Well as some of you all know already and now the rest will be informed as well,

I went for my first English hunting experience at Baldock this spring, aka the AR Bash at Baldock.

That trip left a resounding mark in my hunters heart and a desire to return soon again.

Amongst all the good people at the hunt I had the fortune of taking my first muntjac together with IanF from a high stand.

We have since the hunt been in contact, IanF, Artemis and me on a regular basis.

The invite came in august, I was out foxing on my grounds as the cell buzzed and a text came in, "wanna come ower for a hunt?".

After an invite like that all things that could have been an issue, work, GF, permitts were sorted with a determination seldom seen in me.

I flew in on tuesday last week, stayed for a week, there was a forth menber of our party as well, he is american and posts here as skb, an all out great guy and a gunsmith to boot.

Alright, lets start with the outcome, I know you lot are always interested in the outcome,

we all had a splendid time, some of the best I ever had, all possible types of english weather and I took two new deer spieces and I also had my first ever pheasant at a bit of a rough shoot in it´s truest meaning.

There was a short range session on tuesday afternoon in a hail storm to check zero and then the hunting were to start the next morning.

Coming out on the grounds it was a perfect morning, not for hunting, but still a perfect morning, frost in the grass, a flaky wind that shifted every five minutes,

but still I was out stalking in the country side of Devon.

In this one mornings stalk we spotted a roe do, a small buck that presented no shot, we stalked a fox to about 40 meters and had a pricked red, a leader hind and about 6 or 7 reds in total within as close as 40 yards from us.

Not familiar with reds I was very happy to just see them, having a chance to sort of get a feel form them.

As we turned for the pub and breakfast, I was a very happy man.

Breakfast by the way is in Sweden had when one rises from bed regardless of hour, I was quite happy with having english breaktfast after the stalkt however I kept on getting remarks like you seem to feel all "flyffy cosy" after a full meal.

Well I mean who wouldn´t after being slighty food deprived and then the sensation of a full english breakfast kicking in.

Ohh but I stray.

The evening stalk was with Ian, as we vere coming out sort of late due to some unforseen circumstances we took a chance, he took a chance and we stalked in to a absolutly gorgeous spot were sort of three valleys came together.

Some 20 minutes in to the stalk we spot a nice young red buck in the valley, a bit far though for me beyond 200 meters and then some.

As we manuvers to get a shot the red exits stage to the right.

We then proceeds to go and have a sit to glas and spot something and in little time we both spot a roe buck below us,

at about 170 meters, me sitting on my rear, rifle on steady sticks and after some one coaching me through my right ear I took the shot,

and the buck took wery little care of me shooting at it, and it took off up hill in good order.

The horror, I could sort of hear what Ian was thinking, _ _ _ _ _ _ swede coming over here and cannot hit.

Well as all good hunters we went down to have a look and to check out the shot sight,

after doing so finding no traces of blood we took of uphil after the buck.

In little less than 50 meters under an oak three we found the buck, as he had just laid down for the rain.

At this time the rain had started and we vere getting soaked.



My first english roe buck, and yes that is me smiling, it just doesn´t show that well.

A nice young buck I belive.



Might I add that grallocking showed that I had made a very solid lung shot,

Some one had forgotten the roe sack and we had to get up the hill and go get it, but as we turned to do so, looking at the spot on the hillside we just left there is a huge (ok wery good representative of a mature) red stag there about 230 meters away.

Due to a lot of factors we just sat there looking at it through scopes and rifles, however this is the one time where Ian acctually ask for my rifle and wouldn´t give it back, I am still not clear as to why.

In all a majestic beast and a nice memory to come back to.

Getting the buck out was a nice little effort of getting up the hill tvice, once with load and I loved it, there should be work involved in the hunt.

This here might or should have been a slight flag for Ian as to how stupid/stubborn the Swede could be.

The days keep on passing,

in vey cold weather and high winds me and Artemis, glasses a valley and spot roes on the other side on the evening stalk on the thursday,

after some cunning planning and smooth stalking we are on to the roes as they are firmly having a rest, back towards the solid hedgeline and enjoying perhaps the one spot on the field were the wind is not getting to them.

We are spotting a old roe buck through a old gate in the hedge line and after setting up the stick, I get orders from Artemis, no shot until he is up, well I think it took no more than a minute until the old buck stood up and he took the shot.

Once again I get a sort of strange reaction, the buck sways in the shot, goes of for about four leaps, stands still, then slowly sits down, rear first and then topples ower.

Due to poor lighting there are no pics of this buck.

A add on is that he has one deformed spike, instead of a normal sharp spike this one is like an inverted trafic cone, thick end up and out.


As a resultat of my succes I get a lay in on friday morning as Ian and skb is of again,

friday is then spent traveling as we went to see Kiri´s place and to get out in the field there,

as a bonus I had the honour of meeting Amir and Brian there as well. Amir if you come to sweden, remember to check tour packing at least once, alright?

The evening stalk was most exiting as we had five fallow out in the field, two does, two calfes and one unknown, no shot was taken but me and Artemis had a great stalk put on and had it been the next evening there would have been deer on the ground.

Coming back in we found out that skb and Kiri had put on a great stalk on a fallow buck and had succes, a most inspiring story to listen to.

Saturday morning was decent in all ways, Kiri as the great host he is took me for a stalk on his grounds, sure enough we spotted a small group of fallow, I just could not get a got enough shot the hind that came out of cower.

Coming back we found out that Brian and Amir had taken a fallow early on in morning, good one on you guys.


The weather was less then great this saturday but we were all in great spirits and as a group we all went out following Kiri for a bit of a rough shoot,

for me it was especially rough as I found a sor of mud sinkhole, finding my self standing half ways to my knees deep in the classic red clay/mud of the countryside.

I think I speak for us all when I say that we all enjoyed our self royaly for some time, some hits where made and some misses, I took the first pheasant of my life and cracked a smile as wide as my face.


In an ever increasing rain we or rather Kiri decided that we had had enough fun,

as the rest of the party felt that the pub was better hunting grounds then the fields and went that way, I sort of expressed my desire to go stalking, Kiri decided that Ian should have the honours of taking me out.

In a rain so hard it greys things out, Ian and I went out, we stalked extremely slow and deliberate through the woods, after some hour and a half in the woods,

Ian puts up the sticks in front of me and takes one small step to the right,

in the dark of the woods and straight ahead I can see a group of fallow, first a hind passes us by, not spooked but indecided of what we are, second there are two calfes passing, out of the corner of my eye I spot a flash of antler on the next deer and decide to take that one,

at the modest range of about 20 meters the shot rang out.

I could follow the buck through the woods going slightlty uphill and then lost sight of it.

The shot felt good but still, there we were no deer on the ground.

Following Ians good advice we took to tracking it, less than 60 meters in to the woods we found him dead in the tracks.

Once again due to rain and poor light I have no pics of the downed deer,

however this is the head, for onces the deer was bigger on the ground then on his feet.



Thank you Ian and Kiri for letting me go out in the woods, I for one dedicates this deer to the stalker, Ian you put on a great stalk.

Once again we were traveling, leaving Kiri, Amir and Brian behind, guys it was great to see you, Kiri thanks and I hope the venison was tasty.

Late in the evening we came in to Baldock and settled in once again in a motel.

The following morning me and Artemis were being put in a nice high seat, the morning was cold and foggy with limited sight, we could see about 40-50 meters.

After about an hour in the stand, Artemis, nudges me and says, fallow, I reply muntjac, simultaniously, there are two fallow downrange in the mist, I can't make them out in the binos, however the muntjac a doe at 14 meters were fully visible,

as the shot rang out the doe fell,

Happy and rather satisfied being a bit wet and still feeling a bit vary from the stalk the prior evening I suggested we should leave the stand, however Pete at Baldock had a different idea, stay yet another 30 minutes in the stand.

Well we did and in the last ten minutes a small muntjac buck is there, as from nowhere, in the middle of the gap between two fields.

After some slow and deliberate mounting of my rifle I took yet another shot, the buck goes down, no more than 4 meters from the doe.





Rather poor pics I know, but still most representative, it was a wet morning.

Skb together with Ian took a muntjac doe in the afternoon.

That afternoon I had the sunday morning seat, and in the last light a fallow doe and calf came out in the field, I took the calf with a good shot, then I managed to fogg up my scope and no shot could be taken at the doe,

as we waited to get down and out of the stand the doe reemerged from the woods and after some most exiting waiting time she presented a broadside shot.

We found the hind some 15 meters in the woods,

I was so happy, a buck, a hind and a calf in fallow, these were common by the way and I just love that colouration of the coat.

Our last day of hunting was for CWD and Ian took me out in a high seat.

After about an hour in the stand, Ian nudges me, deer, take a shot if you can, at some 117 meters a small deer has left the woods and came out passing across a wide path in the wood,

the shot rang out and Ian congratulated me on a good shot, all that I could see was the light colour of the hide from the belly hide in the grass.

Well this was the result.







A slighty tired but ever oh so happy hunter.



I had my host, guide and co hunter to pose for a pics to.


Later that day or rather evening, skb had the same luck as I had, btw I was in the pub at that time feeling warm, fuzzy and happy.

Here is skb's buck



This buck was taken in the last of light that evening.

After a great meal that evening we all packed up and got ready to fly out the next day.

IanF and Artemis I would like to thank you both for making this great trip possible, for all the laughs, for all the memories and experiences.

Kiri, Amir and Brian again thanks and it was great seeing you guys.

Skb it was good hunting with you.

Until next time, take care and keep hunting.

Best regards Chris

Congratulation Chris

Looks like you had a heck of a time, and with such hosts one is usually in good company

Arild

I sure did have a great time and yes the company was the best.

Regards Chris

well done Chris great report, can't wait for Baldock 09!

It was a good weekends crack. Unfortunately the weather beat us on Saturday - well, it didn't beat Chris and Ian, the rest of us spent the afternoon beside the fire on a pub..

This is my contribution to the bag, a Fallow doe taken at first light on Saturday morning.

I actually managed to get down prone for this one, can't remember the last deer I took prone. I had Amir for my wing man on this one.

well done chaps,

chris, a good bag full you managed.

brian, sometimes you cant beat an afternoon in the pub when the weather is bad, tucked up in front of a fire drinking some good bitter.

well done

Brian, I see you put your new range finder to good use then. what do you think of it is it worth the money?

Great report! Thank you.

I sure regret missing out. Maybe next time.

look like a very good hunt. Congratulations

Great report, Love the small deer. The CWD and the muntjac are unique trophys

Great write up. It sounds like a fun trip. Congrats!!!

Chris.

As ever, it was a pleasure to have you over to play. Sorry that the weather was so appalling - but it was great that we managed to take so many deer under those conditions.

I was also glad to be able to show a Swede that we do actually have hills in the UK that are worthy of the name! That we had to then traverse a field of wild White Park cattle to get to the Land Rover, was an added bonus!

Regarding the Red Stag you were looking at that evening. In my defence, I would say that a 14 point wild West Country Red is slightly better than 'good representative' Certainly, there are places where shooting the beast is the easiest part of the outing - that blind valley certainly qualifies.

As we sat in pouring rain, arms full of a steaming and recently deceased Roe Buck - I knew that extracting a Red of that size would have been the sort of nightmare that even a Swede should not endure!

Looking forward to seeing both you and Steve again - you were both examples of the type of ethical hunters that we enjoy hosting here in the UK. Add to that the fact that as a group we gelled from the off - we had as much fun from the trip as you guys!!

Keep well

Rgds Ian & Artemis

Congrats Chris, you really managed to pack in a lot of stalking despite the conditions.

I am a big believer in 'you won't shoot a deer sitting in the pub' so I'm glad your persistence bore fruit!

Despite our moaning, British stalkers do have it easy when taking guests out stalking at the last minute. Minimal paperwork and liberal seasons. Looks like you had some good guiding too!

Aaron, the range finder is excellent, in fact, they are so good I forgot it and left the thing in Amir's car.

I would have two small criticism's, comparing the LRF to a good binocular:

1. Because it is a monocular the depth of the field of view is a bit compromised, the best way I can describe is to say the image is a bit "flat".

2. Because it is on a 30mm lens, it will fail in low light well before a 50mm scope, but this is to be expected.

However, given it cost little more than half what a 8x32 EL Bin costs, and that I can only use one tube of a bin anyway, I would say it is excellent for my purposes. But, if I had two functioning eye's, I would rather have the Bin.

Chris, sorry for the hi-jack....

Hi Ian and Artemis,

"Regarding the Red Stag you were looking at that evening. In my defence, I would say that a 14 point wild West Country Red is slightly better than 'good representative' Certainly, there are places where shooting the beast is the easiest part of the outing - that blind valley certainly qualifies."

Regarding the stag, I was just merly trying to be faitful to my usual modest self and further more the fact that I gasped for air as I saw it should have made my state of impressed beyond words all but clear for you.

In my defence I did listen what you said and I did realise that what you said made a lot of sense, extracting a red that size would require some effort, read be darn near impossible.

By the way the muntjac buck that I brought home boiled out great.

It´s in my office now along with the shed fallow antler that I found in Kiris woods.

Best regard to you all, Chris

Hey Guys,

I'll just add my bit to say it was a pleasure to host you all for a couple of days, and I've put a not in my diary that next time you are over, I owe you a couple more pheasants!! The weather such as it was, couldn't be helped but it is a valid reason to come back!!

The Buck ate fantastically on Saturday gone. I held a vintage gun day where we shot about 100 head with old hammer guns and black powder at the shoot. Dinner afterwards consisted of two haunches from your buck roasted in the Brinkman over a port bain marie.

A Guy can't ask for more than that!!

Well done and look forward to seeing you soon,
K

Boghossian- thanks, it was a memorable hunt for sure.

Kiri, I am so glad that it came out great, the meat that is, not that I was in doubt in any way but rather that I would have liked to sample some myself.

A black powder shoot, is that one of those days were you ask for a bit of wind after all to get the smoke to clear?

I rather be standing up wind if it´s alright.

Best regards Chris.

Waidmansheil Chris!

It was a pleasure to meet you at last! Kudos on your perseverance, you well and truly deserved that fallowbuck . We were all in the pub marvelling at the howling rainstorm outside and the two doughty fellows stalking in it! That was the night the flooding inconvinienced Brian and I.

Oh and thanks for the face veil, I will remember to check my packing in future, possibly with aid of some sort of list, now just need to find a pen....

In my defence it would have been infinetly harder to duck out of work at lunchtime protesting ilness with a weekend case!

See you soon buddy and hook me up if you are in London town,

ATB,

Amir

Chris,

Waidmannsheil!

Great results and trip report, sounds like you fellows had a fantastic time.

Can't imagine anything less from our very own IanF......

Gerry- thank you, waidmansdanke.

Brian, I have been thinking about the failing of the rangefinder optics,

I sort of feel that it´s not an all that bad thing, because if one has need to range something, then it usually is far away and I for one feel that long range shots in really poor light is to be avoided, but that is just me.

Shots within the range of a certain rifles zero are usually no problem as long as the optics yield enough light.

Best regards Chris

quote:

Originally posted by Claret_Dabbler:
Aaron, the range finder is excellent, in fact, they are so good I forgot it and left the thing in Amir's car.

I would have two small criticism's, comparing the LRF to a good binocular:

1. Because it is a monocular the depth of the field of view is a bit compromised, the best way I can describe is to say the image is a bit "flat".

2. Because it is on a 30mm lens, it will fail in low light well before a 50mm scope, but this is to be expected.

However, given it cost little more than half what a 8x32 EL Bin costs, and that I can only use one tube of a bin anyway, I would say it is excellent for my purposes. But, if I had two functioning eye's, I would rather have the Bin.

Chris, sorry for the hi-jack....

Chris

I would take another view - when shooting in unfamiliar terrain at animals of uncertain size, it is a great reassurance to KNOW that the beast is within your shooting comfort zone.

Todays high mag scopes can sometimes give an inflated belief in one's abilities!

Rgds Ian

Chris, I do not want you to think I was criticising the LRF. I was just pointing out it's limitations. It is perfectly for my purposes, I bought it primarily to use as a monocular.

Ian, you are absolutely right.

Since I have had the LRF, I use it to landmark a bit of ground once I go on to it. The night I was first in the seat at Iron Pond, I pinged the corner of the release pen (200 yards), the water butt (150yards) and various large trees to the left of the seat out to 200 yards. I then have a a known arc of fire, where I know any deer inside that area is in comfortable range.

As you say, it gives confidence on new ground, particularly for someone like me who does most of his shooting in fields less than 10 acres.

quote:

Originally posted by IanF:
Chris

I would take another view - when shooting in unfamiliar terrain at animals of uncertain size, it is a great reassurance to KNOW that the beast is within your shooting comfort zone.

Todays high mag scopes can sometimes give an inflated belief in one's abilities!

Rgds Ian

No argument there Ian, however, I was sort of narrowed in to the use of the LRF from a stand or post and at last light,

with the help of a good guide or by ones own good sence, ranges have been taken and memorized prior to last light, right

Brians description of his use of the LRF resembles how I use mine.

Should there be a animal coming out at wery last light and one is unsure of the range, the option of not taking the shot is always there.

Regarding the illusion one can get from high X optics you are quite right, it´s always a good thing to open the other eye at that time to really asses the "true" range.

Best regards Chris

I think I ate some of your fallow buck last weekend- very tasty!