I am lucky to have a local farm l have been helping to "Game Keep" their deer problem for over a decade now ,mainly managing the Fallow they have roaming in & out as like many land owners going back through the ages, they like the look of a few wandering around the place. I am normally called to help guide various relatives/friends etc on to a nice head when they feel the need & keep the numbers down & remove any problem animals.
What l normally do is keep the choice cuts & make my own sausages & salami out of the rest & keep the owners supplied with snags & nibbles for their summer/xmas BBQ season , something they are always grateful for & has lead to being asked by other farms to do the same on their land .
With the lock downs of late limiting hunting by the owners visiting relatives & friends , l have been called in to remove a few stags of late as they moved into unwanted areas & the owner is worried about attracting poachers (removed that White Fallow Stag a while ago because it was taking up home on a hillside visible from far away & poachers have been using drones for last couple of years) .
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I got the call a few weeks ago that the owners had unsuccessfully been trying to remove a problem Fallow Stag for months & had only succeeded in training it in how to avoid humans ,so as l normally hunt the land as spare time permits ,which with it being only 45 mins from my farms front gate to be glassing , means usually at least once a week ,with a meat animal taken on the regular, that we share with the neighboring farms families.
So after locating this cunning bugger skulking off into the bush line a couple of times after getting spooked by the wind or birds ,l looked around & tracked him so l could work out his favored spots .I decided this morning to head out for first light & catch him sunning himself across a valley ,l had already ranged the most likely spots from where l could get a good clear shot into various likely sun bed spots ,with ranges varying from 280-520 meters.
A while ago a client who became a close friend died in America & by complete surprise l found Capt'n Ron had left me various rifles , most were pretty similar to what l already owned so l decided to just leave them set up as he had them & use them for "special" hunts mainly ,he was a life long Military man who had a long & distinguished career around the world at the highest levels ,so he kept meticulous records on all his rifles & selected loads . So on this hunt l decided to take out a custom Remington 700 Sendero SF 2 .300RUM with Vortex HS LR 6x24-50 he left me & use that , with one of his selected light 150grn loads ,that l found shot into 14mm after testing, to hopefully take the Stag & l would keep the Head & Skin in Capt Rons memory ( l am not much of a "trophy" hunter any more).
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So after timing it perfectly so l was creeping into position under false dawn light, l settled in with a warm thermos of coffee to start glassing & waiting, after around 30 mins l could see movement behind the veil of bush across the valley & sure enough the cunning buggers head materialized through the bino's , as he stood warily surveying the surroundings from behind his bush screen, before he would cautiously step out in to the open .I quickly ranged the couple of most likely sunny spots l guessed he would head for & he eventually made his way out to a spot 335 mtrs away with a fair breeze coming up the valley, once he moved into my favored side on position for a shoulder shot ,aiming to punch through to the off shoulder ,l sent the Swift 150grn Scirocco pushed along at 3480fps & he dropped like a sack of spuds.
I have to admit something got in my eye & l just had a sit & coffee while l sat next to the Stag & l reflected on my decades of hunting & running amuck with Capt Ron around the world ,he was a keen diver, motorcycle rider & sky diver like me so we had many adventures & funny times together not just hunting ,but more than anything he was one of the most important male figures in my life, a loyal friend & a valuable mentor.
He would have enjoyed the morning on the hill .
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