243deer Posted December 26, 2022 Report Share Posted December 26, 2022 7am, 2°C, bright and clear and a steady SW wind - no ground frost and absolutely no excuse not to get out there and keep up with the muntjac cull The great thing about stalking, a bit like trout fishing, is that you do not need a lot of kit so getting ready only takes as long as getting the gun and ammo out of the cabinet. Arrived at my perm at around 8am and after allowing everything to settle down for 10 minutes set off working upwind. The ground is lovely and soft at the moment as are the leaves so even walking through semi-woodland can be achieved quietly. I went into extreme relaxed mode where I completely chill out, enjoy my surroundings, move very quietly and slowly and assume there is a deer behind every knoll or tree. 15 minutes and around 150 yards later I spot a munty doe around 250 yards upwind working her way down. She is pausing to nibble here and there and the computed angle of intercept will just give time to get across to about 60 yards. As long as I do not spook her, of course. Using trees as sight cover when I could all went to plan until right at the end when she sensed something (me obviously) and took a few quicker paces moving through the first place with a good backstop where I had intended to shoot and out of sight behind a couple of trees close to me . A quick scan ahead showed another good knoll but she would be in the open somewhat - a place munties do not like much and the stalk was now in the balance as it was a question of whether she would stop. A quick and smooth swing round with the quad sticks and I decided to just try a click with my tongue and fortunately she did stop, perfectly side on, looking at me. After gralloching her I decided to carry on stalking for a bit just to see what was around. For those of you that like to know what the pigeons are doing at 9.50 this morning around 400 landed around me in the wood, empty crops and they looked either young or thin to me. The fields that the pigeon and rooks have been feeding on locally have young sugar beet in them. Nothing else seen apart from a pair of squirrels that I will deal with later. It was just good to be out today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walker570 Posted December 26, 2022 Report Share Posted December 26, 2022 Yes it was a super morning but not for six tree rats. A great write up, I felt I was there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WalkedUp Posted December 27, 2022 Report Share Posted December 27, 2022 Nice to read 👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandalf Posted January 1, 2023 Report Share Posted January 1, 2023 Man after my own heart. Nice write up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scully Posted January 1, 2023 Report Share Posted January 1, 2023 Sounds grand. I have given up my CF which I used for Foxes and Roe, but looking back now some of my most memorable stalks were when I actually didn’t shoot anything, strangely enough. The one which sticks in my mind the most involved my little Border terrier; it’s in a diary somewhere, but that’s for another day. There's nothing quite like being up and about at first light when it feels like you’ve got the world to yourself. Good write up. 👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morkin Posted January 1, 2023 Report Share Posted January 1, 2023 Great write up mate , like said you felt as if I was there with ya 👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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