or winded. Eventually I got in and got right side of the wind but they were all lying in the sun and lots of cover between me and them so just couldn't find a clear shot. I was stood under my highseat which would have given me a perfect view but couldn't climb it otherwise they'd be off. Must have been 20 mins of faffing before finally I got a neck shot on a hind and she didn't even move. It was about 5 yards from where I'd shot the stag years earlier. The others all bolted but not far. I took my chance to get up the highseat and within 5 mins half the herd were lying back in the sun and totally relaxed. There were a few spikers and a really big stag in the group but I was just after the hinds to try and keep on top of numbers - after another 15 mins or so they wandered out from some trees and a hind did present at the front of the group. Down she went and then the rest of the herd actually ran towards me so a third one down. Still they didn't go far but 3 big reds on your own is enough for one eveningThis is the view after I got up the seat and waiting for the herd to settle - one down to the right on the edge of the old game cover and a bunch of them still milling around lower down the hill (with no backstop) but the majority behind that belt of firs. Beautiful view out over Manchester!
And as I was watching / shooting these ones, my phone pinged to let me know there was a new image (actually 41 new images) from my trailcam on the main farm 2 miles down the road:
. Congrats on the new ground but shooting a few like that in one evening is hard work on your own. Not as simple as carrying out a munty or roe. Well done, the odd fallow buck every so often is hard enough for me if it requires a long drag. I always think about extraction before shooting anything big as I once spent 3hrs dragging a fallow buck up and down a hilly farm to get it out because the ground was inaccessible with my pick-up.
