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your thoughts on the word "Stalking"


Ackley
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we see many posts when people jump up and down and say "thats not stalking"

so what really is stalking,we can all quote what it says in a dictonary,but what does it actually mean to you,

do you class yourself as a hunter or a stalker ???

stalking to me means following an animal so not to make it aware of your precence then to be able to take a safe and humane shot or leave it alone and let it walk away.

high seat "stalking" isnt stalking at all its an "ambush" sitting in wait untill your quarry shows itself,we see many adverts for stalking which is really sitting up a tree in a chair.

now I think "hunting" is the word that should be used as it covers all aspects of what we do

so over to the masses for another adult dabate

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To me, Stalking is an old fasioned word used by victorian landowners and thier Ghillies in years gone by. I think it sounds very poncey, very dated and unfortunately has the power to bring about prejudice and arrogance out in those who use it as a title...

 

Stalking = hunting. Hunting covers so much it would take too long to list but hunting is very much personal preference.. some may like to track thier prey for hours on their bellies, others may prefer to sit in a high seat or blind all day and wait for the prey to come to them, others take pleasure in finding the buggars in the firat place and helping them along into the freezer as long as it isn't a statistically difficult or unsafe shot...

 

We all like different things, doesn't make us better or worse than anyone else, it is all personal preference and requires slightly different skillsets. As I have said previously (and I'm still waiting for an answer) most seem to find it ethical and ok to take long shots at foxes, rabbits etc... would it be ok to gut shot a fox as long as it's dead? if so, why isn't it ok with a deer? ahhh... carcass contamination... but hang on... that's not thinking about the beast... that's thinking about yourself as you don't want to ingest anything that could make you ill!

 

Sorry, rambling and off topic but I think you will get where I am coming from.....

 

What really gets me is the whole 'holier than thou' attitude the stalking brigade tend to bring along with them!

Edited by Vipa
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I would class myself as a stalker, I have to crawl perhpas for 100 yds and perhaps for a good half an hour or so to get in range of the rabbits on my permission.

I think alot of people just think of stalking as a deer thing, but I guess I must be stalking rabbits, perhpas not as prestigous but still stalking in my opinion.

Cheers Schmoo.

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While I agree shooting from a highseat isnt true stalking, but then would you call shooting pigeons from a hide sporting?

its the same thing, a means to get near enough to get a killing shot.

were not talking about pigeons,but nice to hear you do amush your aniamls from a high seat

Edited by Ackley
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we see many posts when people jump up and down and say "thats not stalking"

so what really is stalking,we can all quote what it says in a dictonary,but what does it actually mean to you,

do you class yourself as a hunter or a stalker ???

stalking to me means following an animal so not to make it aware of your precence then to be able to take a safe and humane shot or leave it alone and let it walk away.

high seat "stalking" isnt stalking at all its an "ambush" sitting in wait untill your quarry shows itself,we see many adverts for stalking which is really sitting up a tree in a chair.

now I think "hunting" is the word that should be used as it covers all aspects of what we do

so over to the masses for another adult dabate

 

 

Pretty much.

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In a nut shell ,stalking means field craft . The ability to get close to your prey without it seeing you so that you can take a safe and humane shot to make a clean kill .

 

Harnser .

 

 

As above...

 

although in one place I shoot it is open grass fields, and it's not so much stalking up to the Deer - it's more a case of stalking into a position without the deer seeing you - as the deer seem to congragate in a bottom field which is the boundry of my piece of land on 3 out of 4 sides, there is a public footpath beyond this so it is a case of getting in position, waiting for one of them to work it's way up the field and walk through a gap in the dry stone wall (which enevitably they always do) in the last year or two i have had this exact scenario happen about 18 times!

 

The stalking part is the fact the shooting position is from a field that is higher up and can be seen from the bottom field, and you also have to creep into the position with the fact a Deer may also be in the higher field.

 

I absolutely love the challenge of open ground stalking and have belly crawled hundreds of yards across these fields in a 8" of grass to get shots, I have also crawled 100 odd yards on one occasion and pushed my binos onto my back to make the crawling easier, i got to just about where i needed to fire from and the bino's fell round and "chimed" the scope cover like a bell...and every beast in the field legged it... :lol: I just sat up and chuckled to myself as you win some and lose some!

 

Regards,

 

Gixer

Edited by gixer1
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Well I live in an area with three Staghound packs who go deer hunting - which I dont, so I remain a ponse and go deer stalking. Perhaps as we follow the Yanks in all becoming obese we should start pheasant hunting and pigeon/rabbit hunting and write the date backwards .......... or perhaps remain British - and proud to be different.

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Well I live in an area with three Staghound packs who go deer hunting - which I dont, so I remain a ponse and go deer stalking. Perhaps as we follow the Yanks in all becoming obese we should start pheasant hunting and pigeon/rabbit hunting and write the date backwards .......... or perhaps remain British - and proud to be different.

 

:stupid:

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Stalking don't apply to anyone who doesn't close in on thier quarry on foot. When i did my level two high seat kills were not allowed i was informed as you couldn't have planned or executed a stalk, they only counted as evidence of the shot, graloch and inspection. Anyone who gets placed in a high seat by another and told to wait here and shoot x,y,z aint even hunting they are shooting or killing, to hunt means to search out. The word "culling" is also abused- culling is not applicable on todays style of pay for the day deer shooting. Just my opinion and i do think todays "stalking" is going to hell in a handcart" the motivating factor being cash.

"Stalking" of course is a word of two meanings one of which has very negative conotations

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I agree that "stalking", in my mind at least, means to creep up on and outsmart an animal with fieldcraft. A lot of the time I don't stalk Deer, rather ambush or bump them and know where they will run to. I still call that going out stalking but really it's not, it's using my very advanced human brain to get one over on the Deer which is far less sporting. It gets the job done.

 

I do enjoy a good stalk. I think spotting a Deer several hundred yards off and getting in so close that you could slap it on the *** is the best feeling you can get from the field. Strangely though I find it much harder to shoot an animal once I've stalked in on it and often let them go. I think it's because if I have the time to risk a real stalk I don't really need to shoot the Deer! If I need to shoot the Deer I will bump it to where I want it to go (generally towards the truck to save carrying it) and shoot it there.

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The concept of Stalking is perpetuated by money making bodies who convince people that qualifications are the solution to all capabilities.

 

That and the clothing manufacturers that want people dressed up as Rupert bear.

 

Stalking is whatever you want it to be. Some may want to play sniper and creep up unseen, some may want to move into position quietly (even to a hide) and take longer shots and some may want to do it on an opportunist basis off their 4x4 bonnet.

 

Does it actually matter? We each do what we do and is it any more WRONG just because some snotty nosed upper class wannabe says it's "Bad Form" or "Inhumane" or any other so called justifiable reason to bash the other side.

 

Me? I shoot for the freezer, don't shoot many at all and do it when I need it and when the opportunity presents itself. Shock horror, that may require a shot that's over 10 feet.

 

Oh. And then there's the stalking I do with Lorraine but that's a whoooole new topic. :P

Edited by DaveK
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The concept of Stalking is perpetuated by money making bodies who convince people that qualifications are the solution to all capabilities.

 

That and the clothing manufacturers that want people dressed up as Rupert bear.

 

Stalking is whatever you want it to be. Some may want to play sniper and creep up unseen, some may want to move into position quietly (even to a hide) and take longer shots and some may want to do it on an opportunist basis off their 4x4 bonnet.

 

Does it actually matter? We each do what we do and is it any more WRONG just because some snotty nosed upper class wannabe says it's "Bad Form" or "Inhumane" or any other so called justifiable reason to bash the other side.

 

Me? I shoot for the freezer, don't shoot many at all and do it when I need it and when the opportunity presents itself. Shock horror, that may require a shot that's over 10 feet.

 

Oh. And then there's the stalking I do with Lorraine but that's a whoooole new topic. :P

 

:stupid::stupid::stupid::stupid::stupid::stupid::stupid::stupid::stupid::stupid::stupid::stupid::stupid::stupid::stupid::stupid::stupid::stupid:

 

Apart from the Lorraine thing...... I think! :unsure:

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You mean like what you are doing ...lol Stalking is stalking whether you turn up with a £3000 or £300 rifle, range rover or suzuki - cant see the class side of it

 

Who said I was perfect? :lol::rolleyes: £300 for a rifle? Jeez that's a lot.

 

I don't go for the class argument either and was referring to the died in the wool orthodox "this is how it's GOT to be done" stalkers (historically an upper class pastime that's been opened up to the rest of us oiks, some of whom adopt delusions of adequacy). Bit like it's bad form to go game shooting with a semi auto.

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The concept of Stalking is perpetuated by money making bodies who convince people that qualifications are the solution to all capabilities.

 

That and the clothing manufacturers that want people dressed up as Rupert bear.

 

Stalking is whatever you want it to be. Some may want to play sniper and creep up unseen, some may want to move into position quietly (even to a hide) and take longer shots and some may want to do it on an opportunist basis off their 4x4 bonnet.

 

Does it actually matter? We each do what we do and is it any more WRONG just because some snotty nosed upper class wannabe says it's "Bad Form" or "Inhumane" or any other so called justifiable reason to bash the other side.

 

Me? I shoot for the freezer, don't shoot many at all and do it when I need it and when the opportunity presents itself. Shock horror, that may require a shot that's over 10 feet.

 

 

 

 

Oh. And then there's the stalking I do with Lorraine but that's a whoooole new topic. :P

Think that sort of sums up how I see it, though not sure about taking a shot over 10yds, if your as good as me you'll find you usually don't waste ammo and just use the knife. :yp:

Edited by Redgum
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