Deer Shooting Donegal

Magnusd

Hello to any deer hunters in Donegal-

How would you go about getting started shooting deer in Donegal ?

Forestry land or asking farmers ?

Are there deer in South Donegal?

Deer Hunter DL

farmers would be your best bet , when you say south donegal where are you talking about around donegal town area ballyshannon bundoran ????

Magnusd

Yes Ballyshannon / bundoran area.
Where would be the nearest spot to that ?

Deer Hunter DL

Pettigo Mountains would be the nearest place to you with deer , or derrygonnely Lough Navara forest park area outside bellek i know thats in fermanagh but still close to ballyshannon, i don`t stalk either of these areas so i can`t tell you alot about getting permission best thing to do would be get in contact with Pettigo Gun club i`d say they will steer you in the right direction

Magnusd

Thanks for that... What about Donegal town to killybeggs direction ?

Deer Hunter DL

there is deer in that area too but not a much as Pettigo Mountains area

Magnusd

Sounds great. I must get in contact with pettigo gun club.

Whats the story with shooting in Bellek- Enniskillen ? Is it possible ?

sixpointfive

You would need to be very careful as you are outside the state and therefore your licence would not be valid if plod were to stumble across you, could land youself in alot of grief being in northern ireland with an unlicenced firearm, do you have a european firearms pass?? you could go that road but i think you would then have to go with that and your intended shooting permission to the PSNI and get a temp cert for when you are shooting, im not 100% sure of this but it is the same as going to England/Wales id imagine as they all under same government, its worth checking out before hand, the "it will be grand, sure who am i bothering" approach wont hold much water in court

Magnusd

How big are the reds in Donegal deer hunter- What caliber would you recommend to buy a deer rifle in- .243 or .308?

jwshooter

Magnusd wrote: »

How big are the reds in Donegal deer hunter- What caliber would you recommend to buy a deer rifle in- .243 or .308?

will tell you sunday as im going up wed to donegal to shoot a red ,using a 270

Deer Hunter DL

well we use a 6.5x55 and it takes them down nicly , what part of donegal are you going to JW ,Gweedoir area i suspect ??

kerryman12

Best of luck JW - get a picture for the rest of us :D:D

Magnusd

jwshooter wrote: »

will tell you sunday as im going up wed to donegal to shoot a red ,using a 270

Good luck - looking forward to hearing how you get on

B80

Magnusd wrote: »

How big are the reds in Donegal deer hunter- What caliber would you recommend to buy a deer rifle in- .243 or .308?

You would probable be better off staying away from the 243, The 6.5's, or 270's upwards would be a lot better all round, after that it's really a case of persona preferance. JW should do fine with his(or her) 270 this weekend, starting to hear a few roars this last few days.

Magnusd

what do people think about the .308 ? Should be plenty for anything you will encounter on these islands.

Good variety & availability of ammunition, good choice of rifles and good ballistics.

What are the negatives of the .308 ?

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What part of Donegal you stalking B80 ?

sixpointfive

Was in DL last weekend up round glenfinn and never heard a sound, no roaring at all where i was and its not that there were no deer around as i saw several does and a spiker and not all together, in ones and twos wandering around, maybe they just had not got going where i was, i have been round the south donegal area quite a bit as the wife is from ballyshannon and never seen or heard of a deer round there, have asked loads of locals and the father in law who is a big pheasant/duck shooter and nobody has hear of deer in those parts, :mad:
On the calibre thing i personally think 308 is way over rated, i use a 6.5x55 and 243 myself and have no complaints but its all down to what suit you.

Magnusd

sixpointfive wrote: »

Was in DL last weekend up round glenfinn and never heard a sound, no roaring at all where i was and its not that there were no deer around as i saw several does and a spiker and not all together, in ones and twos wandering around, maybe they just had not got going where i was, i have been round the south donegal area quite a bit as the wife is from ballyshannon and never seen or heard of a deer round there, have asked loads of locals and the father in law who is a big pheasant/duck shooter and nobody has hear of deer in those parts, :mad:
On the calibre thing i personally think 308 is way over rated, i use a 6.5x55 and 243 myself and have no complaints but its all down to what suit you.

Yep no deer round ballyshannon you either have to head further north in Donegal or NE towards fermanagh border.


What would you say the disadvantages of the .308 are ? I'm thinking about getting one as a pure deer rifle but starting to consider other calibres...

jwshooter

reds were rutting strong this week in donegal .roaring till 10 am plus ,i seen many fine stags up there .i shot two sika this eve a scrapy 6 not rutting and a nice 8 he was with a few hinds but was only starting to rut .but a good few sika stags about now ,the next few weeks will be hell for leather