In Scotland and various areas of England, Red deer can be stalked, also the Sika deer in some areas, (introduced) and also Roe deer in many areas plus fallow deer.

 

If you have access to stalking you will usually get your FAC no bother, apart from the usual storage and such provisos.

I think Tony had shooting in the forestry commission lands, where they like to keep the numbers of red deer down due to damage of young trees. 

I have been over here for more than 34 years now, so it may have changed a bit, but the old .303 was popular for red deer, and the .243 plus .223 for the smaller varieties.

We had the little roe deer on the farm back in Yorkshire.

 

If you have deer forest on your land, there is no such thing as tags;

It's up to the landowners to sort out how many heads they will take, and which ones to keep a healthy balance.  For this reason, a good number of poor breeding stock are taken, including too old or hummel stags, and switches.    (Hummels, no antlers, and switches only grow  single long sword-like antlers)  Switches can be very deadly in the rut, so are culled out as far as possible.

It is the same with hinds/does;  more poor breeding stock is taken than good ones, it is all to keep the healthiest herd possible.

 

Over here, I am always surprised that we see such decent deer...............as everyone shoots the best and leaves all the scrubs to breed!

 

Hope this helps Honks,

 

Richard.

 

I think all hunting with hounds has been banned.

I was always rooting for the fox myself!

 

Thinking about my reply, Tonks, I should add that stalking is a good name for it, especially in Scotland, where "deer forest" is often open and bleak hill country.....no trees very often.

 

Up there, binoculars are very rarely used, as they do not have the magnification to assess deer heads at a mile or two, or  further away.  A good telescope is always carried, plus a (Can't think of the name of it!)  walking stick anyway. normally a thumb-stick or the same as a shepherd's crook.  This is used to steady the telescope, used like a monopod.

"Glassing the hill" can take a very long time, and when the quarry has been determined, a stalk is initiated, keeping as much as possible to dead ground/cover, and can take a Long time!

For this kind of sport, "Stalking" is as good a name as any....as that's exactly what it is!

 

Sometimes a pony is still used for removing the deer from the hill after gralloching, but nowadays an "Argocat" or Land-Rover or whatever are often used.

Many large estates let some of the shooting as Shamu says, so a days deer stalking can be had, where even the rifle can be borrowed.  A ghillie has to accompany the stalker for obvious reasons.

 

Best,

R.

 

 

 

 

 

Yes it is enjoyed, more as joints (roasts) than sausage!    Sometimes done in red wine....

 

I just looked up some photos to give you an idea of Scottish deer forest.  As you will see, only way to transport your quarry from the hill is pony or drag it at times.

As you can see, shots are normally fairly Long.

Rifle is often carried in a case until needed. 

Actually, I might be wrong.  it may be a surpressor.....

 can't quite tell.  (like image above)

 

Richard.

 

I have seen a lot of photos, more recent ones, and they often have Something on their barrel. It seems they're shooting with it on, so not just a sock...Never saw anything like that years ago.

i had thought that the roe deer was the norm , my eyes have been opened , in more ways than one , but then im not likely to be making a hunting trip to the motherland - scotland any time soon , as much as i would love to do so i fear my trips in the future revolve around grand babies and children that have strayed from the nest [never to return i might add] 

and the wayward 'cowboy shoots' in neighboring states that have become a tradition , 

Roe stalking is popular as well, but more lowland and bush/mixed farming country.

 

Here's a couple of these rifles that I never saw years ago.

If these Are suppressors, they're perfectly legal over there. I know that much.  How well they work (if that's what they are)  on a full -bore rifle I can not say.  Maybe dampers??

that said , my "cowboy" shooting is mostly all steel , sometimes a clay popper but not often so no - we dont cook what we shoot , but we do shoot it up good , and what gets cooked is generally great meat - probably beef or pork , sometimes a bit of deer and pheasant/quail/grouse but  always tasty , you should join us , we are a welcoming bunch , we even loan out guns to those that dont have them , i have more than one set and plenty of ammo , 

hunting /stalking im not so into any more as i no longer wish to clean what i kill , if i have to in the future i will - i have and can again, i choose not to these days - same with fishing , i have and can but choose catch and release these days , im old , i dont want to go to the effort unless i need to , 

i do not - repeat do not - want anyone else to refrain , please reap the rewards he earth has to offer , kill every deer in my neighborhood so i never hit one with my car again in this lifetime , 

im not anti-hunting in any way , i would gladly shoot em if you want to clean em , whatever it is , just sayin .............................

 

Are these suppressors in the above photos?  Never saw any of these years back, but if they are, they make sense!

 

The lady in the last picture above, is Scotland's first female ghillie.

I was going to hire the range for my Club but as I don't know how to screw one on the front of an SMLE I didn't bother.

 

Do you mean Sika deer?  They are a bit like a shrunken red, are they not?  The Roe is very small, and as I never saw a Sika in the flesh, I thought the latter were larger.  ?

Quite right about eating more of it than is often the case over here, and No making it into unrecognisable stuff with pepperoni flavouring!!

 

Re. Portia,

 

I think if she is up to the job, as she definitely is, they will be quite charmed.  It would not hurt my feelings to work alongside her!

 

Muntjack (spelling maybe) are funny little blokes with vampire type tusks.

 

For those interested and unused to seeing them, here are some photos of GB's second largest deer.  They are not indigenous, but apparently the Romans brought them over to the island more than 2,000 years ago. 

 

Fallow deer.

 

They come normally spotted, but there are still pure herds of black going back to the ancient forests of Arden, and also some herds of white Fallow.  See pictures.

 

We could do with something to thin the elk down here in Alberta.

We get herds of more than 200 and they can ruin a whole pile of hay in a night.

Hunting season was useless, as it was mild and no snow. Need another season about now.

 

Hoadie,

 

These "dogs " in my last post, are about the same as a decent mule-deer in size.

 

Here are a few photos of the little Roe Deer;

The antlers are never much different to what you see in these photos.  Lovely little things only about 30 " high at shoulder.

The cows are on draw.

They have this stupid idea of selling three licenses for the same critters.

By this I mean they have three short seasons, not exactly the same all over the province  ,but in our area, Nov. 1 to the 20th, then Nov 21st to something like Dec. 15th, then Dec. 16th to some time in January.

So, they are all sold for the same lot of animals. Thing is, I have had a tag, but which season will they turn up in??   You have a 2 ~1 chance of getting it wrong!

 

If they wanted to thin them out, they'd give general tags for a longer period.

We have lots of heavy bush in this area still, and they are often protected there, but sneak out at night, raise havoc and back in their sanctuaries before daylight.

 

When we came here from UK in 1984, we never had elk around here, just the odd ancient antler in the muskeg. Now we're over -run with them.

My sisters feed pile is right by the house, and still elk get into it. Been moving /stacking and trying to keep them out for a good while.  There was 230-odd in the field opposite the house a while back.

 

Richard.

 

Yes, all land in the UK is owned and basically you have to have permission from the owner to stalk there, unless you own it of course. This is done in a number of ways. Syndicates have been mentioned, where a group of people pay in to be able to stalk land. You can pay to have a days shooting, generally supervised by a ghillie. We don't have tags like the USA. But control is exercised by landowners who set cull figures, the idea being to keep the deer population at ideal levels for a healthy population. I don't know of any stalkers that use a .303 these days, although there are probably still some.

 

As for fox hunting in the traditional way, that is now illegal, although it still goes on legally, where the idea is that the hounds now follow a laid scent trail. Sometimes, a fox is put up and the inevitable happens though. But killing foxes is not illegal. they are controlled by shooting and traps mostly, mainly to minimise losses to sheep farmers (a fox will not take an adult sheep, but will take lambs) and birds, including chickens and game birds.

Yes, the .303 still showed up before we left, 34 years ago.   Have a good pal and he is on his third barrel with  his .276 Rigby.  (7x57 Mauser to some)  It is only used for the red deer.

Very good round too.

I would put a decent Roe deer a bit bigger than a lab, we used to get them around 30" at shoulder back home in our area.  Not labs though.  :-)

 

This is a fox rifle another pal has just set up.  It's a .223"   He's in the Glaisedale area;

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