Pete Lincoln
Well-Known Member
I was out stalking last night (evening) we had a mega storm here yesterday afternoon, wind, hail, rain,, the works, and the weather forcast was for another during the night, AFN was giving out severe weaher warnings, so i figured i'd use this to my advantage. Game seem to have a built in weather prediction capability and i knew this would mean lots of activity between the storms. I went out stalking fairly late, only giving me about 90 minutes before dark. Parked the jeep up and off i went. Stalking along a forest track towards my favorite spot, which is a meadow planted with larch trees, about 100m before the larches begin there is a small square shaped clearing, you can see most if this open patch from the track by glassing through the trees a good 50m before you reach it, ah.. what did i see, the rusty colour of the back line of a roe deer standing head down browsing in the long grass. step by step i crept nearer, no chance to shoot it through the trees, to much brush in the way, besides, i need to check on the age and sex of the beast. A magpie flew off from the opposite side of the clearing, making a right old racket as they usualy do, the deer raised its head to check out the commotion, ah, a doe..by the look of her head and face i could tell she was a younger beast. Yearling does have the same season as Roe Bucks in Germany, starting on May 1st. I needed to check that she was a yearling, i certainly didn't want to shoot a 2 yearold and orphan a couple of new born kids. As i crep nearer and nearer i the shape of her body and the method of her movement confirmed to me that she was indeed a young beast, one final verification was required, i needed to see her underside, preferably from the rear in order to make sure that she didn't have a full milk sack hanging down with her teats, this would have told me she had a fawn or kid hidden somewhere nearby and would have meant that although bieng a young beast, she was a 2 yearold. I had to work my way around behind her. She then wandered a few paces in my direction, facing me, but then turned side ways, i couldn't see her underside due to the long grass, i managed to get around behind her and could then see that she was dry, indeed a yearling doe and thus just right for the cull. Now i had to get back around to one side of her, deer tend to brows in roughly one direction, unlike wild boar which change direction every few seconds, i edged my was left, slowly slowly until i had her completely broad sided infront of me at about 25m with a big oak tree immediately behind her that would provide a good back stop for my bullet. I let the rifle slip from my shoulder and slowly raised it in her direction, turning the power setting on the PMII to 6x. I shouldered the rifle, put the safety to fire and then let out a slight whistle, she raised her head to see what the noise was and i shot her through both shoulders with a 165 grain SST. Ejecting the spent case and chambering another round, i made my way to where the deer lay, I could see by the dammage to the sapplings and bushes that the place was a favorite deer browsing spot, my plan to catch deer out between the storms had paid off. I inspected the teats of the deer, just to make sure once again she was dry.(stranger things have happened !) A nice yearling doe in prime condition, still moulting some of her winter coat, but for the most part that lovely rusty redy brown colour. I dragged her to a spot between some bushes and got her gralloched quickly, extreemly impressed by the sharpness of my hunting knife. I know a guy from Bavaria who has a small catering business as a side line, he has a professional knife sharpening machine in his cellar, this guy gets a knife sharper than a razor in a matter of minutes, I usualy visit him with a half dozen knives and he gives them a swift pass on his machine, he always gets an excellent edge that stays sharp, this is always a good time to sample one of his favorite Bavarian Weizen beers and he always has something good roasting in his oven that he always insists i taste. In return for the sharpening service i supply him with the occasional haunch of venison and a bottle of his favorite Scottish Malt.
I finished the gralloch and put the offal out of sight in some bushes, a good meal for the foxes or wild boar, whichever find it first. Saving a good slice of the liver for my dog Meg, she prefers heart, but the heart was pulverised.
Leaving the deer to be picked up later i carrioed on my stalk, to the eastern edge of the larch trees, making my way along a game trail and then into the centre of the meadow. I stood still waiting. About a half hour later i cought sight of a medium sized wild boar moving at the norther edge, I put the bino's up to glass it, I could see from the length of the snout that it was a sow. Dry sows are in season, so i needed to verify that she had no piglets nearby, for that i had to get closer, luckily she was coming towards me a few meters at a time, when she got within 50m i could see small stripey piglets, i counted 5 but there may have been 6. The sow continued in my direction, i knelt down under a larch tree, and held the rifle in her direction, just incase she got to close and decided to charge me to protect the piglets, she continued at a delibarate pace in my direction, when she was within 5m and still coming i decided i better move before she trod on me, i deliberately turned my head sideways, she spotted the movement instantly, grunted sharply, the piglest froze. The sow moved a meter in one direction and then back again, working out wht the bush infront of her had just moved strangely, I grunted at her, I could tell by the look on her face what she was thinking " what the ...?" she began to grunt her disaproval of me and made off in a North West direction, to my left. Stopping once in full view to grunt her dissatisfation once more. Those piglets will make good eating during the winter, I'll harvest a couple of them at least. I hung around untill the light had completely faded, just to see if any more pigs turned up. Nothing showed so i walked back and picked up the doe, fed the dog some liver and loaded them both into the jeep.Just as i was driving out of the woods the wind got up, the heavens opened once again and another good storm ensued. The weather can be your friend.
I finished the gralloch and put the offal out of sight in some bushes, a good meal for the foxes or wild boar, whichever find it first. Saving a good slice of the liver for my dog Meg, she prefers heart, but the heart was pulverised.
Leaving the deer to be picked up later i carrioed on my stalk, to the eastern edge of the larch trees, making my way along a game trail and then into the centre of the meadow. I stood still waiting. About a half hour later i cought sight of a medium sized wild boar moving at the norther edge, I put the bino's up to glass it, I could see from the length of the snout that it was a sow. Dry sows are in season, so i needed to verify that she had no piglets nearby, for that i had to get closer, luckily she was coming towards me a few meters at a time, when she got within 50m i could see small stripey piglets, i counted 5 but there may have been 6. The sow continued in my direction, i knelt down under a larch tree, and held the rifle in her direction, just incase she got to close and decided to charge me to protect the piglets, she continued at a delibarate pace in my direction, when she was within 5m and still coming i decided i better move before she trod on me, i deliberately turned my head sideways, she spotted the movement instantly, grunted sharply, the piglest froze. The sow moved a meter in one direction and then back again, working out wht the bush infront of her had just moved strangely, I grunted at her, I could tell by the look on her face what she was thinking " what the ...?" she began to grunt her disaproval of me and made off in a North West direction, to my left. Stopping once in full view to grunt her dissatisfation once more. Those piglets will make good eating during the winter, I'll harvest a couple of them at least. I hung around untill the light had completely faded, just to see if any more pigs turned up. Nothing showed so i walked back and picked up the doe, fed the dog some liver and loaded them both into the jeep.Just as i was driving out of the woods the wind got up, the heavens opened once again and another good storm ensued. The weather can be your friend.
