Red Deer -Scotland

[Roe Buck]

I received my Defensive Edge 6.5x284 a couple of weeks ago and have been sorting out a load and putting it through my crono etc.
I got my first victim the other day ( Roe Deer ) at 90yrds the 140 amax left a tennis ball sized exit and took half a lung with it and spread it like fertelizer up the field.
Today i was shooting Red Deer Hinds (females) with my mate Murph.We set off early with the stalker (guide) as the weather wasnt going to be great in the afternoon.We spied some Hinds straight away but they were on edge and didnt
hang about but it wasnt long before we saw another group (20) and set off for them but a couple of Stags spotted us and headed over too the hinds and must have told them a world of hurt was heading their way ( they didnt hang about to find out ).We hiked over to the next Glen (valley) it was shrouded in mist but started to clear we spotted two groups on the opposite hill.While we discussed a plan we spotted another group which would be easier to get so we went for them
Murph fires first and the hind goes down as if some one has stolen all the bones out of its body
i fire next but hit my hind a bit low as i am reloading Murph takes another and i finish mines off the rest take to their heels and vanish into the mist
the weather man was spot on it started snowing in the afternoon time to head home
i have been watching three Roe deer feeding next to my target and have the day off tomorrow one of them is dead it just doesnt know it yetgun)

 

[Murph]

Where are the rest of the pictures Bud??

I especially like the one of me breathing thru my arse, another good day on the hill. to have an even better one I better get me some gym time and less time with plates of food in front of me

Murph

 

[Roe Buck]

this was the Roe that was hanging around next to my target shot it at 344yrds

 

[MontanaRifleman]

Great Pics Roe buck! That 6.5x284 is a great cartridge and one nice outfit you have! I love Scotland... hope I can get back there for another visit someday. Thanks for sharing.

Mark

 

[Slopeshunter]

Great pics guys, thanks for sharing! Sure looks moist over there. Nice looking country to see.

 

[Murph]

Ok guys here is another picture from the day. I am trying to keep this all PC with folks this side of the pond. The fat ugly fecker in ths pic is my fat self. the others enjoying the free ride downhill are about 40% of the days cull. shot by 3 shooters. all in all a great day on the hill, the conditions were by no means perfect, but then again they were not that bad. maybe roebuck can edit some more pics and get them up here. its just a pity we have to be so carefull so as not to give too much away and let the antis know where we are stalking.

all the best

Murph

 

[Chas1]

Great pics and a nice rig. That's a whole lot a meat ya got there

 

[Murph]

Lmao

Thanks Chas

I didnt think the "meat" showed up that well in the trousers I was wearing you must have better eye sight than me.

Murph

 

[Chas1]

Not your trousers...meat on the truck

 

[HUAINAMACHERO]

Congrats, nice pics, looks you guys had a great time.
Nice story, cool rig you have there!!!

 

[FEENIX]

Excellent harvest and thanks for sharing! I too enjoyed my tour of Scotland when I was stationed at RAF Lakennheath ... what a beautiful country and people. I wanted very much to have the opportunity to hunt the highlands but I didn't know how to go about it nor had the fund$ to do it ... maybe next time.

 

[MontanaRifleman]

Great pics Murph! Looks like you guys had a blast... so give some more details, bullet performance.... ranges, etc and it's OK to lie a little on the yardage

What do you do with those critters? They look like they would be tastey

 

[Murph]

Hmmm Where do I start.

Roebucks rig is as at the start of the post. He is shooting 140 amax's and Im not 100% sure how fast he is running them. My rig is a howa 1500 in 7mm wsm with a 25" 1 in 8" twist Border barrel fitted with a 5.5 X 22 NXS and a pes t12 Moderator. Im shooting 162 amax's at 2980 fps.

All the deer we shot were taken between 250 and 400 yds. not exactly long range but not all of them were standing still at the time. all the deer I shot dropped on the spot and one of roebucks took two shots as he has explained. there were no exit wounds on any of the deer. not many estate stalkers will let you take shots at these ranges, unless they know you are capable of making a clean kill at that range. The normal practice here is to stalk into 100 yards and then take a heart / lung shot. again unless the stalker you are out with knows you well, and is confident in your abilities, you will not get to shoot much beyond 100 yards unless it is for a follow up shot on a wounded animal.

I think the only reason we got to shoot at the ranges we did was because the stalker knows us both, We kept on bumping into stags who would watch us, let us pass. and then just before we got into a shooting position on the group of hinds, they would bug out and the hinds would follow them. The 2 stags in the photo at the beginning of the post were less than 30 yards from us, and never even bothered to move untill we were about 250 yards past them toward some hinds.

Stalking over here is a bit different from your side of the pond, this time of the year is when the hind cull is taking place, and each estate will have a cull figure to reach. perhaps as many as 150 mature hinds and 50-70 calfs. if the weather is not playing ball this puts the estate stalkers under pressure to get their cull numbers. This is when we will see as high numbers being shot as possible, so that if the weather turns for the worse the cull figure can still be reached.

We will typically pay £150 for a days hind stalking, and on some estates your day is over when you have shot 1 or 2 hinds. it depends on how long the carcase extraction will take, and how near the cull figure the estate stalker is. sometimes like the day we had, there will be a lot of hinds shot because there are plenty of toys (argo / quads) to get the carcases off the hill.

Normally the paying shooters dont get to keep the carcases as these will go to the estate where they are shot. they are then sold to a gamedealer and the estate makes money from them. some estates give you the option to purchase the meat at gamedealer rates. But for a lot of shooters like myself this makes the day too expensive. for instance the average hind in the larder weighs in around the 130lb mark and the current gamedealer price for red deer is around £1.30 per lb. It does taste good but it is still a bit rich for my pocket.

Perhaps if we are lucky Roebuck will furnish us with a couple more photo's of the day

all the best

Murph

 

[Roe Buck]

another couple of pics