A Few Recent Bucks

[Yokel Matt 918]

Had a bit of luck on the bucks over the last few weeks starting with a chance encounter whilst checking my bees earlier in June. A young buck with a poor head that had evidently missed the cull in April or moved onto the ground more recently was seen earlier in the day in a field that was due to be cut so I decided to have a look out that evening. In the 5 hours since leaving the farm and going back the farmer had cut the majority of the field but as I was cursing him for his timing I spotted the cull buck (in the company of a doe) in the neighbouring field made up of wheat and a thick belt of fallow ground the farmer begrudgingly agreed to set aside that year.

 

It was warm and still and I stalked down the other side of a thick hedge to an gap that I knew would bring me quite close to the two deer. Upon reaching the gap the two deer had moved a little but no matter as the buck was now in the perfect spot for a safe shot. As the crop was up a little and at only 60m I put the pin on his upper neck and dropped him where he stood. I reloaded and remained on the sticks unless I'd miss-read the strike and he got up and also to give the doe some time to chill out and move away of her own accord. She didn't seem too phased by things and as I watched her though the scope another buck came into view.

 

 

This fella had an equally poor head and I contemplated taking him as well but he wasn't quite safe and after waiting 15 minutes or so and with the evening dwindling I decided to disturb them to give me enough time to find my downed buck in the crop and gralloch him - the other one would have to wait.

 

 

I located the downed buck quickly enough and was dragging him up a tram line to the edge of the crop when I saw the earlier pair in the neighbouring field that had just been cut. The buck who'd just narrowly avoided getting shot minutes earlier luck had run out as he was now safe and fair game. Moving to a dilapidated stone structure which may once have been a small barn I eased the rifle up over the top which happened to make a perfect rest for a standing shot. The buck didn't have a clue and took the 6.5 in the chest at about 70m dropping on the spot and I waited for the doe, now considerably more skittish than before, to move on before retrieving him.

 

 

 

After gralloching both deer and unloading ready for the drag back to the truck I stood up and over the thin cover of the fence line separating the two fields saw a fox approaching, no doubt scenting the gralloch but not, it would appear, me. I reloaded as quietly as I could, got on the sticks and when it was close enough to 'fix bayonets!' clobbered it to round off a nice, successful evening.

 

 

 

A few days later I was up in Wiltshire visiting Tim to have a catch up and a look about. On the approach to the farm we saw a buck on the edge of a small copse and by the time we had parked up at the farm had hatched a cunning plan to get him on the floor. Despite having the weather gauge on him and the buck having no idea we were there he did pretty much everything he could to frustrate us getting a safe or realistic shot at him.

 

What was supposed to be a wham-bam-thankyou-mam and onto try and find another one became a drawn out and thoroughly rewarding stalk when we eventually got into a shootable position and dropped him with a chest shot.

 

 

At first he appeared to be a bit behind in the coat change as he was quite scruffy and grey but he must have been taking it easy as by the time he’d be dragged back to the truck it had all come out and he looked for all the summer buck.

 

Feeling on a roll and much to the wife’s displeasure I turned down a quiet night in (which is never a quiet night with a 2 & 4 year old children anyway) and went to a place I hadn’t been for ages that was about to be cut and then have cows put on it which writes it off for the rest of the buck season.

 

Slogging up to the higher ground in what was a very warm, sticky evening I quickly spotted the russet brown shapes of deer in the lush green pasture field below. The buck was quite obvious with the naked eye as he looked quite stacked next to the doe and was in the perfect area to make an easy approach. Getting into position was straightforward enough but shortly before I was there the pair decided to couch and disappeared from sight in the long grass. I got to within 70m of where I was pretty sure they still were and collapsed the sticks down for a sitting shot and waited…… and waited….. and waited…. until I eventually got bored and started making a rabbit distress / squeal noise as you would to call a fox. I saw the tips of some ears appear (not where I was expecting them) and then some antlers of the buck a lot closer that I’d planned. I adjusted my position and barked which got him to his feet but face on and with one foot off the floor as if about to leg it. Fortunately he moved near enough broadside and that’s just what he got.

 

 

Dragging him away from the lush green grass where I didn’t think the farmer would appreciate being covered with blood and gralloch I dressed him out and told myself that id got away with that one and my impatience could well have cost me.

 

The next outing it was my turn to host and Tim came over with his son to see if he could do as well as he did on his last trip down when he got himself a nice 6 pointer. It was at the same ground that we’d visited before but first of all we had to set some traps for the farmer as the squirrels were nipping off the wheat that fringed a belt of woodland and were ‘seriously pissing him off’ as he put it.

 

The idea was to get 6 fenn mk4’s up and running but the area was thick with badger sign and the work necessary to make them badger proof required too much effort for the time we had so we only got two out before it was time to get going.

 

The idea was to try a different part of the farm that had already been cut earlier and was thickening out in preparation for a second cutting. It was overlooked by an good, steep hill with a tractor track up it so, from the comfort of the Landy (which wasn’t much!) we studied the ground below. Two huge fields with thick wooded fringes and another which had been part cut & bailed and part cleared. Despite not having his own bins George pointed out several bucks in the distance for me and Tim to pretend we’d already seen but they were on neighbouring ground and a long way off even if they did decide to venture over.

 

Knowing there was another buck near where George got his last one we scooted off with the same intentions as last time – get a vantage point and catch him on the fringes as he made his rounds or was out feeding in the open. Our perfect vantage point yielded nothing but we did see what looked very much like the beginnings of some rutting behaviour in the lower fields so decided to move closer and hopefully catch him out she led him our way. Just as we approached the brow of the hill something caught the corner of my eye and I hushed the other two to freeze. The bins revealed a buck in the fields immediately next to and below the one we were in and, with a bit of belly crawling we could get to a decent spot to take a shot at about 120 meters.

 

After some confusion over who was going to take the shot (it took a while for me to understand that they thought I was going to have a pop at him – like hell I was) George got himself ready and steady on the bipod and both Tim and I heard the thump and the lurch of a deer which looked for all the world a gonner and it crashed into the ditch a few meters further on. The strike spot however said a different story, no pins, no claret. The ditch was heavily overgrown and after a quick search up and down it for 50 meters it was obvious that some poor b*****d was going to have to get into it and have a look… I wonder who might get that job!

 

The light wasn’t great by now anyway and with brambles and stingers two foot above my head it was a darn sight darker where I was!!. About 20 meters of stings, scratches and appalling language later I heard a shot on the other side of the ditch and the thump of solid connection. George helped pull me up out the ditch and we went to see Tim who had had the forethought to cover the other side. The buck was well down now and when we retrieved it Tim muttered extremities about how the hell he’d shot it in the neck when he’d gone for heart / lung. Turned out Georges shot was only two inches away in the gorget part of the neck when he had also gone for a chest shot. Two very lucky shots and another nice six pointer for an up and coming stalker. The rifle turned to have been knocked off zero.

 

 

The next day I had to go and check the squirrel traps and only threw the rifle in as an afterthought. The large fields we’d been overlooking the day before looked promising and if anything I was looking forward to sitting under a favourite oak with nearly 300 meters of newly cut ground around me and the chance of a few daylight foxes.

 

A good start as the two traps yielded 100% hit rate – I f***ing hate squirrels and would much sooner sling them in a hedge but a mate at work asked for some for the bbq and for some reason I agreed to get him some. Blahhhh!!

 

 

Distracted by the thought of all the fleas crawling in my poachers pocket, the occasional prick of a sharp claw or massive yellow teeth and also how such a small animal can have such enormous testicles I was day-dreaming on my approach and found myself walking quite casually along the woodland fringe with the wind at my back. Reminding myself not to write my chances off I carried on and was rewarded by a decent buck appearing from the expanse of the long grass and he paused on the edge of the wood. We watched each other as I slowly got the rifle on the sticks and, sensing time was running out I didn’t hang about on lining up for a neck shot and down he went. A decent, heavy buck.

 

 

 

Heavy was the word as after I’d dragged him back to the truck (which must have been a kilometre away) I was fooked but with an hour or so’s light left I decided to the oak tree and wait for Charlie – I wasn’t disappointed.

 

 

Had I know trapping squirrels could yield so many deer I’d have started years ago! A week or so later I had the traps down again and asked the farmer to pop round with me so that he could share some of the responsibility and I didn’t have to trek over there every day to check them. ‘Come and have a look at some wheat damage on the other side on the farm says he’ (at which point I’m wishing I’d never suggested trapping them in the first place) and off we trundled up the same farm track I’ve driven up many time before and never seen a deer. Bugger me a six point buck is stood on the edge of the crop not 60 meters from from track where we were in the truck. The farmer starts gesticulating like he’s caught up in an electric fence and shouts ‘look at that fukker’. I look at him through the bins – he was a nice buck but there was no way he was going to allowed to be left for another day.

 

The cab of a Defender 90 isn’t known for its spaciousness and manoeuvring a rifle off a back seat, out a gunslip, out a window and then loading it was nothing short of comedy. Despite the time it took to get ready and the clattering of metal against metal and the engine being turned off this buck stood stock still and was shot in the neck the way you would a rabbit using the wing mirror as a rest. A very undignified way to go for a nice buck but rather that than get a black mark with the farmer.

 

 

The final instalment was last Sunday. The kids went to bed when they were told to (highly unusual!) and, as it had been a busy weekend the wife wanted to relax and watch some reality trash on TV. I wanted to relax by getting out in the fields with the rifle but the weather was rubbish so I did the next best thing and went to the shed to knock up some frames of foundation for the bee super. Around 8:30 the weather brightened up un-expectantly so I rushed in, grabbed the gun and told the wife I was going to have a quick look out and would buy some chocolate on the way home… which wouldn’t be late…. honest… promise.

 

I was soaked from the waist down in minutes but didn’t care as I’d relaxed into a very slow, deliberate stalk around a place which has always looked good but yielded nothing. Earlier in the week the farmer revealed that a large field set to grass which I had assumed was his neighbours was in fact his so the plan was for a slow approach to this area. It was a lovely evening and what light wind there was was in my face as I made the final approach. In the ‘new’ field, which now lay on the other side of a small road a buck and doe were feeding, about 30 meters out from the thick hedge which separated it from the neighbouring wheat field. From where I was, if I could get into position I would have a safe backstop for quite some way. They were heading up the hill but weren’t in a hurry.

 

I crossed the road into a neighbouring field and then slid underneath a 5 bar gate which had the second from bottom rung missing to get into the same field the deer were in. The buck was now around 220m away and I picked a dark spot under an oak tree roughly half way as a sweet spot to aim for. I was in pretty much in plain view and could have taken the shot from there but there was no pressure as I had enough light left and the hedgerow I was going to move up broke my silhouette and gave me some shadow. On my belly, and now even more soaked through I crept towards the sweet spot.

 

The buck kept looking over and we played the game for a good 25 minutes until I eventually made it. I put the bipod down ranged him a 125m put the bead on his shoulder and watched him drop in the scope like the light had just been turned off. One of the most satisfying stalks I’ve had this year. I couldn’t find my phone to take a pic but remembered id been so keen to get cracking that I’d left it on the dashboard of the truck – he doesn’t look much in the back of the Landy but in my minds eye he was an absolute beauty lying there in the fading light amongst the white clover.

 

Edited July 14, 2015 by Yokel Matt

[The one 8,494]

Nice read and picts mate your certainly hitting your numbers

[sussex 5,777]

Nice read Matt , quietly racking up the numbers ! ...seems plenty about .

[Yokel Matt 918]

Cheers gents. I've been quite fortunate this season as I've been out half the number of times but had twice the success, more through luck than judgement no doubt.

 

I've only been hard on them on a new piece of ground out of necessity but as soon as the numbers are down I should get away with being a bit more selective. Other than that good numbers about.

[firthy 54]

Great read Matt whilst mrs is watching love island lol thanks for saving me ha ha hopefully one day I'll get the chance to shoot a roe buck only got munty n fallow here

[CushtyJook 1,097]

Cheers gents. I've been quite fortunate this season as I've been out half the number of times but had twice the success, more through luck than judgement no doubt.

I've only been hard on them on a new piece of ground out of necessity but as soon as the numbers are down I should get away with being a bit more selective. Other than that good numbers about.

What is that you have on the squirrel trap is is some sort of bait in the middle just of screen ? Or is it just a tunnel with a fenn located in it ?

[Yokel Matt 918]

Just a tunnel with some mixed corn from the chickens feed on the plate mate. The fenns were set in a tunnel.

[CushtyJook 1,097]

Just a tunnel with some mixed corn from the chickens feed on the plate mate. The fenns were set in a tunnel.

Just the way I used to do it, or gateways or directly underneath the pheasant feeders, I rarely baited the traps tho used to run a decent trap line on my shoot, I seen the what must be a rock in. The photo and looked like some bait thing but my vision is no good lol

[Yokel Matt 918]

Looking at the pic I can see what you mean mate but I kept it basic. There was that much chaff splashed all over the ground I thought a handful of corn Hansell and Grettal style onto the plate would speed things up.

[Squirrel_Basher 17,100]

Yet again i bailed you out grasshopper on the trapping lol..The sights were indeed 6 inches to the left ,now cleaned and rectified .Youve done well on that nwe ground mate ,farmer got to be happy but not in single figures yet lol.See you soon mate .

[bumpy22 414]

good stalking. I have grassed a lot of bucks this year and hopefully a few more during the rut

[CushtyJook 1,097]

Looking at the pic I can see what you mean mate but I kept it basic. There was that much chaff splashed all over the ground I thought a handful of corn Hansell and Grettal style onto the plate would speed things up.

Do you only catch the squirrels in that location ? Is it on a shoot near feeders at all? Also are those mk6s as they look it thanks CJ

[Yokel Matt 918]

No game shoot but don't worry mate - it was blanked off against game birds etc and you're dead right those two in the pic are mk6's. They've been in the shed for the last few years as I generally only use the 4's nowadays.

 

It's been a busy season on this farm so far. It the previous stalkers cull records had it at around 30 a year before he jacked it in, at this rate I can well believe it.

[CushtyJook 1,097]

No game shoot but don't worry mate - it was blanked off against game birds etc and you're dead right those two in the pic are mk6's. They've been in the shed for the last few years as I generally only use the 4's nowadays.

It's been a busy season on this farm so far. It the previous stalkers cull records had it at around 30 a year before he jacked it in, at this rate I can well believe it.

Haha not worried about it being blanked of for game birds mate, I'm sorry for making it sound as if I'm checking your practices I'm sure you know how to run the traps, I used to always use mk4s only ever found a few that would get fowl Caught, another good trap old use in a tunnel was body grips used to make the tunnel to fit the bodygrip specially, never had a fowl catch in one of those ever

[j j m 6,555]

Very good