Well Tuesday saw me head up for my annual visit to see if I could get a nice double of Sika Stag and Red Stag. As it turned out the day didn't disappoint.
We headed for the hill around 09:00 & the walk into the Glen in it's self was amazing. Stags roaring and running around keeping their hinds in check. Sika stags whistling from the opposite slopes across the river. The scenery and sounds were absolutely mind blowing.
Stalk #1 was onto a lovely big thick set 8 point stag. We had a good stalk in but couldn't get any closer than 300 yards and with the stag on the high ground there was nowhere to go so it was a waiting game and a bit of roaring with the pipe. After 1hr of laying in bog and watching him thrash the heather the wind must have changed and the hinds caught our scent and off they went down hill to the wood.
Stalk #2 another stag was spotted around a 1000 yards along the slope. After what was between 1.5hrs - 2hrs crawling on belly and hands and knees up hill, across, down gorge, back up hill well you get the picture we were into a suitable range. I got onto the rifle aimed behind the shoulder and dropped this lad where he stood. Once again the 6.5x55 with 120gr Pro-Hunters pushed at 3040fps doing an outstanding job on dropping the stag.
Beast was gralloched, dragged down the hill and we set out the couple of mile back for the argo.
Stalk #3 on the way back to the Argo we were glassing the other slope and spotted a good Sika Stag out at the edge of the wood. Decision made to give it a go. After getting down and across the river we worried that we wouldn't see him as it was quite steep ground with patchy wood. Sure enough though we made up the ground. We found a nice mossy mound which made it like shooting off the bench. Got him in the scope and waited for him to turn broad side. Let loose with the 120gr pill and pole axed him breaking the front shoulder, quick reload and kept him in the sights just incase. Seen the leg twitching slightly so put another into his neck to make 100% certain. If he'd ran it would have been a nightmare to try and find him.
All in all a red letter day for me on the hill. There's no place quite like it!
We headed for the hill around 09:00 & the walk into the Glen in it's self was amazing. Stags roaring and running around keeping their hinds in check. Sika stags whistling from the opposite slopes across the river. The scenery and sounds were absolutely mind blowing.
Stalk #1 was onto a lovely big thick set 8 point stag. We had a good stalk in but couldn't get any closer than 300 yards and with the stag on the high ground there was nowhere to go so it was a waiting game and a bit of roaring with the pipe. After 1hr of laying in bog and watching him thrash the heather the wind must have changed and the hinds caught our scent and off they went down hill to the wood.
Stalk #2 another stag was spotted around a 1000 yards along the slope. After what was between 1.5hrs - 2hrs crawling on belly and hands and knees up hill, across, down gorge, back up hill well you get the picture we were into a suitable range. I got onto the rifle aimed behind the shoulder and dropped this lad where he stood. Once again the 6.5x55 with 120gr Pro-Hunters pushed at 3040fps doing an outstanding job on dropping the stag.
Beast was gralloched, dragged down the hill and we set out the couple of mile back for the argo.
Stalk #3 on the way back to the Argo we were glassing the other slope and spotted a good Sika Stag out at the edge of the wood. Decision made to give it a go. After getting down and across the river we worried that we wouldn't see him as it was quite steep ground with patchy wood. Sure enough though we made up the ground. We found a nice mossy mound which made it like shooting off the bench. Got him in the scope and waited for him to turn broad side. Let loose with the 120gr pill and pole axed him breaking the front shoulder, quick reload and kept him in the sights just incase. Seen the leg twitching slightly so put another into his neck to make 100% certain. If he'd ran it would have been a nightmare to try and find him.
All in all a red letter day for me on the hill. There's no place quite like it!
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