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Scotland stalking Trip

PostPosted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 5:14 pm
by Tiler Mark
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Well i started the long journey up to Scotland; i knew it was going to be the best part of 6 hours maybe more!
Nice bright sunshine all the way and nothing compares to the beauty of the landscape the further north you travel. The scenery opens to spans of valleys fringed with the rocky hill land. The colours of the hills and land this time of year, is absolutely stunning.
Anyway ...
6 hours of driving and i arrive in a court yard, i have no idea if it’s the right place or not, no signs of life so a quick phone call is in order to Hungry Rob, my stalking guide and my host for the weekend.
Hes 30 mins away in a neighbouring village, but he says to let his dog out and take it a walk over the back of his property. I open the door and this big chocolate lab meets me with the biggest daftest look on his face, bounding around. This lab is one big lad! Off out the back he goes bounding, i still in city mode with city shoes on and nice new jeans......MISTAKE,
By the time i have entered the field the dogs done one, it would have been ok if I’d even asked the dogs name, i’m standing whistling and shouting “dog” heereee
This is not a good start, not even met Rob yet and i have lost his dog, i bite the bullet and ring Rob, “what’s the dogs name bud?” Just whistle 3 times comes the reply; sure enough a great big brown lab comes bounding over the far field wanting to now play with me.” Bruno” is now my best friend.

Bang on time Rob turns up in the yard and a quick handshake and to business, his first words to me “ have a look at my spud cannon” sure enough his toy comes out spud loaded bit of hairspray and BOOOOOOOOOOOOM the spud goes 200 yards straight out over the fields! Very impressive!
Next fire wood, 2 bags filled and in we go. i meet the wife and kids, fire on the go. A nice supper, cup tea, and then we were out to check zero on my Weapon of choice for the weekend, A Remington .308.
A 2 min journey across the road and we were on a nice flat piece of land banked by a large hill on the right side. As we approached the end of the field the familiar set of eyes caught the light, Foxy was out and staring straight back at us at about 200 yards. Unfortunately this fox was no idiot and made off without even looking back for a millisecond!
We got back to setting up the target. We set it up at 100 yards with a 3” circle, now it was up to me. Not being able to hit this consistently here would mean NO chance of being able to go out stalking in the morning, quite rightly too! I have shot enough 7.62’s in my time but i was still a bit nervous with Robbie breathing down my neck. First shot, bang, in the circle, slightly low of centre but well in, the next 2 bang on the money, side by side. I did breathe a sign of relief! Next target, well we stretched to 200 yards to give me a proper test, especially under lamp light. Again though all three bang on the money, the 3rd set was off the bonnet with cushion, this sent the group 1” low but still nice and tight.


We loaded the target back the wagon and set off with Bruno chasing us down the field.
Un believably we caught Mr Foxe’s eyes again at 250 yards on the hill. We had just been rattling a 308 off and the fox still had the cheek to come in. So out the window the .243 went and from rest and a couple of squeaks to get foxy to look straight at us, then crack the fox was down. A couple of mins later and Bruno is at the side of the wagon with fox it tow! This dog is stunning!
We make our way back with fox draped over the spare wheel to dispose of properly, and just enough time for a couple of pints.

We woke to a bloody good frost in the morning, this was made more tedious by having to peel the frozen fox off the back of the wagon!. We were soon driving to one area where Robbie thought we might catch a few deer out and get a clear shot down onto them. A winding round through woods up a steep hill found us looking down a stunning valley scene. The mist made it look like a glacier slowly drawing down the valley. The sun was rising and i could stand in ore of the scene in front of me. Bright sunshine, winter colours in the trees, the fields were frosty white, this was post card stuff.
I nearly forgot what we were there for, but we were there to find deer. And find Deer Robbie did. Have you noticed how your eyes become accustomed to finding stuff, i can pick rabbits out at 200 yards on ploughed fields, but unless you know what to look for when stalking deer you’ll miss them all! Its telling your brain to investigate the dark areas, in the dark areas if that makes sense. You’ll see a dark patch in the bracken and a slightly darker pattern in it, they don’t move a muscle so its no good looking for movement. Anyway Robbie was my eyes and ears till i got my senses tuned in.
We spotted a doe with 3 fawns down in the valley, they were just sipping from the stream and even though we were 100’s 0f yards away you could see that they had clocked us looking at them. We wasn’t about to destroy this family groups day, watching them was brilliant. We made off back off over the fields when Robbie stopped dead , i froze , a small hand signal had me slowly turning to look up to the woods on the top of the hill , a couple of seconds for my eyes to pick out the shape of at least 5 or 6 deer. These were good size Does, these were what we were here for!. We were caught in the open and they had already spotted us so, this was going to be near on impossible to get into any sort of shooting position. We would need to get up the hill and get round the back of them. But before we could even try to make any attempt they were off at speed!.Know one said it was going to be easy! “i didn’t want it to be either” i want to do my bit. I want to work hard to get one of these fabulous creatures. They deserve the right of a fair fight.

Back in the wagon, we headed off to a wooded area a couple of miles away to see if we could intercept deer in the woods. Now catching deer in the open fields is hard, creeping up on them in the woods, well alot harder. They can be staring right at you and you won’t even see them until they’re off .and true to form, we spotted them in the woods long after they had seen us, but again we had spotted deer! I could have come home without shooting a thing and still have been a very happy chap; having seen deer in the wild is something only others can dream about.


A quick check of a local farmers land, again we spotted deer but still no shooting opportunity. Then Robbie decides it’s time for Bacon cobs! Who am i to argue? Down into town and 2 crusty bacon cobs & tea later and were off again.

To the HILL..
We approach up a winding road to 1000’s of acres of stunning open land, streams, bogs you name it its spans for miles. We get side tracked watching a pair of kites riding the thermals. But we’re then back into deer mode. We stop and observe a small heard about 500 -600 yards out from the track. There on a slight rise so their able to see our every move, so Robbie drives further down the track to a small hollow where we drop out of site. This is now our best chance of deer. Times getting on and we need to do some serious work to get close enough to these deer for a safe shot.
Game on then, lucky enough the small stone wall goes right up and passed the deer, so this is our entry point. What’s hard about just following a wall up the field..... Well i’ll tell you, the walls 2 foot tall and the land for the next 300 yards is, bog, stream and thick heather. We are on all fours through the bog, the belly crawl through a stream, we fight through the heather... for every 50yards we make on them, they move out 20.
I am soaked, my hands are frozen, and this is what I wanted! Then we hit a major problem, the wall dives down into a deep gulley, this means were going have to cralw in full view of the deer! Having seen deer run when spotting us earlier, i knew this was all over. Robbie instructed me to stay low and slow, do not look at them, just keep moving. So across the gulley we go, we get across, but are the deer still there? Robbie slowly raises his head above the wall to see, amazingly there still there! Game on again. They have moved out further but still within striking distance, we gain another 20 yards up the wall put this didn’t gain any ground on the deer. It’s up to me now to do my bit. Robbie has got me within shooting distance, but it was now down to me to put the bullet home.

I was so pumped up, my heart pounding, my hands absolutely frozen.......this was an awesome feeling.
My first obstacle was to raise up and settle on the wall without scaring them, slowly up and settled the gun, i look through the scope and see my target for the first time, a doe standing far left of the heard, about 290>yards . i settled behind the gun, trying to control the heart and breathing, not easy! I fixed the scope on the deer’s heart, a few seconds more of slowing everything down, she then looks straight at me, she knew something was about to happen I’m sure of it. A gentle squeeze and she stumbles back , i didn’t take my eyes off her, still looking i have automatically i chambered another round, she trys to gain her feet, but you see the life draining away and she can’t fight it anymore and falls away. I had hit the bottom of the heart, and damaged the lungs, with no real meat damage.
Silence ... A tap and a well done from Robbie and i start breathing again! I did what i set out to do, i shot my deer,

I can’t tell you how it made me feel, Every emotion all in one, i can tell you the emotion i felt getting it back the wagon , FECKING KNACKERING


I want to thank Robbie, he is a true gentleman, a true stalker,
his family for making me feel so welcome,
Doug, you my friend are a true gun guru! I could spend hours talking guns with you!
Phil, you’re a diamond bud, hope we can get out at some point for a pint.
Bruno “smelly dog” best dog i have ever had the pleasure to work with
The polish bird in the cob shop......wub...wub

And let’s remember i had a brilliant time, but this was all in aid of helping raise money for Little Jack, let’s try and keep this going and make a difference by donating whatever we can to help the little chap.http://www.thecourier.co.uk/output/2009 ... 2018t0.asp

Sorry it’s been so long, i can’t write, i just go on and on, but i hope i haven’t bored you to much

Tiler

Re: Scotland stalking Trip

PostPosted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 5:19 pm
by Tiler Mark
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you can see Three Deer in the pic below, The Doe and 2 fawns dring at the stream
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Re: Scotland stalking Trip

PostPosted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 5:20 pm
by Tiler Mark
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Re: Scotland stalking Trip

PostPosted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 5:21 pm
by Tiler Mark
Bruno getting his treat, the liver
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Re: Scotland stalking Trip

PostPosted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 5:21 pm
by Tiler Mark
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Re: Scotland stalking Trip

PostPosted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 5:25 pm
by Tiler Mark
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Re: Scotland stalking Trip

PostPosted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 5:42 pm
by humperdingle
Excellent write-up and some gorgeous photos of stunning countryside!

I'll maybe get to meet you if you're up this neck of the woods again :thup:

Re: Scotland stalking Trip

PostPosted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 7:45 pm
by plugg
What a throughly enjoyable read Mark :thup:

Fantastic pictures too :thup:

A huge well done :) :) :thup:

Phil

Re: Scotland stalking Trip

PostPosted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 7:52 pm
by Buffy Vampire Slayer
some cracking photos there mark and a brilliant read :thup:

NIGEL

Re: Scotland stalking Trip

PostPosted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 9:13 pm
by Shaun A.
Great story and pictures,well done :thup:

Shaun.

Re: Scotland stalking Trip

PostPosted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 9:17 pm
by Phil2174
great write up and lovely phot's :thup: :grin:

Re: Scotland stalking Trip

PostPosted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 10:26 pm
by hungryrob
Great stuff Mark; what a brilliant story! I've read it at least four times to relive your moment and you can be sure I got as much pleasure from it as you did.

The pics are great as well. Just a briliant day out it was :thup:

What spud gun? ;)

Re: Scotland stalking Trip

PostPosted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 12:31 am
by fireman-andy
fantastic,
must have been worth the trip just for the scenery (and the polish bird!)
to have a deer at the end of it as well thats just icing on the cake

andy