Double dunter

[kyle304 5]

Last week seen me return to north of scotland with deer in mind. We arrived mid afternoon on the Tuesday, so not really enough light left in the day for a proper stalk from start to finnish, so into the jeep for a quick spin round to see if anything was about. We headed to the field that always produces roe, I honestly believe we could shoot 20 head of roe here in a year and there would still be more to shoot, the supply seems to be endless. Anyways after stopping at some distance away we glassed the field to find definately two roe, and possibly a third. We parked up, and headed directly south, which was in the opposite direction to where the roe were so that the wind favoured us. The field was barley stubble, however the straw bales had not yet been removed from the field, and the roe had positioned themselves more or less in the centre of the field, content with feeding. Now even though I enjoy woodland stalking, creeping through the woods at snails pace, this is my favourite type of stalking- through round bales of straw, more or less playing hide and seek all the way to the deer until they are in shooting distance.

 

The problem I find with stubble is of course the noise. Quietly progressing, conscious that light would soon be running out, I got myself positioned within maybe 300 yards. By now the usual excitement had crept in, and keeping balance whilst trying to avoid any crunching was proving difficult. I stopped to glass the deer, of which there were 3, two does and a buck, however I couldn't tell at that stage. When I went to flick up the protective cover on the scope it made a louder click than i had anticipated and the deer were immediately drawn to attention, seeking the air for any scent or sound. one of the does was particularly unsettled and i thought that the shot could be in doubt. however i daren't move to give away any movement and after what seemed an age of the 3 of them staring at me they returned to feeding, to be their mistake. I now crept foward, until maybe 160 yards, I was happy with the shot, so resting on a bale, took the doe with a heart lung shot. the thump-thwack sound returned, signalling a succesfull shot and the doe crumpled onto front elbows then down. The buck just looked at the doe as if to say what are you doing, and then trotted off when I made my presence known. I would have taken the second doe if a shot had became available, however she was off in a flash. A good sized doe, and after a field gralloch in which I left the remains pegged in a cage for fox bait later, we returned to the farm, content to have some venison in the freezer again.

 

Our morning stalk was to be another part of the farm, some woodland that had now became home to atleast one, but we wreckon two herds of red deer. The farm is a combination of lowland arable land, rising to some mixed land with bordering woodland, then bordering this inland is maybe two miles of scrub before hill sheep land and forestry land are. Up until maybe 5 years ago, no red deer existed on the lower woodland, however there has been rising sitings, now to a point where they are seen daily, and in numbers that demand to be controlled. The harsh winter last year particularly pushed them into the lower woodland, where they are not short of grazing, so when shot are some size and weight. Our stalk began along a woodland track, I wasn't in any rush as it wasn't fully light yet. The track is begining to become overgrown with gorse bushes, something that needs addressing. It wasn't long become we bumped into another doe, however she wasn't playing game, as she seen us before we seen her and set off barking, bit of a pain really. the signs of red deer were obvious, course 2inch strands of hair on many of the fences and of course the tell tale slots and shit. The wind had now changed slightly, however we were commited to the stalk and couldn't pratically alter our course, without thick dense woodland, a no go, so we continued on. Not 300 yards later two red hinds were stood feeding, just over a rise in the track. We immediately got low to the ground, as they were only yards away and definately scented us. My brother was frantically signalling to me to set up the rifle ready, he had seen something I hadn't. One of the hinds was moving towards us, curious as to what we were. I could just make the tops of her ears, where she had stopped to scent us, if she moved another 2 or 3 yards, i would have a shot. curiousity definately got the better of her and she moved forward. the click of my safety being removed made her stop in her tracks, head on to me. I put the crosshairs under her chin and watched as she collapsed, dead on impact of the neck shot.

 

Overall a very sucessfull two days, with a happy result. We also managed two foxes the previous night, one which had taken advantage of the earlier gralloch. Returning to Fife i was all set to post pictures with my post, of which i had several and a few videos from some clay bashing, however when i plugged my blueberry into the computer, the software somehow blanked everything including all my contacts, nightmare. Now back in fife, im left waiting on my next trip north, and seeking someone to tag along with for maybe some lamping trips or any other shooting. hope you enjoyed, went on a bit though haha.