2 fallow on the opening day

hiddenmongoose

myself and the father were up and out waiting for first light.Nothing came out of the woods to the field we were lying in wait so we crossed over to another permission I have.On walking into the field we spotted a doe who eventually spotted us and ran off, luckily she didnt spook two prickets who were graziing in the next field,We stalked into about 150m and dared not go further as it was open field after that but the prickets were grazing with their arses to us.I got into a sitting position on sticks as rushes were too high for a prone shot and droped the first pricket with 165gr accutip 308 to a heart/lung shot.the second pricket took to running but stopped at the edge of the forestry to look back,I dropped him from standing position in sticks at about 180m.Delighted!!all back in the jeep by half 8,even met the farmer who owns the land and gave me the permission on way out to the jeep .We drove to another few permissions but seen nothing,bumped into a few guys out stalking who had no luck yet.all in all a great opening morning

Cass

Great result and almost a carbon copy of my Father and myself this morning.

We saw well over 15 deer (mix of male & female) but settled on three fine príckets that were grazing and mock rutting. Ranged them at 367 yards. Stalked in to 214, but due to open fields could not go further. Was thinking about taking the shot when cattle (or something i didn't see) in a nearby field moved them back toward us and the wood behind us. They took of, walking, across the field to our left so we stalked on up further in an attempt to cut them off, however a recent tree fall blocked our normal path and when we tried to go around it, it drew the attention of one of them. He stood for what felt like an eternity, but was about 3 minutes, trying to spot us in the sparse covering. We stood still, but not in a position to fire hoping he would turn away long enough to get the shot off. He didn't. Instead he turned to our left and bounced away with himself and the other two in tow.

Took us over an hour and a half to get that far so was a little disappointed but great to see the numbers back again this year. Will hit it again this evening or tomorrow morning.

useurowname

Cass wrote: »

Great result and almost a carbon copy of my Father and myself this morning.

We saw well over 15 deer (mix of male & female) but settled on three fine príckets that were grazing and mock rutting. Ranged them at 367 yards. Stalked in to 214, but due to open fields could not go further. Was thinking about taking the shot when cattle (or something i didn't see) in a nearby field moved them back toward us and the wood behind us. They took of, walking, across the field to our left so we stalked on up further in an attempt to cut them off, however a recent tree fall blocked our normal path and when we tried to go around it, it drew the attention of one of them. He stood for what felt like an eternity, but was about 3 minutes, trying to spot us in the sparse covering. We stood still, but not in a position to fire hoping he would turn away long enough to get the shot off. He didn't. Instead he turned to our left and bounced away with himself and the other two in tow.

Took us over an hour and a half to get that far so was a little disappointed but great to see the numbers back again this year. Will hit it again this evening or tomorrow morning.

Ha, sounds like everything was again ye, open fields, awkward cattle, sparse covering even a tree had fallen to block your path. Sure thats' the craic, it's called 'hunting' after all not 'killing'. Better luck later.

deerhunter1

hiddenmongoose wrote: »

myself and the father were up and out waiting for first light.Nothing came out of the woods to the field we were lying in wait so we crossed over to another permission I have.On walking into the field we spotted a doe who eventually spotted us and ran off, luckily she didnt spook two prickets who were graziing in the next field,We stalked into about 150m and dared not go further as it was open field after that but the prickets were grazing with their arses to us.I got into a sitting position on sticks as rushes were too high for a prone shot and droped the first pricket with 165gr accutip 308 to a heart/lung shot.the second pricket took to running but stopped at the edge of the forestry to look back,I dropped him from standing position in sticks at about 180m.Delighted!!all back in the jeep by half 8,even met the farmer who owns the land and gave me the permission on way out to the jeep .We drove to another few permissions but seen nothing,bumped into a few guys out stalking who had no luck yet.all in all a great opening morning

Nice one

Big Buck

Well done, great start to the season! I'm itching for the weekend now!

fabwing

I was out this morning and was eaten by midgets, spotted a stag and one pricket they were 270 yards away and i could not get any closer, so decided to leave them for some other day, it was very warm and the flies would have had a field day, think I will leave stalking for another month or so.

cookimonster

Started with a 04.00 alarm call, was on the red deer permisson by 05.45.......unfortunately not an animal to be seen, scoured the heavy cover and found loads of sign, I'll be back for an evening shot during the week.......
Back home for bacon and eggs then the snooze, out the door a 15.15 and off for some Sika hill stalking with the mate......seen a couple of nice hinds and heard plenty more.....the only stag I saw was the 6 pointer the mate dragged off the top of the hill......looking forward to hunting new permissons later in the week.

German pointer

Well done to the lads that scored on opening day.

I was out on a permission at 5.45am and by, 8am I had a red stag in my sights at 300 yards they we're moving closer to me all the time but we're behind some trees he was with a few hinds. I had all the time in the world for him to come out in the open when a stupid C*UNT who knew I was there tried to stalk in on them at 90 degrees to me and them with the wind at his back. That was the last I saw of the stag. Other than that I come across 7 reds and and 12 fallow but no chance of a shot

hiddenmongoose

This is the bullet that dropped the second fallow I took in my first post of this thread.It was a 165gr remy accutip in 308 fired at 180m.I was shooting in a standing position off sticks aiming for heart but pulled it slightly forward and it hit the front leg ,passed through doing good damage inside and didnt exit,deer dropped on the spot.When I skinned and butchered today I found the bullet had passed through to the opposite side broke through a rib and stopped inside the pelt.Hard get a good pic of it but its mushroomed lovely,would like to weigh it to see what was retained.

and here is the reward of it all,a lovely backstrap ready to be seasoned and cooked,

Cass

hiddenmongoose wrote: »

........... passed through doing good damage inside and didn't exit,deer dropped on the spot.When I skinned and butchered today I found the bullet had passed through to the opposite side broke through a rib and stopped inside the pelt.

This is the key for me. The bullet doing it's job, and dumping all it's energy without passing through. Had that problem with other bullets and eventually found one that done the job. I use A-max and every deer i've dropped i've found the bullet in the deer after. Gives great peace of mind when firing.

I'd say the bullet is only fractionally lighter, if that. Maybe a subtle loss of the copper jacket, but all in all it should be relatively the same.

hiddenmongoose

Cass wrote: »

This is the key for me. The bullet doing it's job, and dumping all it's energy without passing through. Had that problem with other bullets and eventually found one that done the job. I use A-max and every deer i've dropped i've found the bullet in the deer after. Gives great peace of mind when firing.

I'd say the bullet is only fractionally lighter, if that. Maybe a subtle loss of the copper jacket, but all in all it should be relatively the same.

Ya I was delighted even though the first deer was a pass through(then again it was 150m on a pricket and it only hit ribs on way in and out,insides were shredded though),its the first time Iv used the accutips.They are accurate too, I zeroed at 100m with a ragged hole and then did drops out to 350m where I held a 2 inch group which I wont complain about .Id say your right about the weight as it looks still fairly large

Backfire

I was out foxing last night with a buddy (got 2, both shot by him, I missed 2 myself and kicking myself ), anyway we came to a field bordering a forest and the eyes of whole load of deer reflected back at me.

We are used to seeing a good few deer at night, with 17 the most I'd seen in one field, but this time we were stunned, as we shun the light across nothing but deer eyes and none of them moved, just stood where they were looking at us.

We ourselves stood there and counted each pair of eyes, 26 deer in total.
Looking through the scope on the rifle, I could see they were mostly Sika if not all Sika. Some fine looking stags there too.

Like I mentioned In a different topic, I would love to be able to butcher deer and have the correct setup. Sika deer are everywhere near me.