Dorset Day

[Yokel Matt 918]

The phone rang, it was the landowner of my patch in Dorset saying the freezer was empty and there were a lot of deer about. This statement was followed by a pregnant pause which I was quick to fill with a date in the diary! Having neglected this place for a few months and still conscious of my promise to Foxdropper to put him on a stag we found ourselves before dawn at the venue last weekend. We were early and hungry as the MacDonalds we normally stopped at was closed for a refurb - The injustice of it all! As our stomachs protested we went over the game plan and as first light came kitted up and went to our staging area where we could have a good long glass as the light got stronger.

 

Tim was first to spot something, a large black object moving purposefully around 400m away towards a copse on the boundary of the permission. He looked to be a nice stag but didn't hang around and was shortly over the fence and in the wood. Like a ferret up a trouser leg we were off to wait up in a thick hedge closer to the copse ready for him should he reappear. No sooner had we got there then 5 more sika appeared, 4 hinds and a small stag. They were leading him all over the place and he followed obediently, several times they made their was towards us only to turn back when one of the hinds changed her mind... as females do. Eventually he seemed to get bored with it and followed the same route as the earlier stag into the copse which was within range but no opportunity presented. After discussing safe fields of fire we decided that I would circle round the copse and hopefully bump them towards Tim. The approach route for me was pretty open with several sheep fences to get over so I harboured no aspirations greater than a roe and that's if I was lucky. That was beside the point though as the priority was to get Tim his stag. I took it slow so not to properly spook them but only succeeded in bumping a roe doe from the copse which went the wrong way. Making my way back to the rendezvous two fences later I looked over my shoulder to see a hind to the right of the small spinney I just passed and paid little attention to earlier. It was apparently an old bomb blast spinney and lay in the middle of the field. She had a calf at couched at her heel and was staring straight at me. She was a good 250 away so I crept my way towards her in plane sight getting over two sheep fences in the process and got down on the bipod - amazed that she was still there and convinced that the sika population was better off without her in the gene pool. At the shot all hell broke loose and the field was alive with sika - at least 10 other animals erupted from the spinney. She had taken the 6.5 in the chest at around 150m and settled herself down at around 180. Many of the other deer had stopped to assess the situation and were within easy range but my hind looked to be labouring with a lung shot at this point still looked lucid so I left them be and concentrated on her. Around 10 mins later her hear went down and, with her calf still by her side I wasted no time in giving her some of the same. Following her short run through the scope I heard two shots in quick succession with corresponding meaty thumps from Tims position. The yet another sika hind appeared to my left, jumped the fence and stood looking at my second hind which was down and kicking her last. A small movement brought the rifle towards her, pin on the heart/lung and the fifth shot in 15 minutes rang out. Seeing the result through the scope she must have lost a pint there and then but it didn't stop her running a good 50m with it hosing out of both sides.

 

Taking stock at 8:30 after the gralloch we hade made a fair start to the morning.

 

 

Safely stowed away from any flies we went to investigate the rest of the 700 acres. We saw another 1/2 doz sika and a couple of roe but they were all pretty mobile and we didn't want to clear the ground in pursuit. We also bumped a huge stag which was couched no more that 10 meters away from us while we discussed the forthcoming afternoons plan near the brush and bramble area behind a stables. He would certainly be worth looking at later so we drove the rest boundary on recon whilst pretending to be the shepherd.

 

After a good lunch and the customary socialising with the owners we set about getting in position for a evening wait up. We had just kitted up when a cyclist saw us, put 2 and 2 together and came over to say he'd seen a decent stag 'just down there' pointing approximately to where we'd seen the big fella earlier. Being the stand up gent I am I gave Tim his peg of choice where the cyclist had motioned choosing myself to go where I'd been that morning, out of the way and with an enormous pile of gralloch in the vicinity to the foxing later that evening.

 

I took it slow - I'd had a great day, the evening looked to be a glorious, still and unseasonably warm. I was happy to sit up and take it all in when my daydream was broken by a crash and two sika-like shapes dappling through the other side of the hedge towards the boundary. I scurried to a hole in the hedge and dropped to one knee, a hind was in full flight with her bright white arse flared out and soon disappeared from my view point. Through the hedge I could see the other shape had stopped so I quickly wound the sling under my elbow and steadied my kneeling stance encase it should amble into my firing line. It did... fook me, a nice stag - not a big a head as the one we'd both seen earlier but still a nice 6 on a large frame. It only took a second to process the information. 1) This wasn't the large stag seen earlier near Tims current position 2) The were soon to be over the boundary 3) I'm still working on this one..... 4) Bang.

 

Still yet to see a chest shot sika drop and not move this chap was no exception despite the connection sounding like a cricket bat whacking a wet rug - he staggered around 50 yards before kneeling and rolling over. He was a fair lump and went on the hook at 125lb - my largest sika by far and a nice clean animal.

 

 

 

Needless to say I felt like a right shit for the rest of the day but Tim was pretty understanding about the whole thing - next time for sure mate!

 

Now for the night shift - it was nice and dark after coffee and Victoria sponge cake with the owner and the fox population was due for a pasting. Despite the long day Tim was well up for it despite all the hills we had ahead of us - I had a 12ampHr lithium battery and Tim had a 10ampHr, both fully charged and I knew I was in for a late one when he said under no circumstances were we to check the time! After mine when completely flat we switched to Tims and eventually stopped when we could hardly put one foot infront of the other despite his battery having 2 red dots to go. Right result though - 14 seen, 7 shots, 7 dead - good shooting mate.

 

Edited November 13, 2014 by Yokel Matt

[The one 8,395]

Great read and pictures mate that's how to spend a day

[sussex 5,776]

Enjoyed that Matt , some day it nearly all comes to plan , those sika do take a shot , they are the toughest of deer ...well done to you both ..

[Snifferboy 659]

Great read buddy, thanks for sharing...

[socks 32,253]

A fantastic day with a very good bag ........

[J Darcy 5,871]

That is a superb stag. Very very nice.

[Yokel Matt 918]

Thanks gents - as nice a stag as he is I'd rather he'd fallen to Tim. It's embarrassing when Lady Luck smiles on the host not the guest!

[Yokel Matt 918]

I've not forgotten mate - the politics of this permission makes Westminster look like a sweet shop. Work in progress....

[seprim 32]

that was a great day ! thanks for posting

Andrew

[mole trapper 1,646]

Bloomin heck! What a day! What a write up!

I WILL get my first sika in January! "Well hopefully"

[terryd 8,028]

wow what a day and all that meat

[foxdropper 17,092]

Thanks again mate and thanks for letting me join in on the gralloch lol.The lamping made up for any injustice deer wise with a new personal best

[hutchey 147]

Great read that, cheers for sharing

[bumpy22 414]

that's some day to remember well done

[martin 332]

Well done to both of you,and thanks for filling the larder Matt.

 

Martin