Courtesy of Martin

[Squirrel_Basher 17,100]

Yesterday evening saw me down in Somerset with an anxious look at the skies .The week has been a total wash out at work and im well behind but i hoped that maybe a break in the rain would allow us to do a bit of stalking .I took Martin the buck shot earlier in the week and after getting that in the larder it appeared to be dry enough for a look out .Martin drove to one of my favourite spots of his ,a dell set in a valley or a small valley within a valley for those not familiar with the word .We glassed the top fields from the road and could clearly see a deer on one of the top pastures ,a doe i believed but hard top tell at the extreme range .Drove a bit further to the parking point and unloaded whereupon it was apparent the farmer had been busy removing bramble bushes ,the very same bushes that help to conceal our stalk most often so another route was planned with Martin leading the way around the hill side to our right .Just as we set off we glassed a young doe feeding on overhead leaves in the dell bottem so another move was made to skirt around her .Arrived at the top field ,a lush meadow that the deer love and both had a good glass,We made out two roe feeding along a hedge about 350 yds away id say and after a while we both agreed that the right hand deer was a buck .May sound strange that we wernt 100 % on it to start with but the hedge overhung the deer putting them in even more bad light than the cloudy sky allowed . The top of the dell is to our left here with a tree line ,fenced on our side and this is where we planned to stalk along .Martin set off ,getting about 100 yds then bringing me to the front to continue .There is a fine line between having to stop often to glass and allowing too much time for the deer to wander off but i made another 100 yds with the deer still unaware.The fence now weaves a bit and i was unsighted for a while and a glance back at Martin and the resulting hand gestures told me they had gone through a gap in the hedge a bit lower down so more caution on the final approach .i could see the deer now through the hedge and managed to slowly get to a hole big enough for me to crouch in .The doe ,heavily pregnant was just 15 yds away and now on high alert ,staring straight at the gap with the buck just behind her .I had slid into the gap with the bipod extended as i knew they were close .Waited for a while until she relaxed a bit ,enough to turn her head away and got my position comfy for a shot .The buck obliged by moving away about 30 yds further up the field but 3/4 on so a further wait and took him through the chest to which he signalled and ran to the fence ,deviating and headed downhill straight for me and collapsed just by the doe .She went over to sniff him and resumed feeding .I never like this bit but i stood up to move her off but she only went a few yds then looked over her shoulder to reveal another pair of roe in the half light ,a young buck and young doe by the looks of it .Stepped out and off she went barking as she did so .The shot was a bit far back to be honest but the gralloch revealed no damage to the green ,only a graze to the liver ,taking out the lower lungs too .

Cheers Mate for a great stalk and first 6 pointer of the season .

[The one 8,493]

Nice read and hope your business is taken off now Martin mate

[martin 332]

Thanks Bob,and Stalker. I can tell you I was puffing like a train at the top of the valley,the lungs were on fire as I just haven't been able to do much exercise walking wise,and the business is still really being set up Bob,but I am getting the stock ready to hit the ground running.....fingers crossed.

Here are a few pics of the land in the post,and this one shows the dell and last years clearing job that the farmer decided needing doing........

 

 

Here is the view from where we first glassed from.......

 

 

This was taken quite a while ago of the Beaufort coming down over the Valley,if they only knew how many foxes get shot on there....lol

 

 

And this is why we both love it there so much......

 

 

Martin

Edited April 28, 2012 by martin

[Squirrel_Basher 17,100]

Cheers for those pics mate ,any of before the clearing from the top though mate and in summer .Not much to ask is it ,lol.

[martin 332]

I'll have a look mate,but,I have literally got thousands of pics to go through and stupidly I have never put them into sections like I should do...lol

[glogin 87]

Well done both of you

[Yokel Matt 918]

Ohhhh - nice mate. Thats a lovely piece of ground martin.

[FOXHUNTER 5,021]

Nice piece of ground Martin!!

[Caprelous 217]

Well done Foxdropper and nice to see Martins up and about again

Good write up as well

 

Cheers

Stu