Evening Stalk

[sussex 5,777]

Having sat up last night (sat) and blanked at a small piece of land where i do the deer & fox , i decided to sit up tonight at a farm on the kent/sussex border were Hutchey had his 1st deer a couple of weeks ago, about 400acres,mainly grass,with 60 acres of woodland ,it is surrounded by woodland on 3 sides ,undulating its as safe a place to shoot a rifle as you could want.

 

I gave my old mate a call ,What you doing later ? where we going was his reply, a foggy ,frosty morning gave way to a glorious day,we were drinking coffee at my place at 2.45 and pulling into the farm 45 min later.A quick hello with the owner as we got to the bottom of the drive , then on through to park by the farm buildings.Kit sorted,all i had to get was my sticks i had left on the quad,secure on the back with a bungey strap,unhooked i went to exstend them ,disaster i must have caught them on something two of the legs were bent.not by much but enough to stop them opening.No sticks not a major problem as i intended to sit in a seat,

 

My mate set of to a seat at the top of a field (were hutchey got his 1st) having sat there 5 or 6 times he new where to go .the seatis in a sharp corner woodland behind and to the side, the shot is normally right in front , they come out ,often below the seat burst out in the field then settle , the longest shot we've had is only about 100m,but 50 is average.Him settled i went forward to another seat above the buildings,having got there i had a change of mind and carried on up the hill to the top field from were you can see virtually the whole farm , the view on a day like today was stunning. I glassed up every field , i was sure the deer would be out early to get the sun on them , we had seen plenty out on the way over, but nothing not one.Deciding to stay put ,i was good with the wind in my face on the edge of the property. Any deer would be below me .Twenty minutes later something white caught my eye as i glassed the fields below, white fallow give their mates away every time ! We have a dominant white gene in the deer round here & to see 7or 8 in a group of thirty is quite common.

 

 

The task nowwas to come down of my perch on top to get to a field 620m (rangefinder)below me ,wind wise i was good but i would have to go down & left then across right into the field were the deer were .This field has the sandstone breaking through in the middle so when you come in to the field the sandstone outcrop is above you not very high the first 40m can be walked but as you go foward you have to get lower eventually on all fours you can get to the top.As you peer over , the field drops away sharply to a bank with stock fencing then woodland dropping to a stream .The amount of times i've stalked up to them looked over the top only to see the deer walking out the end of the field with only their backsides on view, but not to day ! the soaking wet knees and mud covered hands were not in vain , i pulled open the bipod , chambered a round ,they were at 160m bunched fairly tightly ,about twenty or so (i never counted them) a couple of does just to the side i picked the long faced old one ,the other slightly rounded face had the look of a yearling,as i squeezed the trigger i could see the bullit strike, that tell tale puff of dust & hair as the bullit impacted just behind the shoulder,She jumped four legged in the air turned & took of but only for a few seconds,as she cartwheeled over kicking briefly before coming to rest .checked i went for the quad. I have a purpose built pit on this place for gralloch as the owner dos'nt want the girls who ride there upset seeing gralloch not that they would but thats what he wants , so thats what i do ,its worked well for ten years.Done & sorted i returned to the motor , having heard no shot from my pal it was fairly safe to assume he had blanked ,as it was only the second time in this seat in 6 or so outings he would'nt complain to much..

 

Back to mine wash it out tag it & in the chiller.Not been a bad couple of days 1 fri night 1 tonight .

 

 

Just a quick up date this doe was in excellent condition & wintered very well ,larder weight 76lb ..

Edited February 18, 2013 by sussex

[hutchey 147]

Nice write up.

[The one 8,513]

nice going mate you must get a few in a year ?.

[sussex 5,777]

one or two mate,......! mainly fallow ,but a few roe i've not got that many so only knock over the really poor stuff.Get the odd munty on one place , the owners dont want them 1st or last so any that get seen get shot. Shame , i would'nt mind a few about but thats the condition on the stalking on this bit .

[seprim 32]

Nice post sussex - enjoyed that and nice doe weight too

 

Andrew