Hi, been a member here for a awhile and enjoy viewing the site daily for everything from writeups to the classifieds.
I have the pleasure of living in Gloucestershire, which is a wonderful part of the country and decided to do a small write up about a certain small area of my stalking experience.
Living where I live, I ultimately would like to get a boar on my list.
Well for the last couple of years I have a small group of friends (all who have shot boar in the past) who have tried on occasion's to help make this happen, but as with mother nature and her influence this did not happen until this week.
First time I tried with one friend, went out a few times, on the night we eventually saw one it was a large male but not close enough, the friend I was with that night said he will come closer, well he never did. I still have the image of seeing him in my thermal, lift his head, sniff the air and walk off never to be seen by us again, must have been 300kg+ lol.
Second time was with a different friend, we saw a group of boar, tracked them and just when we got close enough for a shot, they dived into a wood we did not have permission to shoot on.
The third and thankfully last unsuccessful opportunity was in some maize last year, we were supposed to follow the forager one weekend but it was too wet so never happened, the following weekend when the maize was cut I was on holiday in Spain and the lads who followed the forager ended up shooting 5 boar.
Then we come to this week. I had been out a couple of times the week before with another friend out of our small group but to no avail (love mother nature and her unpredictability). He called me at 10pm this Tuesday and said there were boar on a piece of his land if I fancied going out. Well I was up like a scalded cat, apologised to the Mrs and rushed to get my kit on. I arrived at his house about half an hour later, jumped in his motor and we shot off.
When we arrived at the ground he let me go ahead and stalk to them so it was less noise, I walked hurriedly up the short but steep bank, knowing the general area they would be, due to being there before a couple of times before. As I got to the top of the bank I slowed down to catch my breath so if i had a chance I would be as steady as I could be with the adrenaline pumping, I was still shaking like a s......g dog though at the excitement of what may happen soon.
I crested the hill to see 5 boar feeding. I got on my sticks and decided which one I would like to shoot because of the clearest safe shot, ( I never thought until after I had taken the shot/s and reviewed the video how calm I actually was when needed). I say shot/s because I had a clean head shot on the first boar and then followed the other four as they ran off and one of them stopped long enough for me to get a 2nd clean head shot on that one too, so my first ever boar, ended up being two both head shot, first one was 75kg and the second just under 50kg.
We are not finished there obviously as the work now begins, my friend went to get the quad as I attempted to drag the one to the other so we could get them together to load on the quad (what a job that was lol). we loaded them up and he drove off to the truck as I walked having to at last a chance to compose myself as to what had just happened. I then here the quad go quiet and a shout for "a hand" so I walked back up the hill to find due to the weight of the boar the quad had tipped over on the bank, everyone was safe but they had to be loaded back on.
We drove back to his place and gralloched them got a few memorable pics and I went home.
Really just want to say thanks lads for persevering, we got there in the end, it is appreciated.
The smile says it all.
Added a pic but cannot upload video as it is too large.
I have the pleasure of living in Gloucestershire, which is a wonderful part of the country and decided to do a small write up about a certain small area of my stalking experience.
Living where I live, I ultimately would like to get a boar on my list.
Well for the last couple of years I have a small group of friends (all who have shot boar in the past) who have tried on occasion's to help make this happen, but as with mother nature and her influence this did not happen until this week.
First time I tried with one friend, went out a few times, on the night we eventually saw one it was a large male but not close enough, the friend I was with that night said he will come closer, well he never did. I still have the image of seeing him in my thermal, lift his head, sniff the air and walk off never to be seen by us again, must have been 300kg+ lol.
Second time was with a different friend, we saw a group of boar, tracked them and just when we got close enough for a shot, they dived into a wood we did not have permission to shoot on.
The third and thankfully last unsuccessful opportunity was in some maize last year, we were supposed to follow the forager one weekend but it was too wet so never happened, the following weekend when the maize was cut I was on holiday in Spain and the lads who followed the forager ended up shooting 5 boar.
Then we come to this week. I had been out a couple of times the week before with another friend out of our small group but to no avail (love mother nature and her unpredictability). He called me at 10pm this Tuesday and said there were boar on a piece of his land if I fancied going out. Well I was up like a scalded cat, apologised to the Mrs and rushed to get my kit on. I arrived at his house about half an hour later, jumped in his motor and we shot off.
When we arrived at the ground he let me go ahead and stalk to them so it was less noise, I walked hurriedly up the short but steep bank, knowing the general area they would be, due to being there before a couple of times before. As I got to the top of the bank I slowed down to catch my breath so if i had a chance I would be as steady as I could be with the adrenaline pumping, I was still shaking like a s......g dog though at the excitement of what may happen soon.
I crested the hill to see 5 boar feeding. I got on my sticks and decided which one I would like to shoot because of the clearest safe shot, ( I never thought until after I had taken the shot/s and reviewed the video how calm I actually was when needed). I say shot/s because I had a clean head shot on the first boar and then followed the other four as they ran off and one of them stopped long enough for me to get a 2nd clean head shot on that one too, so my first ever boar, ended up being two both head shot, first one was 75kg and the second just under 50kg.
We are not finished there obviously as the work now begins, my friend went to get the quad as I attempted to drag the one to the other so we could get them together to load on the quad (what a job that was lol). we loaded them up and he drove off to the truck as I walked having to at last a chance to compose myself as to what had just happened. I then here the quad go quiet and a shout for "a hand" so I walked back up the hill to find due to the weight of the boar the quad had tipped over on the bank, everyone was safe but they had to be loaded back on.
We drove back to his place and gralloched them got a few memorable pics and I went home.
Really just want to say thanks lads for persevering, we got there in the end, it is appreciated.
The smile says it all.
Added a pic but cannot upload video as it is too large.
.
