Strangest Thing Interrupted While Stalking/Shooting

[Erik Hamburger]

On request of the landowner I took up a position in a hedge overlooking a hay-field, as 'lots of deer' had been spotted. As the sun started to set an air-balloon descended in the field, and 6 people jumped out. Several cars with support crew turned up to collect their customers and the kit, making a lot of noise. End of stalk.

 

[deerly departed]

Potentially a bunch of drunk/drugged people running around a field where I'm firing... But, backstop was good.

I beg to differ, Depending on the round in use, it might take several drugged individuals to stop a centre fire round safely

 

[deerly departed]

Similar 0200 on a golf course surrounded by very posh housing. a lot of the teenage guests had decided to hop over the fence onto the course.
One young couple were full at it - when we scanned with NV and lamps - lets just say you see her knees and his arse. They were interrupted and asked to return to the venue.

One of the worst potentials was on another golf course. Brilliant as almost every angle you could get height and shoot down into a good earth work. My fellow shooters in another vehicle had stopped and I could see on NV they were illuminating two foxes sitting about 100 yards in front of a huge bunding. I could see the rifle out when all of a sudden, a hooded dude on a bike whizzed round a corner and stopped dropping his bike in-between the rifle and the foxes. Turns out after rifles made safe and challenged, he was playing Pokémon where you catch figures in physical geographical locations.

He was given a bollocking and told to sling his hook. again, this was in the small hours

 

[NullMac]

Shooting partridge near Newtonmore. Standing in the line blasting away. A few miles away there is a RN Sea King with the old raydome thingy on the side. Boys do not give a F, just keep shooting. It just keeps coming and coming. He seems blissfully aware. Looking forward to the game card for the day.

Pilot eventually looks oot the windae and does a very tight 180 ! Never knew they were that agile.

Not sure if the keeper had a fine for Sea King AWACS

 

[Rake Aboot]

Well I shoot in Scotland where people are (Quite rightly) allowed to go pretty much wherever they like, so every shot taken is preempted by a bloody good look.

Folk come out of nowhere so you just have to be very aware. No issue really and as I said, the public should be allowed to go where they like as long as they aren't causing a nuisance

 

[camodog]

Was stalking reds some years ago in a remote area west of Sanquhar during the evening when a Chinook flew in, landed atop the hill I was on. It either dropped off or picked up(there was some tooing and froing going on, was difficult to tell) some individuals........end of stalk !!!!

'Camodog'.

 

[VSS]

I do think that people would be more careful about where they drop their pants if they knew that there was someone sitting up a nearby tree with a telescopic sight....
Particularly funny when two people turn up, obviously trying not to be seen together, then both dissappear into the same patch of shrubbery!

 

[Highlandsjohn]

I didn't need a telescopic sight to see the middle aged couple walk down the track,he was carrying a tripod and spotting scope,or it could have been a camera. I was across the field having a break two hundred yds away. I lost sight of them as they walked behind an old ruined house,I expected them to re-appear and carry on down the track to the shore but they didn't. Twenty minutes later they appeared headed back from whence they came,their car(s) parked up in the trees off the road.
I've no idea what they were up to in the ruin for twenty mins, he was almost running but the lady needed to pish before going back her car,very strange. I gave her a whistle when she was squatting, she couldn't see me but knew she been seen.
Coincidentally that's the second time Ive seen a ruined cottage used for close up photography or hanky panky, or was the tripod just a prop,in case they met someone. john

 

[gonzo]

A few years ago we were trying out some NV ideas, at a friends appartment, which backed onto the beach.
The beach was the best direction to try, to get away from the light bolution.
We saw a young couple, really going for it in the sand. But the guy was ploughing his partner into a rut, and had to keep getting up and moving to a new level patch. Watched them move three times before we shouted soem encouragement and they decided to find somewhere else.

 

[foxdropper]

Years ago I was out lamping on my own out back of my house .With the lamp off I heard the sound of running coming towards me so I flicked the lamp on to see squaddies running in a v formation straight towards me .They never deviated nor did they speak when I said this was private land lol .I thought it unwise to taunt them much more .
Another time I was night fishing on a lake near devises with a mate ,Wilts on a moonlit night in summer when we saw a line of bubbles ,big bubbles coming towards me .When the bubbles got to about 10 foot away a head popped up followed by another .Two divers ,snorkel men came out the water just left of my swim ,never said a word took off their flippers and left them and jogged away across the fields ,strange that one .
Out with the terriers once near the Cotswolds on permission .I had informed the owner so all was ok .We are digging to a fox in a hedge row when we heard hounds in the distance so we stopped digging to admire the spectacle as one does .
The spectacle however turned from admiring to ,**** they are coming our way .A fox came through the hedge and straight to ground other end of the place we were working followed shortly by 30 hounds and of course the terriermen from the Cotswold hunt lol.After a bit of straight talking and the fact we were on permission ,it was decided we would all finish the dig we had started and then use my other dog to try for the fox they had run in which all went text book .
Made a few good mates that day that I still speak to now .
Shot a muntie while back that ran back to the hedge whence it came and keeled over dead .When I crawled in to get it little did I know it had fallen directly onto a wasps nest that were more than a little ****ed off .I had to hurriedly drag it out and beat a retreat getting stung 4 times for my trouble .

 

[User00035]

A couple of hippy ravers/partiers moved into a rented cottage with a large garden on the estate where I used to live and shoot. Within weeks they had about 30 people round camped out in a the garden, a live band playing and clouds of dope smoke in the air. They kept everyone on the estate up til two in the morning with thump, thump thump music.

By odd coincidence, the next day I found myself on an early morning fox/rabbit walk out to the edge on the wood right next to their garden where the ravers were sleeping it off in their tents. Feeling tired after a sleepless night I left my heavy barrelled .222 at home and took my unmoderated .308 instead. Wakey wakey campers.

 

[stubear]

Well I shoot in Scotland where people are (Quite rightly) allowed to go pretty much wherever they like, so every shot taken is preempted by a bloody good look.

Folk come out of nowhere so you just have to be very aware. No issue really and as I said, the public should be allowed to go where they like as long as they aren't causing a nuisance

I agree about needing to keep an eye out in Scotland, people do really pop up all over the place!

I disagree with people being able to go where they want though. Thinking about the ground I shoot on down here theres a pheasant shoot for a start - good luck running one of those if Jonny Dog Walker can go wherever he pleases with Fido off the leash!! Or kids running about or going on bike rides through the woods - you'll have no birds left inside a month.

Then theres the large fields of arable crop where its easy to break stems and knock the heads off crops. I avoid walking through crops and stick to the field margins but occasionally a deer will run and drop in the crops - you can easily see the damage caused just by one person walking through to hoik a roe buck out. Scale that up with walkers, bike riders, dogs off leads, kids chasing Pokemon and god knows what else and you've got a huge amount of damage.

I am all for having public footpaths and making the countryside available to people, but those that do use it should have some consideration for those who work in it and stick to the paths only.

 

[Rake Aboot]

I agree about needing to keep an eye out in Scotland, people do really pop up all over the place!

I disagree with people being able to go where they want though. Thinking about the ground I shoot on down here theres a pheasant shoot for a start - good luck running one of those if Jonny Dog Walker can go wherever he pleases with Fido off the leash!! Or kids running about or going on bike rides through the woods - you'll have no birds left inside a month.

Then theres the large fields of arable crop where its easy to break stems and knock the heads off crops. I avoid walking through crops and stick to the field margins but occasionally a deer will run and drop in the crops - you can easily see the damage caused just by one person walking through to hoik a roe buck out. Scale that up with walkers, bike riders, dogs off leads, kids chasing Pokemon and god knows what else and you've got a huge amount of damage.

I am all for having public footpaths and making the countryside available to people, but those that do use it should have some consideration for those who work in it and stick to the paths only.

Yeh but none of that happens though. 99.9% of the time there is no issue. People can go where they like in Scotland but are not allowed to cause damage and it works just fine.

I'm totally in agreement with it and think it should be extended even further. No time for landowners denying access for no reason other than they own the land.

 

[Highlandsjohn]

Yeh but none of that happens though. 99.9% of the time there is no issue.

I think you should recalculate your percentages.
Blocking gates,dogs off the leash,dog **** left lying even on margins and tramlines. Some of them need a good kick up the arse tbh.
Some don't see it as a privilege but act like they own it. john

 

[NickJ]

1. Couple of Hari Krishna types at it in a glade below a doe box in Eskdalemuir, both sexes have shaved heads so sexing impossible!

2. In Surrey, climbing the rungs of a high seat at 4am I encountered a black foot....then legs to reveal a TacOps cop borrowing my seat to stake out a car park where drugs deals were supposedly going down. He was dozing and yelped and it was all I could do to hold on to the rungs.

 

[potshotpat]

Out lamping on about 4000 acres of moss land (as flat as a snooker table) I'm driving and using the white light, my sidekick is using the red light. It's about ten thirty, vehicle lights not on and were driving down a track that leads to a large field planted with spuds. We start driving down the drills when I see headlights behind us. I say we could have a problem with dogmen so we tuck up close to a small covert and watch what's going on. About five minutes later we see a large Mercedes car still driving slowly but right in the middle of the spud field, we drive to him and find it's a Taxi. We ask him what he's up to and he explains that he,s looking for a particular house that is on the Moss and his fair had said to him when they saw him they would flash a light to get his attention. He had see us with our lamps and had followed us. It's a good job it wasn't wet or he would still be there yet.

 

[stubear]

Yeh but none of that happens though. 99.9% of the time there is no issue. People can go where they like in Scotland but are not allowed to cause damage and it works just fine.

I'm totally in agreement with it and think it should be extended even further. No time for landowners denying access for no reason other than they own the land.

I would respectfully disagree. We have umpteen encounters with people popping up where they shouldnt, dogs off the leash, kids leaving the footpath to go climbing around in trees and whatnot. I was stalking a few months back and found a group of kids out geocaching and they were totally off the footpath - How is that safe? What happens if they climb a tree and fall out? Who's liable?

I heard not that long ago about a farmer who had a tree on his land that local kids liked to climb. It was well away from any footpath but the kids still used to go to it, and he didnt have the heart to cut it down as he could see how much fun they were having. One day one of the kids fell out of the tree and did themselves a fairly serious injury and guess what? The parents sued the farmer, he was found liable because he knew kids climbed the tree and hadnt done anything to prevent them from doing so. The resultant payout meant he had to sell his farm and he lost everything.

And bearing in mind I am only out on the ground 1 day a week I would say I have an encounter every couple of months. I'd have to ask the gamekeeper how often he sees people where they shouldnt be but I do know its a constant challenge he's dealing with.

Landowners arent denying access just because they own the land. They are denying access because they (or the people they have let the land to) are running a business on the ground and dont want Jonny Dog Walker marching through it in his Hunter wellies and Barbour, and because its for peoples own safety that they stick to the footpath. If I'm out stalking I know where the paths are so if some random sticks his head out from behind a tree where he's not meant to be then thats hardly safe for them.

One of the areas on our ground has recently had a barn converted into a series of houses and the estate agents have clearly been telling all the prospective buyers "Look how close you are to the country, you can just walk out your front door and you're right there."

So the last few months have been an education process of yelling at various new local residents to educate them that no, you CANT just walk out your front door with your dog and go where you like, you have to stick to the footpaths and no I dont care that you have to walk down 30ft of road to get to the entrance to the footpath and yes this is exactly the same as if I came tramping through your garden stalking deer and you wouldnt be very happy about that.

I personally think there are more issues created with right to roam than are solved by it, and the denser the population gets in a location the worse the problem. Go into the countryside by all means but stick to the paths.

 

[mudman]

The Scottish right to roam is fantastic, allowed me access to some prime wildfowling areas which were previously out of bounds. Met a few red faced farmers and game keepers over the matter but not many considering, most have been quite philosophical about it.

 

[John_R]

I used to do some fox control on a farm which had a variety of animals and birds, but also B&B facilities and a pole dancing school. There were a few evening when the girls from the school, plus various friends stayed late, wandering around, with music and one time they had fireworks as well.

I gradually let that one slip from my routine.

 

[PaulCat]

A couple of Tibetan monks 'at it' when stalking in Eskdalemuir.....and, at 4am in the Surrey hills a vice squad surveillance officer 'borrowing' my portable high seat, evidently the car park not far away was being used to park more than just cars!

1. Couple of Hari Krishna types at it in a glade below a doe box in Eskdalemuir, both sexes have shaved heads so sexing impossible!

2. In Surrey, climbing the rungs of a high seat at 4am I encountered a black foot....then legs to reveal a TacOps cop borrowing my seat to stake out a car park where drugs deals were supposedly going down. He was dozing and yelped and it was all I could do to hold on to the rungs.

There's an echo in here...here...here........