First "English" red stag
Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2012 7:53 pm
Well as the result of an invite to shoot an English Red stag - I was out of the house at an un-healthy hour this morning. Traffic was favourable when I arrived at my hosts house - he appeared in his dressing gown - moaning about Man flu!! - wuss.
Eventually dragged him to the stalking ground and fair play to him, he didn't moan too much!!
We set off to locate a Red hopefully, the weather was not looking promising and the forecast was for heavy rain later this morning. Working quietly through his ground, we saw a couple of nice Hinds and a Roe buck, but of course no Red stag!
We settled on top a high bank to look out over the ground, looking through the gorse and down to wards the woods on the left I picked up some movement with the binoculars - it was impossible to work out what it was in the dense cover of the wood, but eventually it edged forward and I could see it was indeed a Red Stag. A quick confirmation with my host that he was happy for me to shoot this one and a waiting game ensued.
The range finder put it at 324yds, far too far to consider a shot. Given were we had setup camp, it was going to be difficult for us to move without spooking the stag, who had now come out of the wood and was stood in the margins of the field.
Time to crawl, I edged forward through the gorse, as slow and deliberate as I could, getting to the edge of the gorse and the edge of any useable cover, the range finder showed 207yds. The backstop was a nice soft field behind, due to the steep angle of the bank(can't call it a hill, it was in England!) I was now lying down on - Ideally I would have preferred a sitting shot, given the angle of the shot. Knowing though that if I had sat up the Stag would have seen me, I remained prone. It felt rather odd with my feet higher than my head, but I settled the scope on to the stag and mentally made the decision that the shot was on.
A little further than I had anticipated but I was confident that I could safely make the shot. Aiming slightly higher than if the Stag had been on level ground (so that the angle of the shot would not take the bullet below the heart) I squeezed the trigger. The stag reacted by lifting his right leg very slightly, took a step forward and went down. I reloaded and waited watching for movement or to shoot again if it got back up. It did not.
I collected my thoughts and waited for what seemed like an age, before making in to the Stag. Stopping some way out, I checked with the Binoculars for any chest movement, but was happy it was dead.
Gralloched where it fell, before being recovered to the farm, where it was broken down and placed in the cool boxes in my truck. Very happy with the shot placement, taking heart and lungs. The 6.5x55 was more than up to the job, bringing to the larder a cracking 11 point stag.
Mike
Eventually dragged him to the stalking ground and fair play to him, he didn't moan too much!!
We set off to locate a Red hopefully, the weather was not looking promising and the forecast was for heavy rain later this morning. Working quietly through his ground, we saw a couple of nice Hinds and a Roe buck, but of course no Red stag!
We settled on top a high bank to look out over the ground, looking through the gorse and down to wards the woods on the left I picked up some movement with the binoculars - it was impossible to work out what it was in the dense cover of the wood, but eventually it edged forward and I could see it was indeed a Red Stag. A quick confirmation with my host that he was happy for me to shoot this one and a waiting game ensued.
The range finder put it at 324yds, far too far to consider a shot. Given were we had setup camp, it was going to be difficult for us to move without spooking the stag, who had now come out of the wood and was stood in the margins of the field.
Time to crawl, I edged forward through the gorse, as slow and deliberate as I could, getting to the edge of the gorse and the edge of any useable cover, the range finder showed 207yds. The backstop was a nice soft field behind, due to the steep angle of the bank(can't call it a hill, it was in England!) I was now lying down on - Ideally I would have preferred a sitting shot, given the angle of the shot. Knowing though that if I had sat up the Stag would have seen me, I remained prone. It felt rather odd with my feet higher than my head, but I settled the scope on to the stag and mentally made the decision that the shot was on.
A little further than I had anticipated but I was confident that I could safely make the shot. Aiming slightly higher than if the Stag had been on level ground (so that the angle of the shot would not take the bullet below the heart) I squeezed the trigger. The stag reacted by lifting his right leg very slightly, took a step forward and went down. I reloaded and waited watching for movement or to shoot again if it got back up. It did not.
I collected my thoughts and waited for what seemed like an age, before making in to the Stag. Stopping some way out, I checked with the Binoculars for any chest movement, but was happy it was dead.
Gralloched where it fell, before being recovered to the farm, where it was broken down and placed in the cool boxes in my truck. Very happy with the shot placement, taking heart and lungs. The 6.5x55 was more than up to the job, bringing to the larder a cracking 11 point stag.
Mike
Iain hunting - Karen cooking
