Hi guys,
Work commitments have made this a pretty poor season for me, with many cancelled hunts etc.

When I finally had a weekend free in early December I imposed on my cousin in Ireland for a weekend of stalking in the Wicklow hills.

Though the rut was long finished, I managed to bag a nice double on the hybrid sika stags below as well as a couple of hinds on the following day.





The gun used was a sako .270 with a reflex moderator and Federal Hi-shok 130 grain ammo.

As you can see from the picture, one of the hinds had a clubfoot, possibly from the sheep wire fences.

Looks like you had a great time.
Have to say, I love ireland, people great,scenery great, and Guinness is too

Beautiful country and animals... thanks for sharing!

G.

Have hunted in Wicklow with John Fenton - incredible density of animals. I have neveer seen as many Sika in one place. As you mention - hybrids abound - not ideal.

Congrats on a successful hunt.

Rgds Ian

congratulations Gabriel.

How can one tell an hybrid from a sika?

All the deer in the Wicklow area are considered hybrids by biologists. The degree of hybridisation varies between individual specimens.

They are generally classed as either 'sika-type' or 'red-type' hybrids depending on the dominant phenotype.

These fellas are sika type hybrids, with bigger body size than the pure sika in Kerry and substantially thicker horns. The red-type hybrids usually have antlers like red deer but with a maximum of 8 points.

Unfortunately the hybrids are all fertile and therefore the red deer gene pool in Ireland has nearly dissapeared completely.

In any case they are interesting to hunt and very wary, much more so than the fallow deer I usually stalk over there. The two males left cover at very very last light, nearly 5 o'clock. Fortunately the 56mm objective of the S&B scope helped place the shots.

quote:

Originally posted by jbderunz:
congratulations Gabriel.

How can one tell an hybrid from a sika?

Oh you,ll know when you start dragging one of them!!