Hardy Souls

10 pheasants, one partridge and one pigeon was our total today on the farm shoot. The attendance was rather shattered due to the early morning snow fall which curtailed the numbers of beaters. Luckily Jim and Vicki with Flash the wonder Cocker were able to travel and assisted by Shelly got a few birds up mostly over the bird magnet Keith who accounted for 70% of the pheasants. Where ever I placed Keith in the gun line birds followed.....must be the Lynx aftershave.

No matter the size of the bag we all had a good day, and that's what is all about. Great company. Look, even I'm smiling in the pic and I didn't shoot a feather.

Doe cull

After not shooting any four legged beasts for a couple of months due to taking out clients etc after Wednesday's big boy fox I grassed this adult Roe doe this morning. Dropped on the spot from approx 200 yards. Aimed just slightly below the top and into the engine room went the 308 123 grain Sako bullet.

RED MIST

Watch for the red mist.

Monster Fox

This dog fox must of found a supply of steroids near Kings Worthy, doesn't look too large in the picture with me, but the one in the deer tray portrays his size. He even merited having his tail stripped for a trophy.

Its Me

Just for change some pics of me in action and hitting some of the chance's plus cleaning up after Stephen ha!

Nearly!

Stephen nearly landed a cock bird at my feet. Next time I will return the compliment :)

Beating at New House

Some of the beat team at New House Estate. The lady in the wide brim hat is a great character, New Forest thro and thro.

Guess Who?

Friday am in high seat waiting for fallow......a tad cold.

That'll do!

Target from Saturday morning , 105 metres distance off fixed bipod with the .308. 3 bullets, two in the centre and one in the black. That makes me happy.

3 Day weekend

As the photo's show we had a decent day on the farm shoot on Saturday with 22 pheasants and a brace of pigeon for the bag. With the colder weather moving in I'm hoping that we will see more birds back in the covers for the next few shoots.

The day before was spent as a beater on New House Estate which was thoroughly entertaining even with the early morning fog and a drop of rain. It was the first day's beating that I had done since many a moon has passed. To be honest it was a joy in not having to worry about running a days shoot but just to be part of the beating team who made me welcome. Will be back there in two weeks time, must remember the camera for that one.

Decided to try for a fallow on Sunday afternoon and a bit of peace and quiet. It landed up being bloody freezing just sitting in a high seat and nothing seen. Must pack the winter gloves from now on, it may not feel that cold when moving around but after two hours of sitting still, believe me it was effing cold. A couple of hours in the pub was most welcome afterwards especially in my old local, The Forest Inn at Ashurst which has just re opened after a refurb.

Tropy Prep

Sunday afternoon spent trophy preparation with Stephen on his Fallow buck. I need a larger pot for Fallow heads as not all of the head was submerged when boiling but we managed to get most of it cleaned.

I also had a client Roe buck skull to cut plus some knives to sharpen up.

The first Roe doe was culled on the farm by my client on Saturday morning. Need to get a beast for myself soon as no venison in the house.

It's MY party..............

No wonder Stephen has a smile on his face. Cracking fallow buck taken on Friday morning, day of MY birthday ...bastard.

It weighed 93lbs when dressed out.

Did I see anything on MY birthday, did I raise the rifle once on MY birthday....nope so I'll cry if i want to.........

What a great beast to take your first deer on the new rifle..

No not jealous at all, not even a hint of green envy....well maybe just a little.....

Admire

Just another shot of the Red Stag at Somerset.

Any one fancy taking on those points?

Name the deer

Can you name the deer? Yes they are Sika.

Just the type of identification we went through on the course.

Run in

Some of the enclosed deer running in for the afternoon feed.

Rifle Test DSC1

Smudge and Stephen on the range re the DSC1 rifle test. Even though it's just a paper target it made the heart race. Shots taken at 100 yards prone, 70 yards sitting and 40 yards standing.

Red Hinds Feeding

Some of the Red Hinds feeding in another of the enclosure's

Fallow Bucks and Sika Stag's munching on feed pellets.

This Sika Stag has a repaired broken back leg, rules the Sika population in the enclosure.

Fallow Racks

A couple of shots of the Fallow Bucks at the assessment centre...

Serious Stag

How about this lad? Bloody enormous!

DSC1 Weekend

Back home today from 3 and a half days of deer, deer and more deer training on the DSC1 course that we attended at Somerset. According to the course trainer, Tim Davies we have passed the assessment's subject to external verification. If this the case then we should know in about six weeks or hopefully less.

Overall the group shown was a good bunch with various levels of experience from not grassing a deer to a number of years in the field.

It's surprising that 9 men can turn to jelly when presented with exam papers to complete....

DSC1

Along with Stephen and Martyn, I am off to Somerset to take the DSC1 course tomorrow morning. We have spent the last few weeks swatting away on the course notes etc plus countless attempts on the Internet with the questions.
Last Saturday the rifles were checked for Zero plus some practice on the targets at the range's we will be tested on.
Looking forward to the course albeit with slight nerve's.
Fingers crossed eh!

Hopefully will be able to take a few pics to post early next week.

A few of the guns plus Pip got together Saturday morning to get the remaining hoppers out on the farm. We have another 2-3 to get out when the late cover crops get growing, but the birds will have plenty to eat now along with the natural food out there.

After the work was done it was play time with a box of clays, forgot how enjoyable they can be.

Young & Mature

Last nights end result was one from this years batch plus a decent sized dog fox for Stephen which christened the new Steyr 25.06.

Manure

Just shows what a load of bull shit can do.....this years cover crop is a vast improvement on last years. The farm muck spread the game strip ground earlier in the summer and this is what can be produced, plus it is still growing. Should be a good drive this season.

Growing Up

Just a couple of pics showing the birds at one of the pens. It has so far been a good couple of months with only a handful of dead poults seen.

Slighty Rare!

Just watch

A bit mangled

Last nights end result from lamping was one dog fox and a small vixen. Used the .243 with the 55 grain ballistic tip bullets and as you can see they do what they say on the tin. Crossed fingers there could be third one dead which will be on a ploughed field if it was hit. Will have a look in day light Saturday morning for the body, it was a long shot so will be pleased if it did strike.

Client Six Pointer

A hard earned six pointer grassed (ploughed) this morning by Richard. It is his first buck and he dropped it on the spot. I probably enjoyed this more than my own shots, strange but very fulfilling. Not bad for your first buck, bet there is not many of us who can list a six pointer as the first.

Another Prickett

Fallow prickett shot last night. First shot was a little low but the second shot after it got up again was bang on. Approx 250 yards. Weighed 26 kg when dressed. One of last years crop.

So far the Tika T3 Lite has performed spot on and am very pleased with the rifle.

Fox Cub

Fox cub taken last week...with the Ruger 22.250, the rifle nearly came to grief via a soild tree trunk as a few more charlie's were missed and this time I'm blaming the tools.....

Fallow Pricket

That's the Tika T3 Lite 308 christened. Shot yesterday evening from approx 100 yards.

It weighed 34.5 kg's when dressed.

Lamping success

After a couple of frustrating attempts of lamping these two dog fox's were taken on Wednesday night with the Ruger 22.250. The rifle has proved to be a handful when on the range as it spray's bullets all over the place when hot. When cold it is spot on when the rifleman is also on the ball as I had also sent 3 bullets after one fox to miss completely....