Stalking this afternoon with Foxdropper...................

[martin 332]

I had a phone call last night from a very good friend of mine(foxdropper),he asked if I was doing anything today(Friday)I obviously said no where are we going.So we decided on going to a 400-500 acre farm I have which is about 20 miles away,it is the same farm that I had lamped 7 foxes the other night,but,I was hopeful of having a better day on the deer as I cam eaway with nothing on the lamping trip.In the morning I had an oil boiler man round for a service,I've used him for quite a few years now,and,as we were chatting he mentioned a friend of his had a farm with a rabbit problem,and,wait for it.............a lot of deer on there,he had seen 12 Roe the other day.He is going to have a word with his friend for me,so,fingers crossed.Anyway,I am getting sidetracked,so,back to the topic at hand.......Foxdropper turned up and we set off at about 1315hrs,and,we went first of all to a very large field(70 acres)pretty close to me,and,when we drove into the field there was a tractor working on the huge dung heaps,so,I had a quick chat,and I came away with some extra ferreting land,this was already turning out to be a good day.We drove round the field and straight back out as there was nothing around,foxdropper said that it might be a little bit late to set off for our original destination,so I said well we will go to another farm I have that often has a deer or two on it.We were part way there when my mate asked if the farmer had mentioned his other farm yet,and,as he had given me the all clear to go up there we again changed our destination.I had never been on this farm,so I was uncertain of exactly what was waiting for us,we pulled into the farmyard,and,I spoke with the farmers sister who gave me the lowdown on the land perimeters,and,we set off.The farm is basically at the head of a large valley some of which I have other permission on,but,the difference being that this land had some wodland running along above it.There was a heavy freezing fog about,and,it was falling fairly fast,and,just to carry on the lucky side of the day,as we entered the second field foxdropper fell to his knees,as he had spotted a doe under a large oak tree at the other end of the field,so,I got out my new(to me anyway)rangefinder and pinged it at 160+ yrds,I couldn't get a decent shot from where I was laid,so,I decided to stalk on a bit till I could get an unhindered shot.I went along the fenceline on my belly untill I got a good view of the Doe,and,I settled down to take the shot.As I was relaxing and settling my breathing another Doe that had been almost right next to the other moved and showed her white arse......."there's two I motioned to foxdropper with sign language" and he put a thumb up,and carried on watching the proceedings through his binoculars.I had to wait a minute or two for my target to turn for a 'boiler-room' shot,and there it was,she moved just enough,and,I took up the pressure on the trigger and sent a 100grn .243 round to a thwap right where it should go,and,she crumpled never to move again....not even a twitch,and,the other Doe had ran off to our right.I recycled the bolt,and laid there waiting thinking how well it had gone,when from the corner of the field to my right bounded out a big Buck along with the other Doe,they were unsure of what had just happened,and,just stood in the field.The Buck was giving me a perfect side on shot(as they do when they aren't in season),but,the Doe was a bit dkew,and,I didn't think I was going to get a shot,but,as I said earlier this was my 'LUCKY DAY' and,the Doe turned and faced in the opposite direction giving me a perfect chance of a neck shot.Well,I didn't need a to be told twice,and,I dropped her like a stone,absolutely smashing the vertebrae completely.It jumped up with all legs stiff and tight against the underside of it's belly,and,fell over onto it's side giving a couple of small twitches of the rear legs.I again recycled the bolt,and,waited for a minute,and then foxdropper was there shaking my hand and congratulating me.I was absolutely buzzing now,it's strange how you can make yourself totally calm to take a shot,and then afterwards you get the adrenilin hit like a hammer in the chest......there is nothing quite like it.....God I love this sport.Before we went over to the two dropped beasts,I pinged them both,and,the 'Boiler-room' shot was 156yds,and,the 'Neck' shot was 105yds.It was my first right and left,and,it was my first neck shot,and,it was my longest shot so far.I will go on to say though,I have taken foxes at well over this distance with confidence,and,I was totally focused and confident that I would do exactly what was expected of me,and,I wasn't phased at all.We did go on across the farmland after we had gralloched them both,and,in the very next field(believe it or not)there was another Roe(unjcertain of sex)that disappeared through a hedgeline,and,as Roe have a habit of doing it truly did disappear.We then decided to go on to another of my farms which was just about 1 1/2 miles down the lane.I do see a fair few Roe on this farm,and,knew that there are two Does one with twins at foot,and,the other with a single young one,so,hopefully we would come across them,but,the freezing fog was now following us down the valley,and,getting thicker and thicker.We walked the whole farm,and,as we got to the last field we spotted two Roe(probably one Buck,and a smaller Doe,but they were off my permission,and,they were laid down in the open by a barbed wire fenceline.I think they knew we couldn't do anything to them as they just stayed there,mind you they were 350yds away,so fairly safe anyway.The light was begining to leave us slowly,so we set off back home,two stalkers with BIG grins......Oh,I did forgte to say that my mate had already had a Doe and a fox in the morning,so it was a good day all round.I would really like to thank foxdropper for coming over today to take me out,as I am still not allowed to drive,and,I just wouldn't of been able to get out after a Doe at all if it wasn't for him......THANKS BUDDY!

And,finally here are a couple of pics....................

[biffo 0]

now thats what i call a write up lol

 

nice!

[Guest remmy]

welldone there martin good to see you out again mate, cracking write up, i was with you all the way, nice bit of meat for the freezer you pair of murdering twats rgds remmy. Edited January 10, 2009 by remmy

[J Darcy 5,871]

superb...

[brno17 5]

well done martin good to see you back among them.

[weejohn 3]

fantastic martin, really is no stopping you now

[SNAP SHOT 194]

you more than made up for a blank nights foxing there mate.....good on you

[martin 332]

welldone there martin good to see you out again mate, cracking write up, i was with you all the way, nice bit of meat for the freezer you pair of murdering twats rgds remmy.

 

Twats .....well maybe,but,murderers.........not as often as I would like :11:

 

superb...

 

Now that is what I call praise Mr Darcy,thank you very much..... :notworthy: :notworthy:

[Deker 3,491]

Martin

 

The words have all been said but that grin on your face says a lot more

[Squirrel_Basher 17,102]

Pleasure mate .So glad you never shot that buck as its very easy in the heat of the moment with deer flying always .Speak soon mate .

[FOXHUNTER 5,021]

Nice going Martin , I bet it feels great to be out again pulling the trigger !!

[martin 332]

You can say that again FH I am very lucky that friends have been round to take me out,but,I am hoping to hear from the DVLA soon so I can take a 'Field of vision' test and hopefully get back in the truck...........cheers....Martin.

[Sako.243 1]

Nice one mate, Well done.

[Squirrel_Basher 17,102]

Nice one mate, Well done.

Like the avatar mate

[Sako.243 1]

Nice one mate, Well done.

Like the avatar mate

 

Cheers!