Red Eye Fox

14th Jan. Red Letter Day!

2012-01-17T09:29:00.002Z

18 Pheasents, 1 Duck, 1 Jay, 1 Pigeon and a Squirrel! Fantastic bag for Janurary on the Farm shoot. Probably one of the best days this season, very enjoyable and made so by the hard work from Beaters and Guns alike.

Shoot 27th Dec 2011

2011-12-31T09:12:00.000Z

Bag for the 27th Dec shoot.

18th Dec Shoot

2011-12-31T09:10:00.000Z

Bag for the Shoot on the 18th Dec!

Suzuki Grand Vitara 1.6 16v SE

2011-12-14T18:02:00.003Z

For Sale

Suzuki Grand Vitara 1.6 16v SE

82000 miles

MOT June 2012

Tax Jan 2012

Very Clean inside and out

£2695

Call 07771 800636

Ranger Reduced

2011-12-14T17:58:00.001Z

My Ford Ranger has been reduced in price to ONLY £4495.

ANY TAKERS?

3rd Dec Shoot

2011-12-05T09:48:00.000Z

Total bag 15, 13 pheasants, 1 partridge and 1 woodcock.

04 Ford Ranger 4x4 TD Double Cab For Sale

2011-11-28T07:23:00.002Z

2004 04 Ford Ranger 4x4 TD 2.5 Double Cab. White, Air conditioning, PAS, Manual, Electric front and rear windows, Front and rear head restraints, Height adjustable headlights, Truckman rear cover with lockable boot, Electric door mirrors, Remote central locking, Alloy wheels, Spare set of original Ford Ranger steel wheels with all terrain tyres, Steering wheel height adjustment, Dash board dimmer switch, Underside Wax oiled early summer, CAMBELT CHANGED AT 65,000, DirectGov MOT history, HPi CLEAR, Taxed till end of Jan 2012, 12 month MOT. £4995 or nearest offer. 07771 800636

17

2011-11-27T18:48:00.001Z

17 birds shot on the shoot yesterday. Hard work but worth the effort that everyone put in. Cheers guys.

Part Five

2011-11-27T18:44:00.002Z

Parts Four and Five, photo's taken by Pip

Part Four

2011-11-27T18:42:00.002Z

Part Three

2011-11-27T18:39:00.002Z

Parts One, Two and Three, photo's taken by Becca.

Part Two

2011-11-27T18:36:00.001Z

26th Nov Shoot Part One

2011-11-27T18:34:00.002Z

Charlie Jackalantern Dublin

2011-11-25T19:06:00.002Z

To Charlie - please raise a glass and toast a big thank you.

Charlie

2011-11-25T18:59:00.000Z

Charlie passed away during the night. Relievied that no horrible visit to the Vet was involved. Aged 13 plus Charlie was a thoroughly bloody excellent gun dog who knew what to do and when to do it without much training. I doubt if any other gun dogs I own will live up to Charlie.

5th Nov Shoot

2011-11-06T10:21:00.003Z

Total birds for the day was a healthy 21. A thoroughly good day all round. A big thanks to Becca for the birthday cake and to all of the other beaters, Tristain, Vicki, Franco and Greg's mate with Dave the spaniel.

We also had the pleasure of a new picker up, Claire and her dog Sky (pictured in the back of my wagon).

I suspect if we were all shooting straight then the total for the day might of topped 40 ish but you can only shoot them once!

Fallow Pricket

2011-11-03T20:28:00.002Z

Aslam pictured here with a large Fallow pricket shot at Newhouse Estate this afternoon. It weighed in at 37kg when dressed. Client happy.

Back out in morning, might bump one of the big boys that are roaming the forest.

Murder Buck down

2011-10-26T17:26:00.002+01:00

This Roe buck pictured with Andy (Client) was first spotted back in August and seen fighting a good six pointer later if I recall in September.

After a couple a attemps by other stalkers to grass this buck, Andy acheived the result yesterday afternoon at around 15.30 hours on a stubble field.

I suspect that Andy will remember this beast for a few years yet after having to crawl on hands and knees eventually dropping onto a belly crawl across a recently sown field to get within range. As we have had a spell of rain recently the field wasn't exactly dry!

End result is that this spiker won't be able to cause damage to other bucks come next years rut.

A good number of other Roe was spotted, who are now grouping up with a false rut witnessed.

Newhouse Beating

2011-10-20T19:04:00.002+01:00

A couple of pics from todays shoot at Newhouse Estate. One from the transport which feels like a tumble drier between each drives and one with us beaters and most of the bag. Lots of duck some pheasents and a few partridges.

First Shoot Pics

2011-10-18T20:22:00.003+01:00

Just a selection of pics taken by Pip inc Stephen and one of the fox's he shot that day.

Client Stalk

2011-09-12T16:57:00.001+01:00

Shame there wasn't a buck on the field so have to settle for this scenic picture instead!

Work Required

2011-09-01T18:00:00.002+01:00

A long shot I know but if anyone reading this know's of any deer management work can they please contact me on jwlamport@aol.com. This also applies to game keeping positions full time or part time.

2011-08-30T19:26:00.001+01:00

John's Roe Buck cleaned and bleach trophy. Should be a fine example as the first to hang on the wall, if the wife allows!

Client Buck

2011-08-21T14:56:00.003+01:00

Here's John with his first deer grassed, a decent five point Roe buck. It's has taken a few stalks to get, but that's what deer stalking is all about.

Client Buck

2011-08-19T19:16:00.001+01:00

Wednesday evening client stalking, resulted with a six pointer for Magnus.

Spot the Buck

2011-08-11T11:07:00.000+01:00

If you can spot the Roe Buck, he's in there somewhere!

Dog Fox

2011-08-11T11:06:00.000+01:00

Decent size mature dog fox dispatched last night.

4 point Roe Buck

2011-08-11T11:01:00.001+01:00

Neck shot 4 point Roe buck taken on the 8th August. Going to try and cure the skin on this one. Will update with progress.

3xFox

2011-08-11T10:57:00.002+01:00

3 grown on cubs dispatched on the 29th July 2011.

Client trophy prep

2011-05-18T11:19:00.002+01:00

Spent most of yesterday preparing Roe Buck trophies. Two for a Danish client plus two for Lee. The two larger one's are Lee's with the six pointer possibly making a medal. Final stage today was to bleach the skulls before drying out. They were shot on various estates around the New Forest.

Client's first Roe Buck

2011-05-15T12:07:00.002+01:00

Can you tell if the client was happy!

This younster made us work to get in a position for a safe shot to be taken from approx 140 yards standing using tri pod sticks.

Perfect placement clipping the heart and one grassed buck.

Client Buck

2011-05-08T07:54:00.003+01:00

First of all must apologise for the lack of any posts since Feb. Shall endeavour to update on a more regular basis.

So far we have taken 3 bucks this season, including this five pointer on Saturday. I knew of the buck's location and he duly obliged giving Richard a good broadside shot from about 70 metres.

Disco For Sale

2011-02-17T19:04:00.002Z

Excuse the pitch but if would like to buy a Land Rover Discovery XS 300 TDi 2.5 then drop me line.

It's price at £1995 Or Nearest Offer.

155k miles, MOT til November 2011 and Taxed until the end of May. 7 seats, half leather, dog guard, full set of ribber mats, load space cover, electric windows and mirrors, decent stereo CD player, roof rails with the roofs segments. Plus twin sunroof although the rear one is out of action.

All old MOT's as service history.

Can send more pics if required etc. Leave comment on this blog if you want to know more.

Spare Change

2011-01-24T16:50:00.001Z

"Got any spare change gov"

Stephen happy

2011-01-21T11:38:00.002Z

175 yard shot on a vixen last night keeps Stephen happy.

NewHouse Beating

2011-01-10T11:08:00.003Z

Went beating at NewHouse estate on Saturday which gave the legs some good exercise after the Christmas excess. Pics shown here is Danny loaded up with birds and Brin the cocker pretending he is a parrot.

Mornings work

2011-01-02T09:24:00.001Z

This is Lee with 4 Fallow doe's that he shot last Tuesday.

Whilst I sat and waited, three fields away Lee hit gold.

Fallow Cull

2011-01-02T09:18:00.001Z

Just before Christmas grassed this young fallow buck.

Still hoping for a big buck to walk my way.

Hardy Souls

2010-12-18T17:45:00.002Z

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

2010-12-17T14:23:00.002Z

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

2010-12-17T14:19:00.001Z

Watch for the red mist.

Monster Fox

2010-12-16T10:13:00.002Z

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

2010-12-05T09:31:00.001Z

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

Nearly!

2010-12-05T09:29:00.001Z

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

Beating at New House

2010-12-05T09:26:00.001Z

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?

2010-12-05T09:20:00.002Z

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

That'll do!

2010-11-29T11:48:00.002Z

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

2010-11-22T12:11:00.003Z

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

2010-11-15T12:39:00.002Z

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..............

2010-11-07T08:16:00.002Z

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

2010-10-06T10:08:00.001+01:00

Just another shot of the Red Stag at Somerset.

Any one fancy taking on those points?

Name the deer

2010-10-04T21:32:00.003+01:00

Can you name the deer? Yes they are Sika.

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

Run in

2010-10-04T21:27:00.003+01:00

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

Rifle Test DSC1

2010-10-04T21:22:00.002+01:00

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

2010-10-04T21:19:00.000+01:00

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

2010-10-04T21:17:00.001+01:00

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

2010-10-04T21:14:00.001+01:00

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

Fallow Racks

2010-10-04T21:10:00.004+01:00

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

Serious Stag

2010-10-04T21:05:00.002+01:00

How about this lad? Bloody enormous!

DSC1 Weekend

2010-10-04T20:56:00.003+01:00

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

2010-09-30T11:49:00.002+01:00

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.

2010-09-20T09:09:00.002+01:00

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

2010-09-16T20:06:00.003+01:00

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

2010-09-13T11:23:00.003+01:00

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

2010-09-13T11:19:00.003+01:00

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!

2010-09-08T14:57:00.001+01:00

Just watch

A bit mangled

2010-09-02T11:35:00.003+01:00

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

2010-08-28T18:14:00.003+01:00

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

2010-08-25T09:33:00.002+01:00

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

2010-08-25T09:25:00.002+01:00

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

2010-08-19T10:01:00.002+01:00

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

2010-08-06T09:54:00.002+01:00

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....

Tika T3 Lite 308

2010-08-06T09:48:00.002+01:00

The new rifle, a Tika T3 Lite in .308 going through it's zeroing on Monday. After picking up the rifle from Greenfields in Salisbury it was straight off to the range to get zero'd in. Even though the guys at the shop had bore sighted it took 18 shots before I was happy. It has a PES moderator and a Leupold 3-9x50 scope.

It now needs a proper christening on a fallow buck!

Farm Yard

2010-08-06T09:45:00.002+01:00

Apart from tractors, ploughs and a combine harvester parked in a farm yard the last item you would expect to see would be this little toy. Anyone got any sea sick pills................

Buck from Alton

2010-08-06T09:42:00.003+01:00

Apologies for not updating the blog for some time.

This buck was shot on the 24th July 2010 at the wood near Alton. Another freehand shot, seem to get more than my fair share of these.

Six Pointer

2010-06-06T08:21:00.002+01:00

This six pointer was taken on Friday, 4th June 2010. I hoping that he will make medal class, if not a sliver then a bronze. He is certainly the largest head that I have shot. One side measure's 27 Cm's with the other at 26 Cm's.

Pen Work

2010-05-23T18:08:00.002+01:00

After the mornings stalk some of the other shoot members joined up to work on extending the Worthy pen. A warm welcome to Paul who has joined the shoot this year as a full gun. Tristan also gave up some of his time to help out, although I suspect that David is praying to all sorts that the sledge hammer swing hits the intended target and not his knuckles! We got the posts in, and the straining wire up plus the pen door re sited. Next Saturday the chicken wire will go on.

Yearling Cull Buck

2010-05-23T18:02:00.002+01:00

Here's Smudge with his yearling buck he also took on Saturday morning. Apparently it was a bit of a yomp back to the car, hence the rather f**d'ed look.

Yes it was on a warming morning but the woolly hat matched the polo shirt and trousers.

April Wood Buck

2010-05-23T17:46:00.002+01:00

Took this buck at 5.30am on Saturday morning from a small wood next door to the farm. The owners wanted to keep the damage down on the young tree's that they have growing there. A high seat went up last Saturday in readiness but proved not needed. I thought the game was up as soon as I glanced down each side of the block only for the buck to start barking somewhere in the middle of the plantation. I backed off and took a long walk around a field to let him settle down.

At the bottom of the wood I followed the fence up 20 yards until a suitable access point reached. Got over the fence without too much fuss and proceeded towards the location of the high seat. 20 pace's later the buck takes homage to my presence and starts to bark again only this time within sight. Far from taking the quickest route away from me, he doubled back to defend his wood, at which point once from behind a shrub he emerged he was duly dropped on the spot.

Still a carpet of blue

2010-05-19T13:35:00.001+01:00

The bluebells showing no signs of wilting yet.

Poult Production

2010-05-13T09:34:00.003+01:00

Took a visit to the game farm last night where our poults are coming from and as you can see the production is in full scale operation. The first batch of chicks were hatched earlier in the week.

The pictures displayed here show what happens to the eggs when collected from the rearing pens. First they are washed to clean them, left to dry for a bit and then trayed up (as Graham is showing) before stacked overnight prior to going in the hatchers. Nearer the time I'll try and get some shots of day olds to follow up with. Having spent a week working on a game farm I know how labour intensive the work is especially when one slight problem can cause massive implications for the rearing season. Right now the weather could be alot warmer during the nights which would save concern.

Bluebell Time

2010-05-04T13:44:00.001+01:00

That time of year again when the ground takes on a splash of colour.

Pine Furniture Anyone?

2010-04-27T09:55:00.002+01:00

Whilst out walking the dogs last evening hoping to bump into a few fallow near Ashurst, came across a few large piles of pine logs plus beach and oak. Forestry Commission must be on a mission at the mo. It's a crying shame that they do not allow paying stalkers on the New Forest, main reason is to not upset the tourists who visit. Hang on a mo was the New Forest a hunting forest fit for the Kings and Queens of old. It's happened for centuries but we can't go upsetting the townies now can we! Anyway what self respecting tourist is up at 4.30 am!

2nd Full Work Day

2010-04-26T13:12:00.002+01:00

Various photo's for the 2nd full work party at the farm shoot. One with Kevin showing off another black bird (he love's shooting the black ones, this time a crow). The other 3 with various stages of the IBC water stand construction. With Kevin and the stick dog showing off the completed job!

Wind

2010-04-22T09:29:00.000+01:00

Sorry, had to load this one on!

You Tube Video

2010-04-19T14:37:00.000+01:00

Wish our residents would sit like this!

Sunbathing

2010-04-19T10:09:00.002+01:00

At last some decent sun hours over the weekend. Lucy took full advantage!

Did try for a buck earlier in the morning but it was bloody cold, too cold for any deer to start moving. Scoured the whole farm for any sign with no joy, no doubt they ventured out early evening.

Barrels

2010-04-19T10:05:00.002+01:00

Collected these three barrels on Saturday morning for the shoot. This will aid the water solution come the time when the poults are in the pens.

It was a bit hairy coming back on the motorway as had only front and offside window to see through.

New Scope

2010-04-19T09:58:00.002+01:00

Part of Sunday afternoon was spent on a thorough clean of the new 22.250 and the fitting of a new scope. Plus the first usage of the home made rifle cleaning station, yep I know it's a Blue Peterish but at least I can store all of the cleaning kit in one place.

The new scope is a Bushnell Legend 3-9x50 which is replacing the Optimate thing that the rifle came with. Will re zero the rifle after this weeks work party.

First Work Morning

2010-04-12T12:04:00.002+01:00

Just a few pics from Saturday's first work day of the year.
The first two are of the proposed new site of a release pen on the Island, hopefully the farm will give the go ahead which will give a home to 100 poults come July. Tristan brought his hawk along, Hannibal, for a few hunts. Plus, it's good to see the cock birds in full colour, the pictured one just was too modest to pose properly. Thanks to the attending, Smudge, Keith, David, Kevin, Greg and Tristan.

Roe Doe from Yorkshire

2010-04-01T12:47:00.000+01:00

Tower Watch

2010-03-28T17:46:00.002+01:00

Saturday morning sat in a high tower with 3 good clearings to keep an eye on. Pictures taken just before sun up with the alarm setting off at 3 am to start the proceedings. Although everything looked promising no Fallow or Roe appeared in front of me. Two Fallow were shot earlier.

I've got until the end of April to try and bag a Fallow buck.

The .243 was checked on a range later that morning and all ok, so hopefully I'll get a chance.

Have I done the right thing!

2010-03-08T20:01:00.003Z

Saturday just gone involved a trip down to East Sussex to take Cody to her new home. After months of deliberations I came to the conclusion that she needed a home that could look after her without any doubts so off to Tim's we went.

Cody is 6 this year and I wanted her to have pups before it was too late, unfortunately I could not cater for this as work would get in the way, doesn't it always, plus as it is a one man house there would be no one around during the working week to look after pups etc.

It is a big heart wrench to give a dog away, it was not a nice drive home at all and the house seems a lot quieter without her.

I do hope that at some stage she is able to have pups as I would love to have one of her off spring as do need a trained up gun dog to replace Charlie who has retired from the front line. He even struggles now on a decent walk. It would be a great pleasure to train one of her pups so fingers crossed.

Here's to Cody.

Cute!

2010-02-16T11:15:00.002Z

Haven't seen the little one's on the forest for a few years until Sunday just gone, yep went soft for a few minutes and couldn't resist a couple of pics.

Roe Doe Cull

2010-02-08T10:04:00.003Z

I must learn how to smile when in front of the camera!
Saturday morning was on the farm at Winchester to try and catch up with a doe. Stephen joined me as an additional spotter. We started off stalking the hedge row and game strip below the cow sheds in the near dark. Something animal like was glassed in the distance so we proceeded to close the gap hoping that it is was a roe. To our surprise it was two reynard's mating, as we again moved a little closer the game was up and they decided to move away although they did not disappear completely, the range was a little to far to take a shot at.
At this point no deer were out so we back tracked to go around the top cow shed and stalk the hedge rows around the whole field. Half way down the main wood a stop over to wait and see if anything was moving when Stephen spotted a running fox coming our way. Rifle on the stick ready, but it wouldn't stop to the squeak so took a shot as it just reached the fence line. It looked like a clean miss until a bit of fox fur and blood spotted although no body was found, probably given it a nice scar to show off to it's mate.
Due to the shot taken we assumed that the morning's stalk was over on this field until another 100 yards walk before Stephen motioned to get down as he had spotted a deer head just above the horizon.
Eventually three deer came into view, two doe's and one buck in velvet. Time to keep the nerve as all three knew we were there. After a ten minute wait one of the doe's presented a good target and was duly dispatched.
She is now hanging in the chiller unit at home in the garage.
Spent the rest of the weekend two steps away from the loo due to catching a lovely stomach bug..........

Last Day

2010-02-01T11:12:00.002Z

Just a couple of pictures from the last season day. One showing Kevin holding the vixen he shot on the Sedge Bed drive and the other showing the grand total bag for the day. We only had two dogs, Cody and Buddy so the bag was to be expected as it was another cold day thus any scent difficult to find.

It won't be long before we start planning for next season with prep work to start soon, first job is to get the empty feeders back in the yard before any thing happens to them.

Plan to try and stalk a few does over the next few weeks plus try our luck on the lamping front.

Trying to find game

2010-01-24T19:25:00.002Z

Tim working his dogs on some rough ground trying to find any strays...no joy on this occasion though

23rd Jan Shoot

2010-01-24T19:03:00.002Z

With one week to go before another season ends our farm shoot worked it's socks off to find half a dozen cock birds, where have the hen birds gone? The published pics show, Tim and Tristan looking a little rough after spaniel attacks. The day's bag of six cock birds. 4 eager spaniels stuffed in a Jimny. One to die for chocolate cake......can I have some more!

Many miles were walked over sticky ground looking for any cover that looked likely to hold game. Unfortunately the farm have been a little too eager to trim hedge rows and rough ground so any birds were like gold dust although plenty of partridge were seen with one covey of around 30 spotted first thing. If we had 30 guns/beaters we might stand a chance of driving partridges but our attempts mostly fail unless we find a few in a hedge.

One last day to go before all goes quiet so we will see what the day brings then hopefully next seasons planning can start...I have a few idea's as I'm sure as others do as well.

Dad's Tree

2010-01-11T11:36:00.003Z

The holly tree seen here is where my Dad's ashes were scattered. At least he has company with the ponies. Judging by the amount of deer slots around there must also be a good head of fallow nearby. Although when walking past one of the Forest Ranger's trucks a crimson red snow was under the rear tail gate, evidence of a fresh kill.

Sniff

2010-01-09T18:36:00.002Z

Yes, Cody that is what you are supposed to be flushing out from the cover!

Today's bag, one large rabbit (now hanging for Mr Reynard). Five cock birds and three red leg partridge.