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So at 5.30am on Friday my alarm went off that the day had finally arrived that I was heading over to meet up with Andrew (Elk Hunter on here) for a beginners day in deer stalking. Everything going well until I hit some crappy morning traffic on the M6 but that out the way and managing to make up a little time I was only a couple of minutes late and all was looking good and the rain that I'd seen forecast was no where to be seen with pretty much clear blue skies ... On the way over Andrew gave me an overview of what the day had in store for me and once we arrived kitted up and made our way over to the range giving me the opportunity to check my zeroing out at 100, 150 and 200 yards. Once Andrew was happy we headed over to where the deer were and once they'd started to settle he directed me into the one that I was going to take when the opportunity came. After getting comfy and ready to take the shot (I've no idea how long it was until I took the shot) Andrew gave me the all clear to pull the trigger... Safety off, deep breath, part exhale, point of aim and bang! The deer stumbled a little and Andrew whispered 'reload' - this had completely slipped my mind with all the adrenalin pumping through my body. What a flipping feeling! We waited around 5 minutes and started our approach to the deer. We got there and yep... Definitely dead. After a quick sandwich and a warm drink Andrew talked me through a quick inspection of the deer and what to look for before guiding me through performing the gralloch myself and provided me with no end of useful hints and tips and again talking me through exactly what to look for while doing this. We loaded up the truck and headed down to skin and butcher the carcass - Again Andrew provided me with no end of useful tips and tricks from his huge knowledge on the subject. Once skinned and opened up a little we looked to see where and what had been hit and it was a clean heart shot. He had plenty of patience with me throughout the skinning and butchering All in all a ruddy awesome day and I would definitely recommend Andrew to anyone who is new to shooting deer and even those who are well experienced... We can all learn something new Thanks again to Andrew for getting me hooked on something I'm now going to have to do again and already exploring the options available Iain