Last weekend I went up to visit a freind in Norwich who has access to some great stag stalking. I had mentioned to him that I would like to take a nice stag and his cousin who is the land owner is getting his barley hammered by them.... So cue the cape and off I went to the rescue!!! (Not Quite but you get the jist!!)

Anyway I got up there on Friday night, too late for a stalk due to the traffic... :@!"*!

I spent Friday night listening to Pete telling me how we would not get a Stag in the back of my car if we hit, and would need to come back and get his van, so you can imagine how I felt!!!

We were up at 4am to make the 45min drive to the shoot. I made the drive in 25mins!!! Not that I was eager or anything...

On the way there I saw some deer crossing the road up ahead. They were a herd of 8-10 reds but I didn't want to spook them so I held back. All the deer except three had crossed but I just waited to get a look. So far we had only seen Hinds and a couple of Spikers. The Deer at the back was obbviously a stag but I couldn't make out much of his head in the dark from the car. Then he herded the laqst couple of spikers forward and steped out into the light. To my eyes he was a monster!! At least a royal, however Pete wasn't impressed... "he's nowhere near as big as the one I saw last week...I counted 18 points on him..." was all he had to say!! We only had another couple of hundred metres to go before I had to get out and walk 400m to the high seat I was allocated.

I made my way to the seat which was facing out into the field next to where we saw the deer go. It was about 5-20am and the Norfolk wind was freezing. I put the hood on the Swandri up and setttled into waiting. I thought the sun would never come up!! All the while I could hear Stags roaring in different areas of the forest I was overlooking.

Unfortunately the woodland was not acessable to us so I couldn't get down and stalk the deer I knew to be within a couple of hundred yards of me. As the light finally came up at about 6am, I saw some movement out to my left. the binos revealed two muntjac grazing at about 180yds. At this early stage I really didn't want to spoil a chance at the reds with a shot at a muntie so I held off.

The sun rose but the temperature stayed exactly where it was!!! I was freezing cold and after two hours in a seat I had almost constantly been listening to the stags roaring, and what i thought were a coupe of Sika whistling... I was assured there wasn't a dairy farm for miles!!!

Pete called on the 2-way radios and we agreed that at 7-30 he would come and get me. We had planned to stay till 8-30 but it was just too cold. I told him about the munties and he hadn't seen a thing. We stretched our legs and let the dogs out of the car for a run then made our way back to where he was sitting earlier to show me his other seat.

As we pulled up pete was showing me a fallow buck in the park on the right hand side of the road and I was looking at a fallow doe on the left. what i didn't realise was that he hadn't seen the deer and it was standing 20yds in front of the seat he had just got out of10 mins earlier!!!

Either way it was a great morning. I've never heard Reds roaring before and listening to them as the sun came up was awesome. I'm convinced he also has some Sika there even though he hasn't ever seen them, in which case it is a peice of land with all the UK deer species on it!!! how's that for a royal flush???

I took some photos of a couple of the big fallow bucks in the park. Not sure how they came out but ill try and post them later tonight.

I'm already looking forward to the next time I get up there.

Rgds,
FB

Glad you had a good time, sorry you didn't connect. Sorry I can't make it next weekend, I'm beating all day this Sat and Mrs has a dinner party in the diary for next Saturday.

Hi there,

Not connecting wasn't such a big deal to be honest. (It never really is ) but it was great to hear the stags getting vocal.

No worries on next Saturday. It looks like it is just me and our glorious leader/moderator...

I don't want to put any pressure on him but my freezer is dangerously low....

Rgds,
FB

Hi all. With regard to the possibility of Sika in the area I think that their life expectnacy would be exceedingly limited. It is the sworn oath of all who have anything to do with the Breckland herd of reds (one part of which you are talking about) to swat any Cervus nippon poking its head into the area on sight.
In addition in my experience the only way to move one of the larger stags will be oil under pressure if you get my drift.
Hope you get a good result with a beast and that the freezer is filled nicely.
BTW how many stags have been taken out of the herd this year.

All the best.

Zaitsev

Zaitsev,

Htese aren't actually in the Brekland area. Thye are in north Norfolk.

I just got a call from my mate up there who had the big stag out last Sunday at 60yds through the trees. 17points with a VERY wide Beam. He said he couldn't get a clear shot, but I think he actually didn't really want to shoot it so gave himself an out.

They are all gettable in the end if you put the hours in...

Rgds,
FB

Do your Reds usually roar this late? My Stags roar from about Sept 20 through October.

I heard one a few weeks ago, but I found it odd.

Just out of curiousity, what was the temperature that morning that you were sitting?

Wendell,

It was at the begining of November when I was out stalking, (over bonfire night), so it would have been somewhere in the late late rut for us.

22WRF,

I cant remember the actual temperature but it was deffinately very cold. There was a cols snap around that time for a week or two where it was going below zero before dawn. IU think the week after PeteE came out staling and we both got a bit cold up in the seats.

Rgds,