Hi All

Just back from Portugal where we did some stag stalking and a couple of Monterias.

My Stag, taken on the second day. in typical drive hunt style, I was standing around listening to all the shots going off at what seemed like everywhere but my stand when this guy and his mate ran straight into me over the brow of the hill. There was a momentary stand-off whilst we each decided which way to run and as he went down the hill towards me the 308 hit him on the shoulder. The second shot at 75yds caught him behind the ear so I was lucky not to take the antler off!! in all it took about 3 seconds. The result is a management 12 point.




Some more Stags taken on the second day



Here is a broken 12pt (down to 10pt) Ed took.




Ed's 14pt stag taken whilst stalkingin the pouring rain on the last morning. Te weather cleared just in time for the pictures!!




A small wildboar Ed kicked out of the undergrowth on the way back to the car after a failed stalk on a silver medal stag he was after.



As always in Portugal the food was plentiful and good quality. We ate lots of local specialities over the three days but we all kept coming back to the salted cod and grilled pork whcih were excellent. This one was to share, not just mine!!



One of the meeting rooms


The monteria dogs:



There should be some more photos top come soon.

I think something to remember when looking at these hunts is that driven hunting is a lottery. We (8 guns) took 79 head of game on three monterias, although the third one didn't quite go the way we would have liked, as the game was absent from the Valley we hunted that morning, so we could have been on a much higher bag. It is easy to look at videos on-line that make it look like non stop action when in reality you are on a stand for 3-4 hours with sporadic bursts of excitement.

This is what makes driven hunting fun for me. The game appears from no where and you have to make a quick running shot whilst evaluating a heap of variables. The beaters and dogs worked really hard and on the whole we all got some shooting in varying degrees. I managed to take three hinds and the stag. The stag was the only shot inside of 250yds so you need to be prepared to shoot longer distances and sticks are a great asset on your stand.

Thanks to everyone that came along and joined in, it was great fun hanging out for a few days.

Rgds,
Kiri

Kiri,

Interesting to hear the nuts and bolts behind the photos.

Are most of the longer shots at stationary game?

Hiya

How are you? We were talking about you the other day with Griff. I hope all is good at your end?

In terms of the ranges we encountered. I took three hinds at 250yds to 300 yds all of which were stationary shots. I shot the stag at 75m at full pelt and I also had two missed shots at hinds that were about the same distance.

Some guys were shooting walking or running game well at 100-200 yds but I had one opportunity at a small pig at 250yds that I missed. It is a skill that is beyond me if I am honest, and often I just wasn't comfortable enough to take those longer shots, especially on the first couple of days.

The guys shot most of their game inside of 100m but it seems to me that more so than in eastern european boar hunts , the shots on the Iberian hunts can be longer and the locals do very well at it.

Some of the locals commented that we didn't take on the longer shots but I think that is a reflection of our stalking culture and the fact that we neither are used to taking those shots nor do we feel comfortable with the lack of certainty of what you are shooting at.

It was an interesting experience and most definately a very different approach to reducing a deer herd than we were used to here.

Over all I prefer the inclusion of deer in the bag as they are more predictable in their availability, and also the fact that Portugal has so many big stags available is a big plus for the travelling stalker.

Rgds,
K

Great hunt Kiri, congrats. Those stags appear to have a size advantage over the Scottish ones.

Cheers
Mchael

Sounds like a fun hunt. Seems we're always hearing great things about Portugal. Nice work Kiri.

quote:

Originally posted by mdstewart:
Great hunt Kiri, congrats. Those stags appear to have a size advantage over the Scottish ones.

Cheers
Mchael

Hey michael,

Yes they have some huge stags out there indeed. As a guide, The 14pt is a middle of the road stag. They get a lot bigger than that too.

K

quote:

Originally posted by Norton:
Sounds like a fun hunt. Seems we're always hearing great things about Portugal. Nice work Kiri.

Hi norton,

I've been taking people to Portugal stalking for a few years now and they all love it. I think it is probably the best value location if you want to hunt medal stags.

I'll be putting some packages in the hunts offered section soon.

K

My wife and I tagged along with Kiri on this one as well, In fact, that is us on the left in the second picture. It was a really fun time with a bunch of great people. The food on this trip was wonderful and I really needed pants with an elastic waist band after most of our meals.

I drew pretty good stations and was able to take seven hinds and two stags. I only had one opportunity for a pig and couldn't make the shot. Most of my shots were under 70 yards. I did take two hinds and one stag at longer ranges. Like Kiri said, it was luck of the draw on your stations.

I may do a full report later but we just got in early this morning and my eyes are a bit weary and my bed is calling my name.

Kiri,

Waidmannsheil to all!

Sounds like one Hell of a good time was had by all. Great report and photos.

Don

Hey Kiri - Congratulations on a great stag and thanks for posting up the trip. 'Looks amazing. I put it on my bucket list.

Cheers.

Kent

Nice hunt and report!