My father, who recently turned 69, and I went stalking with some mates on the West coast of Scotland, near Dunoon. The weather man wasn't wrong and we were treated to seven days of sideways rain and fog. Although this put a damper on the roar, it didn't stop us having a great week and taking a few stags. I have attached some pictures of two more notable beasts.

On the first morning, after a short drive we began a gut-busting hike up a ride up the side of a sitka spruce covered hill. The fast pace was so that we would reach the edge of the trees in good time before dawn broke. We walked up the steep hillside in the dark, pelted with rain and overheating in our heavy clothing. We reached the edge of the trees only to find that the open hilltop was blanketed in fog and visibility was very poor. Sitting against a rock and catching our breath, we were startled (well I was startled anyway) by the angry roar of a stag not far away at all. All thoughts of fatigue were banished from our minds as we snatched up the binocs and renewed our efforts. A quick crouched walk to a better vantage point revealed some dark shapes in the fog. My father approached the crest of the hill for a better vantage point and I watched him deploy the bipod and heard one final lusty roar from the stag before the crack of the 270 and a lick of flame from the muzzle of my sako finnbear, put an end to the symphony. A fine stag, with a nice even hatrack and 92kg on the hook.


The treeline, once the fog had lifted.




The rifle is an old .270 Finnbear that I purchased from Edinburgh's only gunshop the day after getting my FAC.

Fortunately the one and a half hour drag was mainly downhill. As a bonus, I spotted a small group of staggies and managed to whack one from 100m before they clocked on.




Dad dragging his deer.

On our last day, we returned to an area of restock (young trees especially vulnerable to deer damage) were we had spotted a large stag earlier in the week. As darkness fell, I chose a good vantage point and lay alone in the heather, with the rifle set up before me on its bipod. I waited for over two hours, listening to a series of deep gravelly roars from two rival stags, trying to decide which was more likely to appear and where to set up the rifle when, suddenly, a hind came pelting out of the trees 200m away and straight ahead. By the time I raised my rifle, the black antlers of a nice stag bobbed into view. He paused at the edge of the trees to survey the valley, with his head high and still quite wary of stepping into the open. After a brief second where I considered waiting for the stag to emerge further from the tree line and turn for a better angle, I 'woke up' placed the crosshairs on the junction its neck and body and pressed the trigger. The dull thud of a good hit accompanied his fall and he did not move. We approached to find a very heavy and old stag with antlers that were clearly going back. His teeth also showed significant wear but he was still in great condition and came in at 95kg on the hook.




The rifle here is a borrowed Sako 85 S/S with S&B 8x56 scope. I used 150 grain magtech ammo.
I had to borrow this rifle as my Zeiss Conquest scope fogged up on the 4th day of solid rain. It is currently being resealed by Zeiss.

As a bonus, we were able to roll him most of the way to the track.

Nice trip and nice shooting! That's a trip I really want to take one of these days!

Nice trip.
Great stags you and your father got.

Never been to that area myself, but it sure looks nice.

Thanks for posting G.

Some super stags and I particularly like the long mane on the old boy.

Was the borrowed Sako a .270 too?

Thanks

jon

Gabe
Fantastic area for hunting around Dunoon
I've chased a few Roe and Reds up that part of the world, I remember my first ever trip on reds up there, climbing off the quad on the forest track only then to find we were to head up a vertical hillside up the side of the plantation so we could reach the open hill before daybreak
the drag back down was a darn site easier and less painfull on the calves and chest than the walk up it, shall never forget that in a hurry

Is it your mates ground or had you bought a weeks unaccompanied stalking between the lot of you??

well done on the stags , good result for your father too

Great report!

Do you ever call in these stags?

Thanks guys.

I brought a .270 Sako and a .308 Parker Hale Midland up for hunt. The Sako used a Nikon Monarch 3.5-10x50 and the PH (also known as 'trusty rusty' and purchased last year for all of £125) was topped with a Zeiss Conquest 3-9x40 which eventually fogged up. The PH itself is a great rifle, tough as nails and very accurate with a 20" barrel and Jet-Z moderator.

As my Dad had changed the focus adjustment on my .270/Nikon so that only he could use it, I borrowed a .308 Sako which grouped my cheap Magtech ammo (that nobody has ever heard of) well and I used it for the last couple days. I can see that if I were based on the West coast, stainless/synthetic guns would be the way forward. It was hard work drying both guns between outings and preventing rust. Any tips would be very welcome!

Anders - we did not try roaring this year as (other than the last day) the rut was quite slow and the stags were not 'fired up'. I have tried roaring last year and believe it works mainly in close quarters situations with hyped up stags. On a smaller beast (especially if it's holding hinds) there is little incentive for it to run across the mountain for a scrap when it has a guaranteed booty call in tow.

Sounds reasonable! The rut have just started in our areas. Never really tried calling, but will give it a chance soon.

Looks a great trip.
He's pretty fit, your dad, pulling a stag off the hill at his age!

Well done mate.

Nice stags Bog, thanks for the report

Well done Bog team

The dark horned stag is a Beauty!

gabe

congratulations, those are 2 good stags, i do like the color of the antlers, nice and dark.

mate you really need a horse to do the dragging for you, it is not nice to bring your father for that chore

thanks for the pictures, it really helps us poor bastards that have to be in the workshop all through daylight hours.

best

peter

Geat hunt, I see you had some traditional Scottish weather.

I think the weather adds to it i stalked near Dunoon for many many years and the stags are hard won but that makes it more exciting and god do you enjoy your bath and a large dram to end the day. Great account and i hope to have my lad up on the hill this comming hind season.
Great account of your trip Bog

The weather is part of the fun, but I'll definitely be taking more waterproofs this year. You get through more changes of clothing than you would believe!

Two short months of fallow stalking and I'll be back in the hills chasing stags with Dad.

Might even do the hinds again this year - hopefully somewhere different. Any suggestions?

Nice one. Congratulations on what seems to have been a great trip!

Congratulations Boghossian , looks like a fanstastic trip, thanks for taking the time to post up some pics.