More Oxford stalking

[Squirrel_Basher 17,102]

Invited myself up to a good mate of mines for the weekend and had a days hunting combined with a mornings stalk.

As per usual ,the sport was exceptional.Saturday was an action packed day of trail hunting with some superb hound work and terrierwork to make the day memerable .Sunday we were up and out early to a place where my mate has the enviable job of controlling the numbers of chinese water deer .The weather overnight had chilled somewhat and a fine layer of snow covered the ground ,combined with a very keen north wind .The cwd is a species i have never even seen let alone shot .

I had in my minds eye ,a picture of the type of land that i thought they would favour ,considering the name and i wasnt far wrong either .A flat landscape criss-crossed with dykes and grass flood plains either side .The hedges were wild and an old railway cut through the heart of it ,raised above the otherwise flat backdrop .Driving, cold rain started about now

We set off stalking down the first hedge away from the farm with my mate leading the way. Saw several small deer run from us as we got through a hedge and i knew i had seen my first .Got to an old barn and we spotted a lone deer a long way off ,over two dykes and up against a hedge .We got to the first dykes edge and i ranged it .It was still a long way out at 322 metres on the range finder .The deer started moving towards a patch of cover so it was decided that i should take the shot from here .Now some of you will be surprised at the range i chose to shoot at but im growing more and more confident in my set up and knew it was possible .I got down on the bipod and inched through the grass to get a propper sight picture .I have adjusted the trigger to a fraction of touch so no pull will affect the shot .

Put the cross hairs on the deers back above the kill zone ,squeezed it off and watched the deer crumble and saw the spent bullet hit a puddle behind the deer to send a shower skyward .

Well to shoot one of these was enough but do it in style was the dogs bollocks

Made our way to it and found it was a small doe and what a strange looking little thing too .The face of a kids teddy bear with a light ,creamy coat and rounded stomach .Hand shakes and excited talking from me as i studied it

Gralloched it and found all the internal organs to be very small even for the small body size .

Onwards towards the old railway track ,leaving the beast for collection with the quad .Over the track and my mate froze ,motioned me to his side and pointed to a hedge about a 100 yds away .I could see what he meant and got down for the shot .It was another cwd but lead down in the dyke with only the head and a bit of shoulder sticking above the grass .I had a quick check for tusks but none visable so shot it in the head .Ranged that at 106 so i wasnt far wrong .

Walked to it and could see it was a bigger beast ,a buck but one that was going back as both tusks were decayed and snapped off .

What a morning it had been .The wind nearly cut us in half ,the rain stung our faces but i never felt none of it as we dragged this one to a collection point .God im a lucky man .

Many thanks to mr BW and to the land owners that make our way of life possible

[Squirrel_Basher 17,102]

Double posted .Sorry mods .