Recently I was asked by the keepers wife if I would be able to make some venison burgers for a joint birthday bash this year. The keeper, his sister and his daughter are having a joint birthday party weekend in July, and they wanted to have venison burgers band sausage as the main meat. This is a friends and family occasion, which happens to be everyone that is on the pheasant syndicate! I spoke to the keepers wife and was happy to oblige and asked if I could stalk and full the deer for the freezer. I was delighted when she said yes, as I have been biding my time proving myself by doing a lot of foxing and pest control on the estate.
Yesterday myself and one of the other members of the shoot, my regular foxing buddy, made it a date for an afternoon stalk. Neither of us had been out stalking on the estate for a while, however because we use thermal when foxing, we knew there was at least 5 young bucks on the estate as well as 4 Mature Bucks. We parked my van at the bottom in the estate where would eventually end up, and took his truck up to the top of the estate where the wind would be in our favour for the route we wanted to take.
The weather was intermittent sun/cloud with a 5-8mph Easterly wind, and pleasant at 12 degrees Celsius. We stalked down hill to the whinnies and made our way towards the first wood. We spotted a group of Roe in the field and sat glassing then from our vantage point. 3 Does and a Mature Buck. It was obvious straight away something was wrong with the Buck. He as struggling behind the the Does with a limp on his front left leg. This was a beast I had seen before and wasn’t one that we wanted to Cull so we sat watching for a while longer. 45 mins passed as watched him struggle across the open ground. The three does had jumped the fence into the wood, however the Buck was limping up and down the fence line and never attempted to make it over. We had a quick chat and decided it was the right thing to do to cull him.
There was no cover between ourselves and the Buck so we moved as close as we could while staying in cover. From an elevated position, on the Bipod and ranged at 256 yards, I decided to take the shot. I had already checked my DOPE and adjusted 2 MOA up to bring my round on target at that range. (I have checked on 4” gongs out to 350 yards so was happy my adjustment was correct)
100grain ProHunter dropped him on the spot with a Hilar shot.
We waited 10 mins and then made our way over to him. Blink test confirmed he was dead. I carried him into the corner of the wood and performed my first suspended gralloch (previously never had anywhere to hand a carcass so floor gralloched). All internals checked ok. Bagged the liver, kidneys and heart as a treat for my Cocker Spaniel Pup and old Staffy. We confirmed that he did indeed have a broken left knee. Im not sure if he has been hit by a car or had slipped and fallen, however the lower leg was loose on the joint and did not need snapping after cutting through the skin.
I still felt a bit shitty as he was big in body with a decent head, however I know it was the right call.
I loaded up my compact waist roe sack from
@Monarch Country Products which is an absolute gem of a waist bag and Roe sack combo. So much so my mage is going to buy one. We stomped out of the wood into the farm yard and dropped off the deer to collect on our return in the van.
Proceeding with the stalk it was my friends turn to take the lead. Moving along the stream line to our duck pond, then moving up through one of our main woodland drives. Literally about to step out into the field when I spotted movement to our left in the field. Two young bucks and a Mature Doe less than 40 yards away and moving closer, the wind in our favour.
Up went his rifle onto the sticks and the smaller of the two bucks stepped into the tree line. Bang, no thud, but a good reaction to a heart shot. Waited 5 mins and then moved up for a look but no immediate blood trail. My friend thought he had missed as the there was no sound from impact. I had seen the reaction so was confident it had been hit.
We searched the immediate area and about 15m away found the blood trail. Bright red blood frothy blood. Less than 15 yards in the cover we found him. Gralloch confirmed heart and lung shot, and I was surprised about how little damage had been done with the 75grain a max he used.
Both picked up and in the van, now hanging in my chiller ready to be butchered next weekend.
See my Buck below.
Yesterday myself and one of the other members of the shoot, my regular foxing buddy, made it a date for an afternoon stalk. Neither of us had been out stalking on the estate for a while, however because we use thermal when foxing, we knew there was at least 5 young bucks on the estate as well as 4 Mature Bucks. We parked my van at the bottom in the estate where would eventually end up, and took his truck up to the top of the estate where the wind would be in our favour for the route we wanted to take.
The weather was intermittent sun/cloud with a 5-8mph Easterly wind, and pleasant at 12 degrees Celsius. We stalked down hill to the whinnies and made our way towards the first wood. We spotted a group of Roe in the field and sat glassing then from our vantage point. 3 Does and a Mature Buck. It was obvious straight away something was wrong with the Buck. He as struggling behind the the Does with a limp on his front left leg. This was a beast I had seen before and wasn’t one that we wanted to Cull so we sat watching for a while longer. 45 mins passed as watched him struggle across the open ground. The three does had jumped the fence into the wood, however the Buck was limping up and down the fence line and never attempted to make it over. We had a quick chat and decided it was the right thing to do to cull him.
There was no cover between ourselves and the Buck so we moved as close as we could while staying in cover. From an elevated position, on the Bipod and ranged at 256 yards, I decided to take the shot. I had already checked my DOPE and adjusted 2 MOA up to bring my round on target at that range. (I have checked on 4” gongs out to 350 yards so was happy my adjustment was correct)
100grain ProHunter dropped him on the spot with a Hilar shot.
We waited 10 mins and then made our way over to him. Blink test confirmed he was dead. I carried him into the corner of the wood and performed my first suspended gralloch (previously never had anywhere to hand a carcass so floor gralloched). All internals checked ok. Bagged the liver, kidneys and heart as a treat for my Cocker Spaniel Pup and old Staffy. We confirmed that he did indeed have a broken left knee. Im not sure if he has been hit by a car or had slipped and fallen, however the lower leg was loose on the joint and did not need snapping after cutting through the skin.
I still felt a bit shitty as he was big in body with a decent head, however I know it was the right call.
I loaded up my compact waist roe sack from
@Monarch Country Products which is an absolute gem of a waist bag and Roe sack combo. So much so my mage is going to buy one. We stomped out of the wood into the farm yard and dropped off the deer to collect on our return in the van.
Proceeding with the stalk it was my friends turn to take the lead. Moving along the stream line to our duck pond, then moving up through one of our main woodland drives. Literally about to step out into the field when I spotted movement to our left in the field. Two young bucks and a Mature Doe less than 40 yards away and moving closer, the wind in our favour.
Up went his rifle onto the sticks and the smaller of the two bucks stepped into the tree line. Bang, no thud, but a good reaction to a heart shot. Waited 5 mins and then moved up for a look but no immediate blood trail. My friend thought he had missed as the there was no sound from impact. I had seen the reaction so was confident it had been hit.
We searched the immediate area and about 15m away found the blood trail. Bright red blood frothy blood. Less than 15 yards in the cover we found him. Gralloch confirmed heart and lung shot, and I was surprised about how little damage had been done with the 75grain a max he used.
Both picked up and in the van, now hanging in my chiller ready to be butchered next weekend.
See my Buck below.
That's just a small buck mate , the biggest I shot off that estate was 61 lb gralloched.
