Strange Morning

[sussex 5,777]

Up this morning at 6 ,cup of coffee ,gun & dog loaded I had a few minutes drive up the road so was in no big rush , frosty morning with a slight n/w wind I parked in the camping ground on my small permission .The n/westerly wind is the worst case scenario for this place , thankfully its not that common .I decided to work my way around the perimeter the wind would be blowing my scent were I was going but once around the farm I would be able to stalk the bottom fields & back up through the wood .

Ten minutes in with the wind completely against me I see movement in the ditch , any deer must be able to scent me ,I stood glassing the ditch & definitely see some movement in the undergrowth.A fallow doe , obviously injured , had it not been it would have been long gone , problem I had was getting a clear shot , only 60 m away I needed to cross the ditch so my back was to the road to be clear & safe , unloading the rifle I managed to cross without to much fuss , the doe lifted its head every few minutes but never moved , on the sticks the next time she looked up I finished her .. back leg smashed other back leg busted I wondered how she managed the 20 or 30 m to the ditch ,pulled her out for collection later.

Making my way round to start the proper stalking for the morning with the wind now in my face we cleared the bottom fields ,making our way up the hedge to the woods .As we reached the wood just to the right of the cleared ride under the power cables , we normally come in the top & look down , but this morning were looking up I glass a light coloured buck .400 m up the ride hes walking slowly down to us . But there is something wrong with him , continually shaking his head , strange gait he continues down hill , he actually bumps into one of the power poles .Laying prone its difficult to get a shot as his head & neck is continually moving from side to side , at about 120 he stops for a few seconds which gave me the chance to stop him for good ...on examination his head is scraped both pedicles scrapped , one antler has bits broken off , damage to the skin on his neck he looks like another car kill ...back home a closer look confirms this , both deer will end up as dog food ...strange morning

[hutchey 147]

Nice going Rich

[seprim 32]

Nice read Rich and good going getting two injured animals - that takes some damn fine stalking skills and observation to have slotted both

Well done

 

Andrew

[air gun ant 1,666]

well done for ending two loads of suffering mate, they were obviosly in a lot of pain

[sussex 5,777]

Andrew had the wind not been coming from n/w I would not have taken that route so it was fortune that had a hand in the 1st one , the buck I don't think knew where it was , I just happened to be in the right place at the right time ...I skinned the neck down just to have a look & its whole neck was bruised right down to the top of the rib cage , you can see on the picture a bald area between the pedicles it had another under its ear , which was ripped as well and what looked like tyre marks on its neck . I would think that whatever hit it hasn't got of to lightly !

[beast 1,884]

nice work putting those two safely to bed. one of then roads near here runs through a long stretch of forest containing stackloads of fallow and muntjac, and despite the fact that big boards are displayed with deer casualty numbers on, people still drive like loonies through this area. stop and pick up roadkill regularly for the dogs, but god only knows how many of the poor b*****ds crawl off the road to die slowly.

[Yokel Matt 918]

The dogs Christmas dinner is sorted then. Big buck as well, lucky he didn't go through the windscreen - poor buggers.