Pre covid I had a great trip to Essex to shoot my first muntjac with @Tim.243
Now, 3 years later I would visit him to carry on where we left off.
After a pick up from the station and a quick cuppa and say hi to the dogs, it was straight out to the "honey hole", a paddock that has produced a lot of muntjac in the last few years.
The weather was glorious, with a rainbow prominent after a few spots of rain.
There was a bit of wind, unfortunately blowing in the wrong direction.
Scanning with the thermal soon revealed a pair of muntjac working the hedgeline ca.150-160 m away. A quick deployment when they were feeding or looking the other way soon narrowed the gap to 125m. I waited patiently on the sticks for the buck to present a clean angle when he eased out into the edge of the field and sent a bullet his way when everything looked good.
He dropped to the shot but I reloaded and covered him for 30 seconds just to be sure. I nice little yearling muntjac buck was to be my first muntjac of the trip.
At the shot, the other muntjac disappeared. We collected the buck, gralloched it and hung it to drain. We stuck around the same area and soon another heat signature showed itself further down the hedgeline, deep in cover. With the wind being treacherous we quartered across the field and got into position to try and intercept it in case a shot was on. It was feeding deep in the hedgerow but gradually working closer to the edge of the field.
At 60 m a small doe appeared just on the verge of the hedge, a quick shot off quadsticks dropped her on the spot.
A great result for the first day, it was back to Tim's for a muntjac supper.
The next morning ended up a blank, the only chance being scuppered at the last moment as a flock of geese noisily took to the wing.
The afternoon session was again successful with a 3rd muntjac being taken off sticks at 110m. Another small buck. Fish and chips for dinner, a must for me on visits to the UK.
The 3rd day saw us at a different location with fallow being the main quarry of interest. A morning walk around the ground revealed zero deer seen with the thermal. This was not a total surprise as the farmer had had a pheasant shoot the day before. Numerous fallow tracks were spotted and future plans laid.
A flying visit to meet Robert Bucknell and talk about foxing and a quick McDonalds saw us again back in the woods for the last session. I was sat in a bespoke highseat overlooking a narrow ride near a pheasant pen. Thermal revealed a couched fallow which eventually got up and fed off into the woods at last light, and lots of squirrels and pheasants.....
The last morning I watched Tim making one of his roe chiller hangers for me.
All in all, a great trip.
Nice to meet @SA shooter and @Overlay as well.
Now, 3 years later I would visit him to carry on where we left off.
After a pick up from the station and a quick cuppa and say hi to the dogs, it was straight out to the "honey hole", a paddock that has produced a lot of muntjac in the last few years.
The weather was glorious, with a rainbow prominent after a few spots of rain.
There was a bit of wind, unfortunately blowing in the wrong direction.
Scanning with the thermal soon revealed a pair of muntjac working the hedgeline ca.150-160 m away. A quick deployment when they were feeding or looking the other way soon narrowed the gap to 125m. I waited patiently on the sticks for the buck to present a clean angle when he eased out into the edge of the field and sent a bullet his way when everything looked good.
He dropped to the shot but I reloaded and covered him for 30 seconds just to be sure. I nice little yearling muntjac buck was to be my first muntjac of the trip.
At the shot, the other muntjac disappeared. We collected the buck, gralloched it and hung it to drain. We stuck around the same area and soon another heat signature showed itself further down the hedgeline, deep in cover. With the wind being treacherous we quartered across the field and got into position to try and intercept it in case a shot was on. It was feeding deep in the hedgerow but gradually working closer to the edge of the field.
At 60 m a small doe appeared just on the verge of the hedge, a quick shot off quadsticks dropped her on the spot.
A great result for the first day, it was back to Tim's for a muntjac supper.
The next morning ended up a blank, the only chance being scuppered at the last moment as a flock of geese noisily took to the wing.
The afternoon session was again successful with a 3rd muntjac being taken off sticks at 110m. Another small buck. Fish and chips for dinner, a must for me on visits to the UK.
The 3rd day saw us at a different location with fallow being the main quarry of interest. A morning walk around the ground revealed zero deer seen with the thermal. This was not a total surprise as the farmer had had a pheasant shoot the day before. Numerous fallow tracks were spotted and future plans laid.
A flying visit to meet Robert Bucknell and talk about foxing and a quick McDonalds saw us again back in the woods for the last session. I was sat in a bespoke highseat overlooking a narrow ride near a pheasant pen. Thermal revealed a couched fallow which eventually got up and fed off into the woods at last light, and lots of squirrels and pheasants.....
The last morning I watched Tim making one of his roe chiller hangers for me.
All in all, a great trip.
Nice to meet @SA shooter and @Overlay as well.
no more pulley jams 
Tim’s a great guy to spend some time with.
![IMG-20231111-WA0002[1].webp](https://www.thestalkingdirectory.co.uk/data/attachments/290/290953-90526c06b8a9bdc0717c3406f1426c89.jpg?hash=F4mzOdHgkw "IMG-20231111-WA0002[1].webp")
![IMG-20231111-WA0003[1].webp](https://www.thestalkingdirectory.co.uk/data/attachments/290/290954-0ba1e370b5fafd6816b425b1255cb2eb.jpg?hash=SOnFYoOQgv "IMG-20231111-WA0003[1].webp")
![IMG-20231111-WA0004[1].webp](https://www.thestalkingdirectory.co.uk/data/attachments/290/290955-9f4444c1c3dd2b36d69ce4c51fea6a95.jpg?hash=WTIY8GiXGR "IMG-20231111-WA0004[1].webp")
