First Stalking Trip to Scotland 2011

[ElmerThud]

Just arrived home completely knackered after three days stalking in Scotland. I'm too old for this stuff now!
My legs ache, back hurts, I'm stiff all over & all I shot was a pretty nice Billy Goat.

Early Wednesday morning saw me out on the hillside on Cairnsmore of Fleet looking for Red Deer Stags.....I saw none, but could hear a single stag grunting in the trees close by. I had no sight of it, although below me approx 150 yards off, a Hind, follower & calf walked into a clearing.
They are safe until Oct. 21st when the season on them opens.
I waited a long time in the hope the stag would show to gather up the hinds......it's fast approaching the rutt now. The stag didn't show & I eventally gave up waiting.

I had a good stalk on Wednesday evening onto an eight point red deer stag, took about an hour + crawling/sliding to get within decent range for a shot, by which time the beast had moved into high bracken & spindly trees preventing a clear shot.
Eventually, I just ran out of light waiting for a clear shot chance.
Disappointing to say the least, but that's hunting for you.

Thursday had my three friends & I back out getting to the high ground again and although all of us saw stags ranging from 'Prickets' through to properly antlered hill stags, two of us couldn't get to them quickly enough before they disappeared from sight back into the trees.

One of my friends, John, had gone to where I had been on Wednesday morning following a stag he'd seen earlier from the other side of the hill. While waiting, he heard the sound of hooves, followed then by two red stags coming into view in full flight. From the direction they came, they must have winded John and sheared off away. Then a massive Red Deer stag came into his sight. Winded John & stopped instantly. Within 10 seconds the shot was fired & his .243Win Browning & brought down one of the biggest stags seen on our ground. A dressed out (Head off, legs off, organs out & skinned) 260lb (18.5 stone) 10 point stag.
I'd say it was the stag I'd heard grunting on Wed. morning....establishing his rutting ground.

Roger meantime, on the far side of the ground had just dropped a pricket......

We had to get the trailer to bring John's stag in, as there was no way it would be brought in on a quad bike.

Lots of fun in the cottage during the evenings, with plenty of Whisky consumed through our few days in Scotland and a good bit of fun made of one of the lads who'd become 'distracted' while loading his ammo & forgotten to put primers in some of his rounds! A good job he had some of last years ammo still in his pocket.
Back to Scotland again in two weeks time to hunt the stags again.
Cheers, ET

 

[Elkman]

Elmer

Great narrative, sounds like a very nice hunt, I have been there and loved the country and the people.

Whats a pricket?

Thanks for the the story. !!!

 

[ElmerThud]

Hi Elkman, a pricket is the same as a spiker...no tines on the antlers, just spikes. Cheers, ET

 

[Guy Miner]

Pricket, knackered... And on you go... When will you people start using English? :grin:

Enjoyed the hunt report. And that you seem to have thoroughly enjoyed the hunt despite not getting a shot. Sad to say, I get to enjoy a lot of hunts like that.

Best of luck next trip!

 

[Gm weatherby man]

In Canada, either your grocery shopping or your Horn hunting in whitch case you might go years with out shooting. My rule is if I pass up and skunk out a season then I must lower my expectation the next year, so this I'll be shooting slicks myself if I don't start pulling trigger on Muley this year. :lol:

 

[ElmerThud]

That's the English language for you Guy, play with it as you like. We don't all speak the 'Queens' English. Having said that, many of us object to those using the various kinds of slang used quite commonly these days.

The hunting? - It's all about the 'Crack' - The enjoyment of being with good friends, sharing food, drink & fun. Hauling in what's been shot, dressing it out & cleaning up afterwards.
I wouldn't swap these times or want to miss them.

Unfortunatley, no pics this time out. Shame as we wanted some of John's big stag.
We didn't get the stag to the cottage until 21.30hrs & the temperature is very warm currently, so dressing it & getting it into the chill room was the only option. There is a lot of meat needed to be cooled down.
Cheers, ET

 

[sask boy]

Great story, look forward to your next hunt and some photos. I have to agree with you just being out there with friends and family is what it is all about.
If you get to knock down a animal or 2 that is truly a bonus. :mrgreen:
Blessings,
Dan

 

[DrMike]

Good to hear of the success on your stalking trip. I do believe that it was Sir Winston who spoke of the United States and Great Britain as two great nations separated by a common language.

 

[ElmerThud]

Definitely believe you're right about that Mike....but he forgot to speak about which side of the road to drive on! Now that's a politician eh !!

 

[DrMike]

[H]e forgot to speak about which side of the road to drive on! Now that's a politician eh !!

Excellent point; and he was quite the politician!

 

[ElmerThud]

Thanks a lot you guys. It's a pleasure to report our first trip to Scotland this season.
Our next appointment with stags is during w/comm. 3rd Oct. The lads will be at the cottage for the week. Sadly This year I cannot go.
I would have gone up on Thursday 6th until Sunday, but it's my wifes birthday .......and it's an important one, so I shall have to be home and wait for our following trip at wk/comm. 17th Oct. - this trip will also see the stag season close, with hinds & does opening on 21st Oct.
This trip, I shall not miss & shall be hoping for rather better luck .

The carry on during the trip was as always fun & commenced with Roger going north fishing for salmon on the Border Esk on Monday last. He caught four salmon & then carried on to the cottage for the night, where he met Andrew, another syndicate member.
They enjoyed a quiet evening but as the following morning dawned, while preparing to travel north, my phone rang. It was R. 'Do you want the laugh of the year?' he asked.
'Go on, tell me' I replied......
Now R has got his new 6.5x47 Lapua custom rifle, which the previous weekend after he broke in the barrel all the previous week, we had worked up a useable ammunition load. All he had to do, was load more ammunition to the useable load data.
'I've forgotten to put primers in the cartridge cases' he told me. '& I've only three rounds of ammunition'.
'You clown' I replied, laughing my head off, whereupon, arrangements were made for me to collect all his reloading gear & take it to Scotland for us to re-make his ammunition.
You can be sure, this incident has not and will not be forgotten, also that we shall be reminding R for a considerable time, of his error.

In due course when pics are available and a little more detail, I'll let you know more of the new rifle.
Roger did of course 'Blood it' with a young stag last Thursday evening.
Cheers, ET

 

[DrMike]

I am laughing with you at Roger forgetting primers. There is never a trip that I don't forget some essential gear. It is getting worse on an annual basis!

 

[NoelW]

Now that's funny! I'm sure it's not that funny to Roger though. May even get less funny to him each time you bring it up.

 

[ElmerThud]

It's all right though, - we'll just ply him with scotch & have a good laugh about it.
The ammo was for his new rifle & he got 'Distracted'.....naturally we all told him it's his age & senility setting in to blame, also he'd be needing to use Tena Ladies soon!
Cheers, ET

 

[257 Ackley]

Tom -
Great to hear about the good times on the first stalk! Looking forward to hearing how the hind stalk goes for you later in the month.

Those darn birthdays and anniversaries that get in the way of fall hunting trips need to be celebrated at other times of the year :mrgreen: . My "ex" wanted our wedding the weekend of opening deer hunting when she was planning it. I let her know that it would be the only one I would ever be around for, so she changed the date.

 

[ElmerThud]

Hi J. yes, the first outing to Cairnsmore was full of incident & fun, with a great bit of stalking too.
Naturally the evenings were fuelled by a wee drinkie and we re-made R's ammo.

Birthdays are difficult, but not so much of a problem usually. It just happens, this year is of particular importance & I always knew it would clash. Still, wk comm 17th Oct. I get another shot at stags & later in the week the hinds will be in season.....& who knows which day what is shot!!!
Just in that week though!
Cheers, Tom

 

[efw]

So much for "no .243s on elk", eh?

Good story and cool pics. That has got to be some stunning country. That is definately on my bucketlist...

 

[ElmerThud]

There are always debates on the 'Best Calibre' for Red & Sika stags over here in UK efw.

The truth is, it depends on the shooter, his confidence in his rifle & accuracy of shot placement.
My friends & I used .243Win for over 25 years for all UK species and when I and Roger changed to use a slightly bigger calibre, the reason was most certainly NOT because a .243Win couldn't cope with the big stuff.

The Red deer here are not always, but often found to contain Elk/Wapiti strains. These animals grow noticeably larger than wild Scottish 'Hill' beast & often come from previous generations of escaped 'Park' deer. Make no mistake, they're wild and are great to see & particulary grand when mixed with wild Galloway Red stags that are rather bigger anyway.

However, the deer that die 'Hardest' are the Japanese Sika. Smaller than reds, some have interbred producing a hybrid. So Sika are pretty much shot on sight if they move from tree cover to open hill where the reds reside. When shot, 90% of the time Sika will run. Doesn't matter the calibre used, when shot, they run. They always fall over in the most difficult, tough to recover the carcass position/place and make life difficult for the hunter.
The most useful function a larger calibre bullet can perform with these beast, is to provide an exit hole large enough to leave a good blood trail.
The only time they don't run, is when neck shot correctly.

We don't have Sika on our ground in Galloway, but have shot them a few times on commercial estates in Sutherland in the Highlands. Whatever way you cut it and whichever beast you shoot, the sport out on the hill in Scotland is magnificent with fantastic tradition.
You're so right to have a stalking trip to Scotland on your bucket list.

My friends, Roger, John & Andrew are up there again right now. The stags are roaring as the rut is on but, they're hiding in the trees as the weather is pretty appalling right now. Very high winds and lashing down with rain. Hopefully, there will be a break in this rubbish during the day and first thing tomorrow morning when the stags will show.
Cheers, ET