Greenbear Posted August 14, 2010 Report Share Posted August 14, 2010 Hi all, From some of my other posts you can see that I am just back from my annual trip to beautiful Scotland, three of us made the trip to Auchencairn which is just north of Dumfries. We make the trip as were have access to over two thousand acres of beautiful woodland and clear fell. The trip did not start well as when we reported to the estate stalker he advised that its been a very poor season with little or no activity, great 350 mile journey and no deer! Still we were in it to win it and we left for our Monday evening stalk and split up on the land, I had my Browning .270 with me and decided my actions this year would be plenty of land coverage. The weather had played major part in the bad season and showed no sign of letting up, strong wind and intermittent showers made the evening unpleasant, sadly this trend was to stay with us for the week. I had stalked for over an hour when rustling no further than 30 feet from me was quickly followed by a small doe with a mouthful of grass, I held her intense gaze for a few seconds before she turned and fled in the nimble pretty way only roe can do, although not a buck, it was a deer seen. 20 minutes later I was glassing a a small copse and my attention was caught to movement, its amazing how quickly the excitement rises when you glass the full red sheen of summer coat only to have that excitement drop when she raises her head, the doe was closely followed by two fawns, a pretty sight on a cold and wet night. Finally over three hours of cold wet staking I was trudging to my collection point, allowed my concentration to drop and withing 100 yards of being picked up a bump a deer only to see the rear end disappearing at a rapid rate A lesson learned it aint over till it's over. Still 5 deer seen in my first evening was promising. My friends both returned without seeing a deer so spirits were a little low and not to say wet!!!!!!! Tuesday and Wednesdsay proved to be fruitless in every way, huge areas of land covered, 1000's of acres glassed and not a deer seen by myself, you soon doubt your own skills when your not even seing deer, let alone shooting any. Still brown hare, kestrel and buzzard are all on show so the walk is stunning. My colleagues take great delight in spying decent bucks and lose no time in pointing out my failings, so much so I had to resort to the local chinese take away on the Wednesday night for some well deserved comfort food. A full change of clothing was required after each stalk so wet jackets were all that was left by the Thursday morning our last days stalking, the am stalk again proved to be fruitless, plenty of slots seen crossing a run in a nice wooded area I am convinced they were not there the night before. Excited, cold and wet we all prepare for the final outing on Thursday evening, no deer shot but confirmed buck sightings by my friends I get out of the landrover and prepared for the outing to be greeted by two enormous claps of thunder following by torrential rain coming at me horizontally I got three hours of this I sighed and settled under my poncho. As I followed a ride around a corner movement away in the clearfell alerted me to a deer, again the intense excitement as you confirm a deer, followed by bad language when she again looks at you with her big doe eyes, I stand and watch her gracefully negotiating the clear fell, nimbly walking around with not a care in the world, unsights I continue to watch her and then - ears 5 yards behind her, I glass and convince myself between the ears of the deer couched down lie two nice 3 point antlers , I have no clear shot so I must move in on them, I spy a gully running close to them and attempt to negotiate clearfell and gully in order to get into a shootable position Up to my neck in water and bog, snapping felled branched like a logger, I didn't even see them leave. Biting the bullet (no pun) I stalk up the small mountan to the top and and sit like a wet gnome on a tree stump feeling very dejected and wet, in between rain the midges come out in droves and attack me as if I am the only animal dull enough to be out in these conditions. I sit with a great vantage point and after 45 minutes there he is, my elusive buck, a good 4 pointer, I glass him for 5 minutes and settle in to a shootable position, he ranged in at 293 yards, too far I watch and watched as he moved parallel to me unaware of my presence but never dropping the range, I watched him for 15 minutes before he dropped into one of the gullys' and was gone for good. In all we spied plenty of deer but not one presented a safe and clear shot, a great time was had by all with laughter and abuse all week long. We are now planning next years trip, we fancy a change, so if any body wants or knows of reasonable culling then we three would be interested, red fallow would be nice. However I am not Dutch and some tentative enquiries today has left me laughing at what some outfits want for helping to meet their cull. ATB GB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6mmBR Posted August 14, 2010 Report Share Posted August 14, 2010 Nice write up Wayne, sounds like a good trip even if you didn't get a shot. Better luck next trip. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brown dog Posted August 14, 2010 Report Share Posted August 14, 2010 Great write-up; some of my pals think I'm a little mad when I say that I enjoy mountain days with fieldcraft and rifle as much whether I connect or not; even more so when the weather's a little 'epic'; glad to see that I'm not the only one! Judging by last weeks forecasts you must have had some howlingly bad weather! Just dug out this old photo of me on a shocker of a day (back when I still thought tweed breeches were the way to go ) piss-wet-through, heavy sleet, boots sloshing with water - a great day on the hill! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenbear Posted August 14, 2010 Author Report Share Posted August 14, 2010 Brown dog - That picture sums the week up in one shot - I didn't dare take mine out of its protective cover. But as you say the week was very enjoyable, I have heard different stories about bucks being more active in thunder storms than normal, though carrying a metal rifle in a thunder storm didn't seem particularly bright Dave, the week was great, it is a real shame when you don't get a shot off, but the rest of the week was so good I cannot complain. cheers Wayne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tikka3006 Posted August 15, 2010 Report Share Posted August 15, 2010 as Wayne says it was an excellent week for company but a poor weeks of stalking, deer were seen by all, mostly doe's but there were some bucks and these were mostly in excess of 300yds away, not a problem in most places but here on the planting and clear fell getting in range requires some planning & thought, I stalked to within 150yds of one buck the wind came round onto the back of my neck and it was all over, this year you could spin on the spot and the wind would be behind you. putting the weather aside we had a challanging but enjoyable week Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gandy Posted August 17, 2010 Report Share Posted August 17, 2010 Cracking write up mate, and tell me about the £ of stalking whilst not being dutch I'm from Yorkshire which already puts me at a disadvantage when paying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenbear Posted August 17, 2010 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2010 Gandy, The rate varies on the venue and who take's you out, typically it's £60.00 (ish) an outing and charges then vary for cull animals to trophy animals. This can range from £35 to £1000+. This is for paid escorted stalking. syndicate stalking is a different ball game and again depends on your pocket, there are some excellent people on this site that could sort accompanied stalking out for you. Hope this helps GB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NICK Posted August 17, 2010 Report Share Posted August 17, 2010 GreenBear I shoot on a 3000 acre lump in the Borders. We are not seeing the activity we expected. I know we get poached but i cannot help but think the extremely hard winter took its toll on all but the very strongest Deer. We had thick Snow on ground well into March. Would be interested in your opinions on this. Maybe worth a fresh post. Nick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIG 30 Posted August 18, 2010 Report Share Posted August 18, 2010 Hello Nick, I hear that some of your syndicate are seeing the activity they expected Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenbear Posted August 19, 2010 Author Report Share Posted August 19, 2010 Hi Nick, I spoke to the keeper in charge up there and he said it was a bad year all round, his own land suffered this year as well. We also spoke to a a chap we met whilst getting some food and he was a keen fisher/shooter, he told us that he saw deer suffer badly during the winter and that 100's had came as low as they could in the search of food, all looked very thin and unkempt. The land we shoot over I feel the same as you has been poached Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NICK Posted August 20, 2010 Report Share Posted August 20, 2010 Hello Nick, I hear that some of your syndicate are seeing the activity they expected Big30 I do not feel as guilty about eating your Twixes and drinking all your Lucozade out of the Caravan now Nick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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