First doe of the season

[Psyxologos]

It has been a few weeks since my last visit to my syndicate's ground in Scotland, and finally last week I made arrangements so I could do so today. I arrived at 07.30. It was a very cold (-3) morning, but the beautiful winter scenery made up for it. Sunny as it was, it was a good day to fully explore the capabilities of my new Zeiss Rangefiner binoculars. So I was using them more often than usual (a good thing, of course) during my progress through the ground. I might have gotten a bit carried away with my new toy, as I caught myself shifting my attention to my new toy maybe a bit more than I should. Once I got back on track (pun intended) I got on with my stalk. And a good thing it was, as I spotted a single doe feeding some 400 yards away from me, into a sun drenched ravine. Immediately I stopped and assessed the situation. I could see the white patch on her posterior, as she was feeding facing away from me. With the wind on my face, I knew I had the advantage. Slowly I made my way closer to her, and at around 85 metres I decided I would set up my sticks and wait for her to present her side for a shot. With a soft incline on the ravine behind her, I knew I had a safe shot, so all I needed was for her to turn. She did so after 3-4 minutes (I had already been stalking her for maybe 10 minutes) and 150 grain from my .308 connected with her heart. A perfect shot saw her drop on her shadow. To say that I was pleased with myself is a gross understatement. It was very satisfying to see the beast drop dead instantly, knowing that no suffering at all took place, and that my morning was a success. It was 10.20 when I shot her, which meant I could be on my way home sooner that I had expected (which is a good thing as I was not 100% over a persistent chesty cough which affected my breathing and my mood). I set to carry out the gralloch, which turned out to be a lengthier affair than I had hoped or wanted, but this being the first gralloch I performed completely on my own without anyone offering advice and/or help I needed to make sure I took my time and did everything (disease inspection and actual gralloch) correctly and safely. My new bone saw helped a lot, as I opted for a full gralloch since there was a lot of blood in the chest cavity (there was no heart left, it had all exploded which reassured me on the effectiveness of my bullet choice). As I have no larder facilities at home, I hang the carcass for 4 hours on a sheltered corner in my back yard, and proceeded to skin and butcher the carcass this evening. The meat is currently in my fridge (I tend to keep it there for a week after processing on the day of the kill) and will go in my freezer sometime next week.

Picture attached