when are you happiest

jwshooter

i just looked at jeremiah johnson, again .hell of a story ,got me thinking.

i often think life is to short, full big mortgages and all this crap that comes with it .

for me on the hill looking at deer ,not whacking them just looking. i love bring some one for a stalk .seing the dogs pointing and working deer .
my old bitch went on point one eve in a thicket.
she held it for 10 minutes tail quivering i was down on the bipod looking 80 yards down the ride .
when a calf started to walk out to the left of the bitch 3 yards away.
light was poor ,the calf was eating and walking it stepped onto the ride 4 feet from my bitch ,she was so still i could see her looking back at me from the corner of her eye.
the calf was with in a foot almost nose to nose when it spotted the dog and stood as if to say (f) .
it bolted the dog snapped at it thats how close it was ,one shout stopped her form catching it .
i did not get a shot the same eve but i will never for get it .

fish slapped

nice story JW,

Bit of an experience like that myself:

up on a ridge that over looks a long field down into the valley. watching for a couple of bunnies to show their head at about 300 to 350 meters. I'm in camo with a hood up. off to my right I hear "CUUUP" and out of the corner of my eye I see a lovely wild cock pheasant. laying perfectly still I watch as he strolls up closer to me with another "CUUUP" . then an answer from the far corner and he takes another few steps and calls again standing just 6" from the muzzle of my 6.5. I think to my self as the hen answers " bud, your thinking with the little head again and that has gotten many a lad into trouble, but your lucky today" The hen called once more and off he went with a trot.

I just lay there smiling.

fiestaman

nice stories:)

homerhop

A farmer up the road from me had a few acres of Christmas trees planted. In the centre of these there was a hollow with a pond. There were 2 larch thickets on opposing sides of the pond and a rock at the edge. I spent so many evenings sitting on that rock with my 2 Springer’s. One would sit by my side watching the skyline like constant radar the only tell tale give away when anything was flying over head was the wagging of his tale. The second Springer was a real water dog and he would be back and forward across that pond with just the tip of his nose out of the water after a Moore hen. I often compared the sleekness of him going through the water as that of an otter, just a ripple around him and the snort of the air out through his nose. It was my release from the daily grind where nothing seemed to matter. Good times and good memories.

bunny shooter

My most memorable memory was when I was on an exercise in the woods in Kilworth, Co Cork, with FCA, and I was in an LP (Listening Post) about 50 metre outside our basecamp and was cammo'd up totally and lying in a small hollow I spotted a male robin searching about in the undergrowth and wondered if he could see me..................next thing he lands on my outstretched hand and walks down along my arm and stops looking straight into my face and tilting his face from side to side................reckon he knew somethig wasn't right but he couldn't make me out as I was probably more like a bush than a human He hopped all over me for about 15 minutes and I never felt so at one with nature as I did that day. There were other birds and animals around me that day but none so close as that little robin. He kept me company for about 30 minutes which made my stay in the LP seem very short

So I suppose I am happiest when in the countryside with nature all around me.

sikastag

Had a similar experience with a fallow prickett. Mooching down a ride about 400yds long at the edge of forest. Watching fields and hills in distance. As I had one foot raised to step over fallen tree, a pricketts head pops up about twelve feet away on the opposite side of a blackthorn bush. He steps forward giving himself a clear spot to see through as im left motionless on one leg. I dont know how long I was left standing on one leg but it was tiring. As anticipated, the prickett drops his head and pops it back up again, im still motionless, then he resumed feeding. I delightedly got down from my single footed stance onto my belly and watched him selectively pick leaves from the blackthorn. A red squirrell decided to join me as he scampered along the fallen tree I was now lying behind. After a short stay, and a strange shriek the squirrell bolted. i expected the prickett to do likewise but he remained feeding and eventually move up along the trees away from me. Whilst I remained lying there smiling to myself at what had just happened the prickett reappears in front of me about 100yds down the ride. I extened the legs of bipod and got steady. Then I released the safety and opened the bolt and thought to myself I should have brought the camera instead of the gun. The prickett lifted his head for a moment before he continued feeding, moving away from me. On second thoughts, Its small moments like those that are better off in ones memory. Thats what keeps me getting up in the small hours of the morning, when its me and whatever else is mooching away from it all.

demonloop

Mine will sound very boring in comparison, but on a Friday afternoon, when I shut down the PCs I call out to my parents for an hour or so.

Where they live has no/poor phone signal. I'm internet/phone free.

Its usually the most stress-free hour of the week. There's a spot 1.5 miles from their house, on the drive home where the signal picks up and the emails flood in. I hate approaching that spot.

cavan shooter

When I go shooting I always bring my webtex flask, religiously I sit down and have a cuppa half way through to listen and watch. The silence is deafening and I realy like that. :rolleyes:

chem

I didnt have my O/U too long, and one summer evening took it out over the fields. I was more just having a walk then going shooting. I was walking up a hill in the middle of the field, when I spotted a single hare, running about. I crouched down on one knee. watching him run, stop then run around again. Each time he was getting closer. Then he turned face on to me and ran straight for me. I couldnt believe it! He ran right up to me and stopped at my feet. I was motionless. He set there for afew seconds, I made a slight move and then he ran off. It was a lovely feeling to be so close to a wild animal. You feel you share somthing with nature on moments like that.

DR6.5

Cant beat being out on the hill, whether its stalking in on a group of animals or listening to cock grouse first thing in the morning, or watching a hen harrier hunting the hill.

One particular stalk i remember on a group of sika/ hybrids a few years ago, had glassed the animals from a good distance, took couple of hours to stalk in on the animals, had got to about 50 mtrs of the animals, was waiting to take the shot and not more that 10mtrs away a cock grouse appeared on a tuft of heather, wathced him for about 20 minutes, I ended up shooting a hybrid hind out of the group, thats when the hard part started, took about 3hrs to get her back to the car, just cant beat being out on the hill.

dr6.5