First Red Stag

[mikee]

I had been invited by a friend to try for a stag when they moved onto his land from the next door estate, last night was the night and it was raining stair rods, met my mate at 6pm and he decided to drive round the estate and just stalk into any beasts we found rather than hike round in the pouring rain.

 

At about 8pm we spotted a good roe buck feeding on the edge of a maze strip and as we hadn't seen any reds it was decided that we would try for the buck, we stalked along the edge of the field and then through a belt of trees to an old high seat about 170yds from the buck, I rested the rifle on a foam block he had on one of the ladder rungs lent against the tree to get a really solid rest, as I was watching the buck through the scope waiting for him to come out from behind some cover it noticed something in the wood the other side of the clearing and bounced away, with that 11 stags appeared from the tree line and marched straight towards us and stopped just the other sided of a low stock fence at 140yds, my mate asked me not to shoot any of the real big fellas but said i could shoot which ever of the others stood well first, they were all bunched so I didnt want to wound another and eventually a spiker wandered off about 10 yards and stood side on, I put the cross just behind the shoulder and gently squeezed off a round, I was confident that the bullet had found its mark but den thought it was too far back, the whole herd all bunched together and ran like hell for the cover of the trees, den told me its down on the edge of the wood and we would wait 10 minutes and then go and find it.

 

we marched across the field to where he said it would be lying but no deer, we searched high and low fro about 45 minutes until it was too dark to see any more, as we walked back to the truck he decided we would go to where the deer stood when i shot to see if we could see any blood or fur, we got to about where we thought it was standing and there it laid stone dead, I can only assume the deer he saw go down in the herd fell over or ran into one of the old stumps hidden in the long grass, the bullet had hit exactly where i had aimed. ONE VERY HAPPY MAN went to get the truck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

mikee

[game_boy]

Well done, their big ******* eh! You certainly notice a difference in weight from roe.

[Frenchieboy]

Well chuffed for you mate. He's quite a big fella aint he!

Great write up!

[Luckyshot]

Nice looking stag mate well done

[scolopax]

Very well done, especially for leaving the big fellas and taking a youngster, plenty of meat on him by the looks of it anyway.

 

What calibre?

[wboulter]

nice write up nice stag to well done

[silpig5]

top shot mate .

 

sure beats the clays on thursday !

[Stokoe]

If that was one of the small ones, I would of liked to see one of the big uns!!!

[pigeonblasterian]

Nice.

[docholiday]

Well done, I bet you were chuffed when you went back and found him, its horrible when they leg it, I had one last year that we didnt find until the morning, I tell you I didnt sleep a wink all night.

hope you get to enjoy the venison

doc

[groach1234]

Nice stuff just took mine the other day its something i certainly wont be forgetting and i suppose you will be the same A fine stag.

 

George

[mikee]

cheers guys for the replys, .243 with a hornady 100gn interlok by the way

 

mikee

Edited August 15, 2010 by mikee

[Highlander]

Well done Mikee

 

Don't know aboout the eating of it at this time of year but as it's a fairly young one it may be OK...I send mine to the game dealer and let the restaurants flavour it up when the ruts on.

 

Good to see the calibre (.243 100g) doing it's stuff especially for all those on here who say it's not man enough. IMO best all round calibre for pretty much anything bar boar you're likely it encounter in the UK...including big cats!

[al4x]

whats also nice to see Highlander is its not got much damage to it, nice to see what can be achieved by a nicely placed shot.

[Dekers]

 

Big though the Red is the real big ones don't necessarily eat well, that is a good size, but certainly not a big old boy, plenty of meat and decent with a bit of luck!

[Harnser]

Well done Mikee . Your old mentor is pleased for you .

Harnser .

[Shotgunspud]

VERY VERY well done mate nice shooting.

[garygreengrass]

Nice stag mate well done

[mikee]

Harnser, thanks for the encouragement and many words of wisdom when i was waiting for my ticket and for letting me play with your .308 and it really is about the stalk not the kill, I aimed at him and took the gun down 3 times before i stopped shaking enough to be able to confidently hit him right

 

Deckers, he was the smallest of 11 beasts in the herd, the stalker thought he was probably about 3yrs old, there were 4 beasts that were vastly bigger with huge almost 4 foot wide antlers, my boy probably weighed about 160-180lbs clean, my mate sold one to the dealer last year 390lbs larder weight, he was only 1/2 clean and they dont rut around here til mid-late october so hopefully the meat will be gooood.

 

al4x and Highlander, there was no meat damage at all, as this was the first big deer ive shot in my own mind i'm not sure if .243 is really man enough, you guys that have shot more with the caliber may think i'm worried about nothing but when we gralloched him in the field there was a bit of mess in him, the bullet never touched bone on the way in but broke in 1/2 with 1 piece going through the heart and lungs and was stuck under the skin on the far side, the other 1/2 went up wards and backwards at about 45 degrees through the diaphram then the liver and was lodged under the skin right next to the spine on the entry side about 2/3 of the way along the body, although he died only a few steps from where he was stood im not convinced the bullet was meant to perform how it did, maybe it was a dodgy bullet or just that it happens now and again i dont know but for me the jury is still out until ive shot at least a couple more with it and I need to be confident in my gear to shoot more of them without worrying that they might run off wounded

 

mikee

[Harnser]

Mikee ,after all the years of shooting I still suffer buck fever .

Harnser .

[sleekitfox]

Well done sir

 

Always fancied a go at stalking deer, but never got round to it, i do have permission to shoot deer (roe) on a few of my permissions, as i do fox control at night, i see loads of them on my rounds, so i know there is plenty going around, i have a very good friend who i shoot with, who has is DSC 1 & 2, and has offered to take me along, but as i am a long lie in the morning chap its a no no.

 

When i take him with me on nights fox shooting, every time we see a roe, His cry is..."what is it a buck or Doe,whats its head like" if its a buck.

 

We spend more time looking at deer than doing what we are out to do shoot Foxes.

 

This must be deer fanatic thing, gets a bit annoying after a while, suppose i am the same with Foxes !!!

 

ONE DAY I WILL GET A CHANCE TO DO IT

[mikee]

if you like a lay in, go for a stalk before you go foxing in the evening, win win mate

 

mikee

[Mungler]

Nice job and nice to have piccies.