could not sleep, so went out into the dark with the big gun !!

[rob reynolds uk 3]

wakes up at 5.00 am and i feel wide awake looks out the window still dark ,time to go deer staking i says to my self , i think i will go up to this farm i aint been on for some time as crocket had booked the hide where the fallow rome .now this farm holds red deer .any way i gets there its still darkish i sets up the rifle 25-06,and starts to glass the area ,i see what looks like a cow in the top field some way out 200 yrds away from the wood chopin on the rolled grass keeps on glassing the fields and i keep on looking at this now brown cow ? straining my eyes to see if its a deer ,with the light coming up fast i now see its a big deer out at a ranged in 450 mtrs but what is it stag or doe ,no antlers on its head that i can see iv got to be sure what it is before i take the shot as them does are out of season ,lights starting to show this deer better by the second .im now looking to see if it has a dick very hard thing to see at 450 mtrs cant see no dick it turns looks my way ,i thought it had seen me but it had not and carrys on eatting the farmers best rolled grass .thinking about it now which farmer puts cattle on his rolled grass :laughbounce2: you live and learn .as it looks my way i see two black lumps between its ears ..its a stag ,so i range it in again now at 416 mtrs so i diel in 6.75moa on the nightforce none for wind as there was no wind and waits for the side on shot ,it turned side on after walking a few more steps my way .i lets the 100grn bullet go hitting its mark it takes a few steps and falls, does a few leg kicks and thats was it all over in seconds ,i kept a eye on it looking down the scope ...that was the easy bit done now to pick it up ,after doing the knive work which took a good 20 mins no rush ,the hard part was getting it in the back of the truck as theres no way i could pick this beast up by my self got to weigh about 250lbs easy ,so i phoned the farmer to help me out with the loading it in the back of my truck ,got him out of bed lol it was saturday morning ..he turns up in the front loader ..i did all the work with that little red knive as i forgot to take my other knives axe ect with me had to leave the chest bone intact this time, i then phone crocket to tell him the good news and to see how he was getting on at the hide on the other land !! this guy with a sleepish slur talks back to me as he picks up the phone ..hes still in bed and never went ..oh well if it was not for him i would of not got this big red stag :whistling2:

id say the deer was about 400mtrs away when i shot him, long way off i know but im out neally every day shooting crows and pigeons at long ranges my last rabbit shot was 331 mtrs my last pigeon was 280mtrs away and theses are no were near the size of a big red stag i must of watched this stag for over 15 mins or more before i took the shoot got to be safe and sure what your shooting ..

[john robbo 30]

Obviously an excellent stalk then

Was there no way to get any closer???

The sport is in the stalk yours was a good shot but was there any need??

Did you have to reach a cull quota??

You post bad practice and expect a pat on the back it says nothing to people but IDIOT.

I have shot fox and rabbit at silly ranges but a bad shot is a kill on quarry like that.

All im saying is if you do it keep quiet theres no skill other than shooting in sniping a deer at 400m's it would have been a great shot weather it was a fag packet, tennis ball or rabbit. But deer need more respect.

If your shot had not been good what would you have done then at 400m's had the deer run off with a leg swinging.

[black lab 3]

I myself would have stalked in alot closer Rob, as John say's one slip at that range and you have a wounded Deer, all my Deer Stalking if i cannot get any closer than 150 yards i leave for another day.

Your's Wullie.

[Hoolit 2]

I have to agree with Robbo on this one 400mtrs thats a long shot.

I thought it would have been a lot more enjoyable and safer to stalk in a bit closer.

As robbo said the stalk is the enjoyable part , i think the well placed shot the icing on the cake.

I had a stalk the other day on a couple of roe great country great weather brilliant stalk but no shot at the end ,still enjoyed it.

Happy hunting.

[Rabbithunter 456]

bloody hell, your a bunch of moaners you stalkers

 

maybe the fella's freezer was running a bit low and needed a top up

[john robbo 30]

 

 

maybe the fella's freezer was running a bit low and needed a top up

 

 

maybe it is a moan but we have "BEST PRACTICE" and this screams "BAD PRACTICE".

its not clever and he could have filled his freezer anyway.

all the time he spent waching he could have spent stalking.

Our sport is called "deer STALKING" the sports in the name.

[wireviz 8]

Pinch of salt mate i feel that some people add on two hundred mtr,s for the posturing Good shot try 500 next time.

[flytie 1]

I cannot but agree with John It's bad practise

 

It may be a great shot, if you like that sort of thing, but what about a follow up shot if it had been needed? Would it have been less or more easy if you had stalked this beast properly? Yes you didn't need a follow up this time, but you can't guarantee you won't next time.

 

Now if some folks want to shoot deer at 1000yds + with .338 Lapua Mags or .50 cal, use anemometers, range finders, have spotters and use their bullet drop charts while shooting deer, fine, fair play. But don't call it stalking, please don't, because it isn't.

 

ft

Edited April 15, 2010 by flytie

[bagforthebadgers 0]

Same here, must agree with John on this one.

 

And, it might just be me, but I'm pretty damn sure its lighter than that at 5-6am easily............. not trying to get at anything else there but, up here it's light by then.

 

BFTB

[Rabbithunter 456]

 

And, it might just be me, but I'm pretty damn sure its lighter than that at 5-6am easily............. not trying to get at anything else there but, up here it's light by then.

 

BFTB

 

 

Maybe the original poster is in the western part of England. Where it gets lighter, later.

[bagforthebadgers 0]

Maybe the original poster is in the western part of England. Where it gets lighter, later.

 

Could be, thats why I said it might be me.....

[cassshantia 16]

looks like the camera has used its flash there and looks too dark around that vehicle

tut tut

[john robbo 30]

when a flash works it always makes the periphial look darker

I have many photos taken in reasonable light which because of the flash it looks dark.

This topic seems to be turning into a which hunt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can see how many people regard long shots on deer as cowboy behaviour.

Either don't do it (thats best)

or dont brag about it.

regards john.

[Born Hunter 17,637]

Good shooting, only you know how good a shot you are so non of us can criticise you. Plenty of people who are calling you for 'bad practise' would shoot a fox a 300+ if they felt confident so why not a deer? But thats alright because foxes are 'vermin'...

 

Im sure it makes f**k all difference to the beast what range you kill him at as long as you are confindent in your ability. Regardless of the distance, you killed it humanely after a good bit of thought so well done.

[john robbo 30]

B.H. it really hasn't anything to do with good shooting its when things go wrong and they will eventually.

Wounded deer are tenacious and can really cover ground the chance of a follow up shot is minimal at those distances and the chance of a wounded animal increases greatly.

Yes I agree people including me regard foxes with less respect (but that aside) they weigh under 20lb and do not carry shot(bullets) as well as a deer weighing 40lb + (reds 100lb+)

The point made earlier is this forum is called deer STALKING and MANAGMENT and that deer was not shot under either guise.

It was sniped and this is fine but its not "stalked"

and most here dont want to hear about it anymore then deer been chansed by dogs.

Again no offence ment "MUMS" the word.

Edited April 16, 2010 by john robbo