Thread: new deer stalking technique

I have shot a lot of deer both here in England and Scotland but this has to be the strangest ever .I took a friend up to the west coast of Scotland (Argyll) where I lease 3000 acres ,he is new to deer stalking but is an experienced shotgun shooter. We have Red, Sika and Roe on this ground .I was hoping that the Sika deer were rutting as it was October but it was unusually warm and the Sika rut just wasn't happening. There was very little movement of deer that week ,but I took him to a big open very boggy and somewhat dangerous area ( large area's of it are just a floating raft of moss and scrubby grass with little under it should you break through, and I will not even try to walk on it, but the deer tend to like this area. Red deer particularly like this area as it is surrounded by hills. We sat there on a hill for some time just seeing a sika hind way off in the distance, I gave a red stag call and sure enough a stag answered almost 1 mile away. I eventually spotted a very large stag with 3 hinds on a hill at the far edge of our ground. I decided to take my friend the following morning to that spot walking or should I say struggling along the bank at the edge of the boggy area, eventually getting to a hill covered in bracken above where I had seen the stag the previous day. I gave one or two calls and we waited there for 2-3 hours but there was no answer from the stag and I think he had moved over the hills which is not our ground. We did spot a Sika hind but that is all. We decided to go back along the bank to the position we had started from, a faily ardious treck over very rough and boggy ground, finally getting to where we had first started which was a very rough grass ride at the edge of our boundary, we decided to have a break here to have a cigarette and coffee and sat down in the long grass, talking normally ,I had my back to the ride and my friend Dan was facing -looking up the ride. Dan suddenly said SHIT at the top of his voice and pointed behind me , I turned but couldn't see anything for the long grass so I pushed my way through this grass in a prone position, to my amazement there stood a red deer spiker at only 15 yards -safety off ,scope full of deer and I shot it .I have never in all my years of deer hunting shot one that close before.

Fantastic! That would be awesome just to tag along on a hunt like the in England!

Originally Posted by WhistlingWings

Fantastic! That would be awesome just to tag along on a hunt like the in England!

Dan my friend absolutely enjoyed his week in Scotland although it was a poor week for the deer except this one - he has now applied for his firearms certificate and will do a level 1 deer management course, and is totally hooked on deer stalking , he will now be coming with me every time I go up there.

Gotta love it when the deer come to you!

Sent from my GT-I9300T using Tapatalk

Good read cheers.
Its often when you let your guard down you see one when you least expect it,tho i usually stuff it up

Brilliant David and it is good to finally put a face to the name and talent.

Cheers for the write up, it's good to hear about hunting from somewhere overseas

Sent from my MT27i using Tapatalk 2

Well done Dave, that spiker is a beauty, must have been down wind if you were having a ciggy!!!!!!

Only took up deer hunting this year in NZ, yet to drop a wild one (only a farmed one) but would love to get up to Scotland one day to have a go

my mate who contracts in Norway got 2 red Stags (trophy heads) and a Sika (trophy head) in Scotland about two months ago....cost him a few bob though!!!!!!!

Originally Posted by David Whyman

Dan my friend absolutely enjoyed his week in Scotland although it was a poor week for the deer except this one - he has now applied for his firearms certificate and will do a level 1 deer management course, and is totally hooked on deer stalking , he will now be coming with me every time I go up there.

Good for him! I have never been to Scotland. On my bucket list!

Originally Posted by Scouser

Well done Dave, that spiker is a beauty, must have been down wind if you were having a ciggy!!!!!!

Only took up deer hunting this year in NZ, yet to drop a wild one (only a farmed one) but would love to get up to Scotland one day to have a go

my mate who contracts in Norway got 2 red Stags (trophy heads) and a Sika (trophy head) in Scotland about two months ago....cost him a few bob though!!!!!!!

If you ever get to the UK I would happily take you hunting in England and Scotland

Originally Posted by Scouser

Well done Dave, that spiker is a beauty, must have been down wind if you were having a ciggy!!!!!!

Only took up deer hunting this year in NZ, yet to drop a wild one (only a farmed one) but would love to get up to Scotland one day to have a go

my mate who contracts in Norway got 2 red Stags (trophy heads) and a Sika (trophy head) in Scotland about two months ago....cost him a few bob though!!!!!!!

I have shot a lot of deer -red, fallow, roe, muntjac and a few chinese water deer. I am not really a trophy hunter but this one was quite nice

Originally Posted by Scouser

Well done Dave, that spiker is a beauty, must have been down wind if you were having a ciggy!!!!!!

Only took up deer hunting this year in NZ, yet to drop a wild one (only a farmed one) but would love to get up to Scotland one day to have a go

my mate who contracts in Norway got 2 red Stags (trophy heads) and a Sika (trophy head) in Scotland about two months ago....cost him a few bob though!!!!!!!

Oh ! I missed out the Japanese Sika deer I also shoot.

You won't forget that one anytime soon David!
I'm currently back in the UK until Boxing Day and out this Friday after a Roe near Castle Howard.

Very nice David, thanks for sharing. I am very jealous the deer are rutting there at present, I am hanging out for them to start here...only 96 days until my first planned roar trip!

I also didn't realise there were Sika up there, have you any photos you could share of Sika from your hunting area?

Often when hunting deer in the native bush here in NZ you will see and if lucky shoot deer within 15 metres. My first stag I ever shot we roared in, he charged in through the ferns and as soon as I identified him I pulled the trigger. He dropped only four metres from the log we sat behind! A moment I'll never forget!

Originally Posted by JoshC

Very nice David, thanks for sharing. I am very jealous the deer are rutting there at present, I am hanging out for them to start here...only 96 days until my first planned roar trip!

I also didn't realise there were Sika up there, have you any photos you could share of Sika from your hunting area?

Often when hunting deer in the native bush here in NZ you will see and if lucky shoot deer within 15 metres. My first stag I ever shot we roared in, he charged in through the ferns and as soon as I identified him I pulled the trigger. He dropped only four metres from the log we sat behind! A moment I'll never forget!

Yes we have a lot of Japanese sika here both in Scotland and England, I have a photo somewhere of a young stag I shot, I will find it out for you. Sika have spread over many parts of Scotland and have inbred with the native Red deer which is not good , foresters hate them because of the damage they do stripping the bark off trees, and they are difficult to control being very wary deer that tend to stay pretty much in the trees. We also have some Manchurian sika in England . The best trophy sika have been shot in Lancashire ,England. here are some photo's of the chinese water deer I shot in Bedfordshire England in case you are not familiar with this species