Hello Gentlemen!

First of all I should introduce myself, I’m a 26 year-old paralegal living in London and have just been out after deer for the first time.

I posted this elsewhere but thought it may be of some interest to the chaps on here after a pm from IanF of this board.

BTW Fallow Buck, Richard says Hi and he should be back next Thursday.
On a less serious note I’m glad that I’m not the only person to instinctively say “Hello mate†when returning to a recently shot deer!

Despite being nobbled by the recent foot and mouth outbreak I finally went on my first stalk after deer.

I had arranged it with Richard Whitely of Deerstalker after a couple of months of bouncing it around in my head. I've lived in London basically all my life and have not had much experience of shooting or even of the countryside in general. Deer stalking was not something that was in my world really. The reason someone from my background was at all interested in hunting and shooting was of course because of a teenage experience which left, as they tend to, a lasting impression.

At the age of 16 my family and I visited my uncle on my father's side in Texas. For the first time in my life I was able to shoot and shall we say "play" with rifles and shotguns. Over that Christmas a Browning semi 22, a single barreled 12 bore and I accounted for 3 gophers and 12 doves on my uncle's land, needless to say I was smitten

Didn't have any opportunity to do any shooting since then until by chance a couple of acres of Surrey youth centre ground became available last year. A mate and I bought air rifles and enjoy the odd bit of rabbit and pigeon shooting when the kids aren't there

It was with some trepidation therefore, that I made up my mind to go for something bigger and rang Richard. He was very pleasant and easy to talk to and we set a date for mid August to have some range time followed by an evening stalk and then out again for a morning stalk the next day. He had the patience of a saint in dealing with my questions about the trip, kit and preparation I would need. He also was very good during the foot and mouth outbreak promptly returning calls and I managed to go out last weekend.

Richard picked me up from Tunbridge wells station and drove straight away to the range. The range was in a deer park with a large herd of magnificently be-antlered fallow deer appearing as if by cue as we crested the first hill through the gate. Looking at the antlers of a couple of the best bucks through Richards bino's, evaluating them as a hunter, brought home to me what I was out here doing in a big way, I started smiling and I don't think I stopped until long after I got home the next day!

At the range I got to shoot a moderated Sauer 243 and Richard's "baby" a PRS Remington 700 in 308. The Sauer was first and off the bench my first two groups were bang in the centre of the 1 inch targets we had set up at 100 yards and 3/4 inch across. Not bad for my first ever shots with a centrefire

Weeks of practice on hold, breathing and trigger pull with my trusty Webley longbow had paid off! I was finding it difficult to contain my self confidence at this point and decided that since the moderated 243 kicked as hard and was about as loud as my Webley I would have a go with the 308.

With hindsight I should have accepted Richard's offer of ear defenders for the first shot. Bang! Bugger that was loud, hey that kicked!, S**t that scope almost hit me! Bloody hell that trigger was light! To be honest I had far to light a grip on it and it scared me that first time. Eventually got used to it and since the best group of the day at 1/2" c-c was with the 308. I had also become quite enamored of the rifle, in comparison to which the Sauer felt light and "plasticky", almost toy-like especially as with the moderator it went off with a whump rather than a bang.

Richard said that when stalking you don't hear the bang or feel the thump and that I shot it well so if I wanted to I could take it out that evening.







It came.



At about 4.30 pm, just as we decided to pack up and go stalking the weather realised it had been caught napping and the fine sunny conditions rapidly disappeared as it became overcast and drizzly. I was assured this was entirely appropriate and in fact could be considered a good omen.

We drove up to his patch and headed into the wind across a field, pausing to glass anything that appeared to be a deer. Whenever he stopped, I froze and visa-versa. He didn't stop much; I stopped more often and over the next two hours as we crept along hedges, through patches of trees and across the fields we coined the phrases Bracken Deer, Treestump Deer, Mound of Earth Deer and Richard's favourite Pile of Horses**t deer. There did not seem to be any deer around and conditions were worsening.

Richard suggested we head into the comparative shelter of the wood at the north end of the property as the deer would prefer to be out of the wind and drizzle. This entailed a walk of perhaps a mile and half although you really don't notice things like distance when stalking I have to say! We walked along a ride towards this patch of wood, talking quietly and convincing ourselves that deer were all behind us and were laughing at our attempts. Richard is excellent company and at one point we were more or less strolling along and he telling an anecdote about a Russian he had taken out when he stopped mid-sentence and froze. I took one more step than he did and realised why.

About 120 yards away was a fallow pricket with one deformed antler standing in the middle of the ride looking straight in our direction. A tense minute followed as he regarded us intently, finally he looked away in to the wood and Richard made a hand gesture to say we should go down. I thought this meant to go prone and much to my eternal shame basically fell over in slow motion next to him. His glance said it all and so I started to very slowly ease up again and move towards him to rest the rifle on his shoulder and take a kneeling shot. Almost made it too, but just as the fore-end of the rifle touched his shoulder and I flicked the safety off ( stupid, stupid, stupid! ) the deer looked straight at us and bolted.

I felt an utter tit. Dived for the deck like in overweight lieutenant in a bad cop series and flicked the safety off with the loudest click possible and scared the first wild deer I'd ever seen in my life. Richard said the right things and after a fag we headed off again.

We headed perhaps another half mile along the ride and in the gathering twilight headed in to the heart of the wood. We were stalking as quietly as possible but being frustrated by the rustling my army surplus trousers made when wet. I was in fact looking down at my soaked boots and trousers when Richard froze two paces ahead of me as we entered a clearing. I looked up as quickly as I possibly dared and saw sixty yards away a fallow pricket delicately picking his way through some low brambles. I sloooowly raised the rifle on to Richard's shoulder and put the crosshairs just behind the deer's shoulder, a third of the way up. Richard gave out a cough and the deer looked at us, seemingly straight at me through the scope. In apparent, and I am bound to say almost emphatic eye contact with the deer I paused for what felt like a very long time with my finger on the trigger, then suddenly the gun had gone off, and I lowered it to see the deer stagger back two paces and set off at a dead run.

There was much hand shaking as I considered what had just happened. It had all happened so quickly, and my hands were shaking as I smoked a cigarette while we waited. We went to the place that the deer was standing when the shot was fired, and immediately found a large patch of frothy pink blood. The blood trail went for twenty-five yards in an arc to where the deer was curled up at the foot of a tree as if asleep. We approached it, and I touched its eye to find no reflex. Richard told me that he knew it was dead as soon as he saw its reaction to the shot and it was obvious that the 308 had exited. We dragged it up to the ride and gutted it to find that the bullet had hit both lungs, the heart and had creased the liver. We went back for the car and took the deer to the chiller. It was the first one taken on the estate this season.

The morning stalk was uneventful. We saw a doe and fawn and watched them for thirty minutes or so. I headed back to London completely satisfied and I am now enjoying the first of the excellent venison.

The bug has certainly bitten and I feel I will have to arrange another outing quite soon.

Great story man!

Hope you got some pics of that deer, you may take bigger deer but nothing is better than that first beast.

Cheers,

Gabriel

Gabriel, you have pm

Great to see you posting at last Gh - rather than just lurking!

Hope this will be the first of many, as BogHoss mentioned - it is one you will never forget. Certainly, compared to my first buck, yours was a textbook operation! However, that's another story..........

Rgds Ian

Gabriel,

Wiadmannsheil!

Well Done & a good report.

From Theory to Practice.....outstanding.

Now IanF you can't tantalise us like that. Story man!

Oh and stalking, lurking, whats the difference? it all must come naturally.....

Gerry thank you but Boghossian is Gabriel, I'm Amir

Looking to go on another outing end of this month. Going to try a high seat this time. I will try and get some photos this time!

Waidmannsheil Amir, great story and glad you enjoyed your hunt, Dom.

Ghubert,

Welcome to the Forum and thanks for posting. I dread to imagine what rick has told you but all I can say is that nothing I've done comes close to the Russian Diplomat!!!

Congratulations on your first buck. You're in good hands there.

Rgds,
FB

Welcome, good report, but do remeber a picture is worth a thousand words.

/Best regards Chris

Yeah I'm sorry only a photo of the deer hanging in the chiller at the end of it all, didn't think anyone would want to see but I suppose it would make a fitting epitath to the whole thing. I suppose if one has only one photo of a trip then the best of all pictures would be of the carcass in chiller at the end of it all .

But #i would say that wouldn't I

Will attempt to post the photo anyway!

Amir

Amir,

Sorry mate......for getting your first Deer story and your name mixed up with someone from Scotland (Look on the Bright Side - it could have been someone from Wales.....!)

For Christ's sake, why don't you guys use your regular God given names like the rest of us normal folk do?

You'll notice that one of my hunting Cronies "Dom" picked up your real name quick - after I made a Boo-Boo! Go figure. He'll dig me about this tomorrow when we get together for our Wedensday evening shooting session.

Please don't mix me up with Gerry Merry - I'm the REAL Gerry from Frankfurt, too! Gerry Merry (if I've got my Geography straight) is directly on the border to Wales!

Very nice report. I love to read well-written accounts of hunts from other corners of the globe. Next time you are successful though, please take a "hero shot" (well-composed trophy photo) of your kill. It adds much to the report and will become a treasured trophy in its own right.

Good luck in your new hunting life!

Gerry, No worries

Desert Ram, Thank you for your kind words, I've just booked another two outings on the 27th of this month so I will try and get some pictures this time. Like your term "Hero Shot" picture but i'm afraid there was nothing heroic in the way I took this deer, we kind of just bumped into each other one evening in the woods. I, however was armed

Ghubert.
Congratulations and welcome to AR
Hopefully there will be many many more to come, but that first deer is always something special.

But next time, bring the camera as well!

Great report,Amir, and congratulations on your first deer.

Best-
Locksley,R.