Hook'N'Bullet
Well-Known Member
Anybody have any advice on which call they would buy and why?
Cheers,
H&B
Cheers,
H&B
Sceery vs Nordik Sika Calls?
- Thread starter Hook'N'Bullet
- Start date
Hook'N'Bullet
Well-Known Member
I figured I'd end up getting the two any links to good shops?
Hook'N'Bullet
Well-Known Member
That's the plan, neighbours won't know what's going on
Ranger22
Well-Known Member
Sceery, nothing else comes close. Tried other calls and keep going back to the sceery. Tried calls I bought in NZ and DJ ones, they’ve never been successful really.
When I’m calling I have the sceery( the older fatter ones were easier to work) and a hoochie mama call with me. Accounted for lots of stags. Won’t bother buying anything else now
When I’m calling I have the sceery( the older fatter ones were easier to work) and a hoochie mama call with me. Accounted for lots of stags. Won’t bother buying anything else now
Piece of old ribbed vacuum cleaner pipe - even my 7 & 8 year old grandsons can call a stag in with theirs. (Cheating slightly as there’s rutting stands within 100m of the house).
Or there’s always Bolving!
Vac pipe for red or sika?
S
Orion
Well-Known Member
In 3 years of trying I've yet to call in a stag using either a Primos jackrabbit or latterly a Sceery caller. Never had any success on Roe with a buttolo either, so prefer to rely on my stalking skills now.
sikamalc
Administrator
I have taken a lot of sika over the years, some in Dorset, but mostly in the Highlands of Scotland, where they are a different beast to deal with in my opinion.
30 plus years back everyone was using the Acme predator call. The FC boys were getting very good results. The cost was about £5 at the time. The trick was to knock the end of the call out and then cup the call in your hands an blow hard, dropping the call away as a stag would do. For a number of years on the 13,000 acre lease I managed we had excellent results. However over the years and up to the present day the deer got used to it. Sika learn very quickly. I now stalk a 6000 acre area in the highlands and also have access to a huge estate that cover some 25,000 acres which is one of the best areas north of Inverness for Sika.
The elk call they use now can be very successful in calling out a Sika stag. But to call a Sika out you really need to be on top of your game. Get your wind right, find a spot where they cannot see you easily. Sika stags will often stand back in dark timber looking out into the light, and just watch. Don't be surprised if they circle around and come in behind you, checking the wind to make sure who and what you are. Make sure your rifle is loaded and presented on sticks or ready to fire, Sika pick up the slightest movement, and old stags are very in tune with their environment and know the area very well.
Early morning or evening is the best time, make sure you are there in time, walking into an area too late will alert the stag to your presence and older stags will not come out if they sense you. Make sure your shot is in the shoulders. If you have never shot Sika before you will be surprised how much punishment they can take, and also don't be surprised if the beast runs off still. That's also not unusual for Sika.
It goes without saying that if hinds are present and coming out to graze or moving through, get ready as the stag will almost certainly be last and pushing them in front of him. You will if lucky get a small window to shoot, a quick whistle or shout may stop him long enough to get a shot. In this instance the stag will almost certainly run off, unless neck or head shot.
30 plus years back everyone was using the Acme predator call. The FC boys were getting very good results. The cost was about £5 at the time. The trick was to knock the end of the call out and then cup the call in your hands an blow hard, dropping the call away as a stag would do. For a number of years on the 13,000 acre lease I managed we had excellent results. However over the years and up to the present day the deer got used to it. Sika learn very quickly. I now stalk a 6000 acre area in the highlands and also have access to a huge estate that cover some 25,000 acres which is one of the best areas north of Inverness for Sika.
The elk call they use now can be very successful in calling out a Sika stag. But to call a Sika out you really need to be on top of your game. Get your wind right, find a spot where they cannot see you easily. Sika stags will often stand back in dark timber looking out into the light, and just watch. Don't be surprised if they circle around and come in behind you, checking the wind to make sure who and what you are. Make sure your rifle is loaded and presented on sticks or ready to fire, Sika pick up the slightest movement, and old stags are very in tune with their environment and know the area very well.
Early morning or evening is the best time, make sure you are there in time, walking into an area too late will alert the stag to your presence and older stags will not come out if they sense you. Make sure your shot is in the shoulders. If you have never shot Sika before you will be surprised how much punishment they can take, and also don't be surprised if the beast runs off still. That's also not unusual for Sika.
It goes without saying that if hinds are present and coming out to graze or moving through, get ready as the stag will almost certainly be last and pushing them in front of him. You will if lucky get a small window to shoot, a quick whistle or shout may stop him long enough to get a shot. In this instance the stag will almost certainly run off, unless neck or head shot.
sikamalc
Administrator
Another good Stag taken on my recent lease, which a number of SD members have been on. Taken a few years ago now, but the man in the photo was the head deer keeper on a very very large estate in Northumberland. I have not seen him for sometime, as he moved off the estate. I had seen this stag a few times, and kept it for him as I was repaying the help he had given me over the years with clients. He had never shot a Sika stag until that evening. In the end we took a further small stag prior to taking the one in the photo. We were a long way from the initial area I wanted to get to, so the hope was we would not disturb the big lad. We had only been in the spot that I wanted to wait at about 20 minutes and the stag came out well before dark.The area is old Caledonian forest and is perfect Sika habitat.
I've nowhere near the experience that Malc (or others) has in relation to shooting Sika but one thing did spring to mind as I read his post.
Sika are wily buggers, i think they're maybe the most difficult of the six UK species to stalk.
My best chances came when others were trying to call them in or when hinds & stags reacted to an actual Sika Stag whistling in the rut
Just by sitting still and getting ready I made the most of fleeting opportunities on animals whose attention was elsewhere
I've tried calling them in but it wasn't easy, they don't tend to hang around long if they notice anything unusual and they do seem to notice anything out of place (you) in an instant
I've seen those things Bushwear sell work for a while, but Sika seem to be like foxes as in they can go off a call quite quickly if they hear it too often
Sika are wily buggers, i think they're maybe the most difficult of the six UK species to stalk.
My best chances came when others were trying to call them in or when hinds & stags reacted to an actual Sika Stag whistling in the rut
Just by sitting still and getting ready I made the most of fleeting opportunities on animals whose attention was elsewhere
I've tried calling them in but it wasn't easy, they don't tend to hang around long if they notice anything unusual and they do seem to notice anything out of place (you) in an instant
I've seen those things Bushwear sell work for a while, but Sika seem to be like foxes as in they can go off a call quite quickly if they hear it too often
Hook'N'Bullet
Well-Known Member
Jeez, theyre some great post Malc, Thanks everybody
Dunwaters
Well-Known Member
Getting the calls will be the least of your worries, learning how to use them will take a while and probably at least one change of undergarments. They can get very close and be very obviously not in the best humour when they arrive.
Go easy on the small stuff, a lot of the time they’ll run straight in, you won’t believe just how good they can be at accurately locating the call.
Enjoy!
Go easy on the small stuff, a lot of the time they’ll run straight in, you won’t believe just how good they can be at accurately locating the call.
Enjoy!
caorach
Well-Known Member
I agree with this, I've called in sika but have never managed a shot at a decent stag coming to the call as they are simply too wary. The last one I called in I had lain down at the side of a forestry track with thicket stage forestry on my right hand side and, across the track I was looking down, recent clear fell. I thought there were some deer on the clear fell and was basically hopeful that one would come to the call and expose himself on the track. As it turned out after i called the stag came out of the thicket right beside me into thick rushes and all I could see were the tips of his antlers. He got close enough that I could hear him breathing and, of course, at that distance the slightest eddy in the wind was enough to have him retreat back into the trees never to return. I'd say he couldn't have been more than 6 feet from me at one stage but if I'd even moved slightly to stand up and try for a shot the noise would have had him away and I opted to sit tight just in case he decided to come onto the track but he was way too clever for that.
On another occasion I was in a high seat calling overlooking clear ground in forestry and although I had the rifle up and was prepared when the stag came in to me I didn't get a shot because, completely to my surprise, he came up a ditch (actually old peat cuttings between two peat banks) and I only ever saw the tops of his antlers. I saw that he came in, stood for a while, and then very carefully retreated and then about 15 minutes later I heard sniffing deep in the forestry behind me - he'd walked around me in the thick trees so he could catch my wind.
I also wonder how many times I've called and thought I was unsuccessful when in fact the stag has come in and been so quiet and under cover that I simply haven't seen him? Sika are seriously clever when it comes to sneaking about.
One other thing I've seen that is in keeping with the above quote is that really big stags will often stand back and let a smaller stag go out first - so if you see a smaller stag come out and he looks settled and like he is going to hang about then it is often worth waiting. A few years back I watched a really decent sika stag feeding on the edge of some forestry. After watching him for maybe 10 or 20 minutes a huge stag wandered out from the trees beside him. The really big fellow took one look in my direction and ran, to this day I've no idea if he saw me or what alarmed him as I was a long way away, well hidden, and the stags were only just visible in binos and I'd used a 30X telescope to check the sizes of them. However, I'm certain he saw me and he didn't stand and look or any of that stuff, he just ran as fast as he could. I was way too far away for a shot.
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