alexm Posted October 5, 2008 Report Share Posted October 5, 2008 (edited) The weather forecast wasn't looking great but I decided to take this last Friday afternoon off work to see if any bucks were about. The plan was to stalk an area of pasture alongside a wood. It is a bit of a wilderness with thickets of nettles, brambles and ferns which makes it quiet challenging to spot anything before it spots you and in fact myself and my comrade had been surprised by a buck here a few weeks ago when it burst out of a thicket about 20 yards in front of us, stopped for a split second and then took off barking like mad and alerting everything in the vicinity! This time we made a point to take it a bit slower, however we had only been going about 10 minutes before my companion was hissing in my ear "up to the left.... UP TO THE LEFT". I was a bit slow off the mark spotting it and by the time I did it was staring right at us, a good size roe buck, about 50 yards away slightly above us standing between two thickets with the slope rising up behind him to the wood. Because of the terrain it was sticks or nothing and, feeling utterly caught by surprise again, I was fumbling with my sticks like a muppet! Remarkably he decided not to bolt and, after what felt like an age to my buddy (as he confirmed later!) but only milliseconds to me, I got myself together and took a heart/lung shot. The reaction to the shot was immediate, he leapt forward, did a double take, then leapt back into the wood and straight out of view! The shot sounded good to me, but my buddy thought it sounded a bit hollow so of course this is when the anxiety starts kicking in and we made haste to the wood! After a search around without any luck I am starting to feel awful (it really is a horrible feeling) but finally managed to take stock of the situation and approach the problem methodically. I went back to where the bullet struck (lesson 1 - should have done this first!) and found a good amount of blood and the splatter pattern contained some hearty/lungy tissue and there was no sign of any green. This put my mind at rest straight away. The strike looks good so it shouldn't have got far! I eventually managed to find a blood trail and took a line off that which pointed directly to where we eventually found him, about 30 yards into the wood and stone dead. This is where the huge wave of relief hits, and what a great feeling that is!! The shot was pretty much spot on, and on gralloching confirmed the heart was hit square and completely obliterated (100gr .243). We put the reaction to the shot down to the fact that he had been watching us for the length of time he did (whilst I was still faffing with my sticks ) and preparing to bolt - amazing what the extra adrenalin can do! As you can see by the teeth, he has had a good innings! Almost worn down to the gum. That and the fact most of his summer coat was already gone suggests this old boy was knocking on a bit! And this is possibly the reason he chose not to bolt - advanced arthritis in the front leg. This must have been causing him misery, the joint itself was horrendously disfigured inside. Edited October 5, 2008 by alexm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trussman Posted October 5, 2008 Report Share Posted October 5, 2008 Good write up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
game_boy Posted October 5, 2008 Report Share Posted October 5, 2008 Great write up and pics, looks to be a really good one to take and reaffirms the need to take these cull bucks out. Happy eating Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hodge911 Posted October 5, 2008 Report Share Posted October 5, 2008 in my opinion here,s one in the eye for the "antis" surely it,s better to cull an animal like this than let it suffer as with a joint like that it obviously would have been in a lot of pain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gonna Shoot a Wabbit Posted October 5, 2008 Report Share Posted October 5, 2008 nice write and well done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexm Posted October 5, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2008 Thanks guys Now I've got the head cleaned up here's some better shots of the teeth wear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magman Posted October 5, 2008 Report Share Posted October 5, 2008 Brought back a few memories for me this post well done Thanks Jeff mate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewbieShotgunowner Posted October 5, 2008 Report Share Posted October 5, 2008 enjoyed that!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bullet boy Posted October 5, 2008 Report Share Posted October 5, 2008 Good shooting,Great pics,Good write-up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lord_seagrave Posted October 8, 2008 Report Share Posted October 8, 2008 Fascinating posts. Excellent write-up and good follow-up info too. Nice work Alexm. LS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holland&Holland Posted November 3, 2008 Report Share Posted November 3, 2008 Enjoyed reading that very much. And perfect cull buck, old and injured. Well done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Traztaz Posted November 3, 2008 Report Share Posted November 3, 2008 I shot a very similar buck this year and after much discussion with learned friends he was put into the 10 years plus bracket, well done a very worthy cull, once in a lifetime buck here, very unusuall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckytrigger Posted November 4, 2008 Report Share Posted November 4, 2008 excellent post thanks for sharing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oly Posted November 4, 2008 Report Share Posted November 4, 2008 Great write up and excellent shot placement too! Out of interest, what type of round were you using - ballistic tip/partition type etc? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexm Posted November 4, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 4, 2008 (edited) Thanks guys Oly, it was a .243 100gr Federal Powershok (soft point) Edited November 4, 2008 by alexm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve_b_wales Posted November 4, 2008 Report Share Posted November 4, 2008 Well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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