interlock
Member
Hi guys,
i have a quick report for you.
I went out roe stalking (still hunting in your language) last night. it's getting towards the end of the Buck season. The season starts 1st April and ends 31st October. (again a little giggle...)
I have been out maybe 8-10 times this year. I only shoot one animal per outing and have shot 6 bucks this year... i will go out again over the next couple of weeks....
then it will be Muntjac and Roe doe and fallow.
So last night i went to a local farm. it was pretty breezy. I was using my FN mauser 98 (1930 action) which has a 30-06 stainless barrel. Using a bushnell trophy 3-9 x 40. Home loaded 165 gr interlock spbt. loaded over 52 gr of N140. PPK in pocket in case i have to dispatch any injured animals.
The land is quite a long and narrow area. there is a particular area that has quite a few deer on it. The keeper has asked me to shoot some there.
I have shot this land for maybe 5-6 years. I shoot no Does and my target animals are yearlings before the rutt then after the rutt i look for any buck... generally i only see the yearlings after the rutt.... there is a good reason why big old bucks are big old bucks.
After having a rush about having to cook dinner for my kids i finally get to the farm.
I always hunt the wind... this is the most important thing.
but in order to get to the area i want to hunt i have to go for a 2 mile walk round the wind across ploughed fields after the rain. I had mud wieghing 2 stone each on my feet!
as i am now working into the wind there are loads of slots and sign of deer. I was there after the sun had been down for about 30 min. I was glassing the area really well, this is a hot spot.
As i walked down beside the hedge, i looked through the gap in the hedge and saw a deer. It was at an oblique angle and the deer was walking slowly broadside to me. It seemed a long way away, light was fading. I had a look through my binos and watched for a while. It was really dificult to see whether it was a buck or a doe. I saw some little skinny antlers and thought, we are on.
I put my rifle on sticks and looked through my scope, aquired the deer pretty easily... but it had walked forward a yard or so and about half way along the bullet flight was a bramble frond that obscured the ideal pocket.... Hell, thats my favourite shot gone. I thought "well i will go as far forward on the animal as i can without touching that bramble frond"
So i dropped the safety, Squeezed the shot off. "whomp" the sound of the impact was really clear, i also recognised the sound of a too far back shot.
The deer just folded up and went down.
As i followed up i had another round chambered in case i came across another.. i paced the shot out at 170 yards
I just rounded the corner of a bush and i saw a kid from this year grazing. Her spots had gone and she was about half grown. She was only 10 feet or so from me. I thought.."sh**, the light is bad, i hope that buck wasnt a doe and this little girls mum"
I watched the young deer for a moment ro two. Had it been a buck i would have shot it with the PPK. I bet there are not many deer culled with a ppk!
I continued my search for the deer, found it, it was a Buck as i knew.
i saw the bullet had entered the chest just in front of the diaphram. exitted the other side ... bringing stomach content with it.
On gralloch i saw the bullet had taken the back off both lungs, slit the stomach and mashed the liver.... remind me never to be shot with a high velocity rifle.... I did a full gralloch and recovered the animal.
When i got home i was able to cut about an 8 inch square from the side of the exit. the bullet had forced stomach contents and liver bits between all of the layers and membranes. I hosed the cavity out, It was ok. it will butcher out nicely, the bit i cut out was only ribs.
here is a picture. this is a yearling buck, the antlers get another tine as they get older. This is a perfect cull animal.
interlock
i have a quick report for you.
I went out roe stalking (still hunting in your language) last night. it's getting towards the end of the Buck season. The season starts 1st April and ends 31st October. (again a little giggle...)
I have been out maybe 8-10 times this year. I only shoot one animal per outing and have shot 6 bucks this year... i will go out again over the next couple of weeks....
then it will be Muntjac and Roe doe and fallow.
So last night i went to a local farm. it was pretty breezy. I was using my FN mauser 98 (1930 action) which has a 30-06 stainless barrel. Using a bushnell trophy 3-9 x 40. Home loaded 165 gr interlock spbt. loaded over 52 gr of N140. PPK in pocket in case i have to dispatch any injured animals.
The land is quite a long and narrow area. there is a particular area that has quite a few deer on it. The keeper has asked me to shoot some there.
I have shot this land for maybe 5-6 years. I shoot no Does and my target animals are yearlings before the rutt then after the rutt i look for any buck... generally i only see the yearlings after the rutt.... there is a good reason why big old bucks are big old bucks.
After having a rush about having to cook dinner for my kids i finally get to the farm.
I always hunt the wind... this is the most important thing.
but in order to get to the area i want to hunt i have to go for a 2 mile walk round the wind across ploughed fields after the rain. I had mud wieghing 2 stone each on my feet!
as i am now working into the wind there are loads of slots and sign of deer. I was there after the sun had been down for about 30 min. I was glassing the area really well, this is a hot spot.
As i walked down beside the hedge, i looked through the gap in the hedge and saw a deer. It was at an oblique angle and the deer was walking slowly broadside to me. It seemed a long way away, light was fading. I had a look through my binos and watched for a while. It was really dificult to see whether it was a buck or a doe. I saw some little skinny antlers and thought, we are on.
I put my rifle on sticks and looked through my scope, aquired the deer pretty easily... but it had walked forward a yard or so and about half way along the bullet flight was a bramble frond that obscured the ideal pocket.... Hell, thats my favourite shot gone. I thought "well i will go as far forward on the animal as i can without touching that bramble frond"
So i dropped the safety, Squeezed the shot off. "whomp" the sound of the impact was really clear, i also recognised the sound of a too far back shot.
The deer just folded up and went down.
As i followed up i had another round chambered in case i came across another.. i paced the shot out at 170 yards
I just rounded the corner of a bush and i saw a kid from this year grazing. Her spots had gone and she was about half grown. She was only 10 feet or so from me. I thought.."sh**, the light is bad, i hope that buck wasnt a doe and this little girls mum"
I watched the young deer for a moment ro two. Had it been a buck i would have shot it with the PPK. I bet there are not many deer culled with a ppk!
I continued my search for the deer, found it, it was a Buck as i knew.
i saw the bullet had entered the chest just in front of the diaphram. exitted the other side ... bringing stomach content with it.
On gralloch i saw the bullet had taken the back off both lungs, slit the stomach and mashed the liver.... remind me never to be shot with a high velocity rifle.... I did a full gralloch and recovered the animal.
When i got home i was able to cut about an 8 inch square from the side of the exit. the bullet had forced stomach contents and liver bits between all of the layers and membranes. I hosed the cavity out, It was ok. it will butcher out nicely, the bit i cut out was only ribs.
here is a picture. this is a yearling buck, the antlers get another tine as they get older. This is a perfect cull animal.
interlock
Last edited:
