My first 6 pointer...

[Yokel Matt 918]

I’d planned to get in place before dawn at a patch where I know there to be a couple of 4 pointers that lay up in the evening with a doe. I had no idea whether they remained in the same field overnight but there was only one way to find out so I phoned the farmer confirmed that he hadn’t moved his cattle into this field yet so it was still lush, sweet spring grass… Game on!

 

I arrived just after 5 and positioned myself in a gap in the hedge, which while not ideal, allowed me the largest area of safe shooting which included a small copse of Christmas trees. Dawn was reliably amazing with the sparse patchy cloud catching the rays brilliantly… unfortunately this didn’t make up for the fact that as the light began to strengthen it turned out there was absolutely bugger all in the field… not even a rabbit I stayed in place until just after 6 when the first dog walker came rambling over the field, off the footpath… off the lead… great

 

I moved to the bottom end of the permission where I occasionally see deer when out lamping rabbits. This patch is pretty fickle and after another hour or so sat in a hedge with no sigh of a deer I decided to pop over the boundary to the neighbouring permission to have look for a fox seen recently whilst out lamping. It’s a bit of a yomp but meant that I could backtrack past my earlier position on the higher ground.

 

For no particular reason I went a slightly different way following the hedgerow of a massive field instead of cutting across it as I didn’t want to set the dogs off at a kennels near to the footpath. I had a pretty good view of the lower part of the farm I had just covered so I scanned through the bino’s and caught a quick movement up against a hedge, a flick of an ear or something. I used my sticks to get a steady view and thought I saw what looked like the tips of some antlers (or a stick in the grass) 150 meters or so up the hedgerow in the bottom fields where I had just come from. Deciding against the long way round I made my way through the holes in the hedge the deer had made which wasn’t easy to do quietly (or comfortably). When I finally made it to the field I scanned the hedgerow and immediately spotted the tips of what were defiantly antlers The grass had bolted in the recent sun and rain and was completely obscuring their owner. There was no wind to betray me so placed the rifle on the sticks and, a pace at a time, stalked up the hedgerow.

 

I got to about meters when a loud clang echoed over from the farm where the farmer had just let a gate swing open. The deer’s head popped up in surprise giving me my first proper view on him and I nearly pissed my pants This changed things totally. I’d hadn’t stalked a 6 pointed up to now and this looked like a good one. All I could see was his head; because of the grass I couldn’t tell is he was arse on or not and there was no neck to aim at. I inched forward slowly whenever his gaze was away from me, gun on sticks, ready for him to pop his head up a bit more and give the chance of a neck shot but he just kept looking out over the field and then back at me. I got to 40 meters and decided to watch him though the crosshairs for an opportunity as I still couldn’t see an inch of neck. After what must have been a good 5 minutes of him staring right at me I felt a light breeze on the back of my neck which the deer reacted to immediately, on his feet in an instant whirling away from me. At the shot I saw a puff of pins fly from the shoulder and the deer disappeared from view back into his couching

 

 

He was still almost entirely in winter pelage and his antlers sported a seventh tear-drop point at one coronet.

 

 

 

Having problems compressing pics.. I'll add some more in a sec.

Edited May 2, 2010 by Local

[Yokel Matt 918]

A few more pics...

 

 

 

In the roe-sack - These are a damn handy bit of kit

 

 

I'm going to boil the head out as he's the best buck I've taken... he may not be a medal by measurement but he is to me.

[Squirrel_Basher 17,100]

Boil carefully mate ,you may have your first medal there too albeit a bronze.Excellent account as usual but was that the buck intended for me lol.

[jeppi 49]

well done mate nice shooting :thumbs

[Night Hunter 109]

Well done mate great write up too.

[Yokel Matt 918]

Boil carefully mate ,you may have your first medal there too albeit a bronze.Excellent account as usual but was that the buck intended for me lol.

 

No mate... this is his baby brother honest

 

 

 

 

I've got no idea about how these are measured for medals mate but its 545grams at the moment.

 

Cheers fellas...

Edited May 2, 2010 by Local

[black lab 3]

Well done L nice looking Buck mate, good write up

 

ATB

Wullie.

[Sky09 8]

cracking read mate and a what a beautiful looking buck that is well done fella

[FOXHUNTER 5,021]

Congratulations on your 1st 6 pointer , many more to come

[Hoolit 2]

Very nice you must be a happy man.

[john robbo 30]

well done there

a medal to be sure.

[wireviz 8]

Well done mate and i agree with John if you weight is correct and he measures even half decent he will be a medal. I was out my self on May day after a really nice buck but as it happened the field were he had been seen a few time had been set on fire by local idiots. But any time in this area that a beast is removed for any reason there is always a younger beast waiting to take over. He will not be ruling this area any more and hopefully the old boy will move back when the growth starts again.

[martin 332]

First of all,well done Local mate,you deserve that beast,and,a very good beast he is too...

 

Also,Wireviz,why is it(do you think)that the colour of your heads up there are so much darker,and,an altogether much warmer brown than ours down here.....what are yours cleaning off with that is obviously different to what ours are?

 

Well done mate and i agree with John if you weight is correct and he measures even half decent he will be a medal. I was out my self on May day after a really nice buck but as it happened the field were he had been seen a few time had been set on fire by local idiots. But any time in this area that a beast is removed for any reason there is always a younger beast waiting to take over. He will not be ruling this area any more and hopefully the old boy will move back when the growth starts again.

[J Darcy 5,871]

Fantastic mate. A great write up and i could tell you have the excitement runnng through your veins still. Forget the medal thingy, its a cracking buck and a cracking stalk too and thats what memories are made of. Its about getting out there and doing it, feeling the dew soaking your legs, seeing the butterflies warmng up in the sun and then spotting that much longed for piece of russet you know might just be the major adrenalin rush you so longed for. well done mate. JD

[wireviz 8]

Martin i have really no idea mate must be the type of woods but i have noticed pictures of roe on the net already going red and most of ours are still in winter coat and the chap i shot was still quite tight. This one was a buck shot in may a few years ago now and he was already dark.