In order to be successful, there are a number of factors a roedeer hunter has to take into consideration: the most obvious being wind and sun. When dealing with suspicious animals, your smell or your shadow could give you away; but it is just as important to know the right time of day to be effective.
Stalking
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The advantages of being accompanied during stalking
We consider the advantages of not going it alone into the hunting field when you’re a beginner hunter or even an experienced hunter.
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Close range encounters with game, how to aim and shoot in a hurry
Deer shooting in the UK tends to more longer distances, as we don’t drive them like wild boar as the European’s do, which is close up and usually standing shooting as they run by.
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This hunt that will always be remembered!
Everyone has the time of their life on a hunt. There is no such thing as a bad time on a hunt: some are good, some are great and some are just bloody amazing. It doesn’t happen often but when it does, you will remember it for the rest of your life. These kinds of stories make the best memories.
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Up to which shooting distance can we still talk about hunting?
I often listen to people talking about distances and how far they can shoot. Well, here is my take on it.
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Fox stalking in summer
While most hunters are hanging up their shotguns and rifles as the hunting season draws to a close, some are counting down the days to the 1st of June when, certain circumstances permitting, they will have ample opportunity to indulge in the wonderful solo hunting experience of fox stalking in summer.
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The good, the bad and the mouflon
Ever since I was very young, I’ve been fascinated by the mountains. I’ve always preferred silent hiking trails to beaches packed with ruddy bathers basted in lotion. I enjoy the physical challenge of the steep hillsides. I’m not the sporty type particularly, but what a great feeling when the blood starts racing through your temples, you’re trying to catch your breath and your legs are burning. For me, mountain stalking is the purest form of hunting there is. It’s the only time your quarry has a head start up a cliff side. The only hunt where I feel I’m on an extraordinary quest, beyond time. My great friend Dominique from Marseille, with the lilting accent to match, recently gave me a chance to hunt mouflon on Mont Caroux, near Béziers. This is the story of the intense, almost primitive, joy of that hunt.
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My first chamois: cast away on a sea of cloud
I was recently lucky enough to fly to Slovenia to organise a Browning event. Slovenia, for anyone who doesn’t know, is a small country, formerly part of the Republic of Yugoslavia, on the borders of Italy, Austria, Hungary, and Croatia. It is a one-of-a-kind model for Europe. Hunters and naturalists live peacefully side by side, the mountains are unspoiled by mass tourism, and it has an extremely diverse and rich wildlife. It was in this idyllic setting that I had the chance to bag my first chamois, with the help of my great friend Peter Matjasic, owner of YouTube channel WaffenlandTV. Read about my adventures below.
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Stalking the Loch Ness monster!
The Loch Ness monster: do you know the legend from the Highlands about the monster they call Nessie? No, it’s not about a marine animal with a long tail, but the first deer I stalked with such pride.
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High-seat hunting: patience and discretion
As with walk-up hunting, stalking large game demands patience, acute observation and absolute silence. Originating in Germany, this practice is inspired – like the majority of hunting methods let us not forget – by the ruses used by some animals of prey in their natural surroundings to find food (from polar bear to pike, including big cats and snakes).
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The Waiting Game
Often out hunting the action either kicks off almost right away or when you are just thinking of going home; this tale really explains it. I was out with my daughter Chloe in October for some Roebuck and an evening’s lamping on rabbits. We were in a big high seat called the scaffold that takes two shooters. We set in at 15.00 and waited, and waited, by 17.00 I got the feeling nothing would happen so decided to sack it at 17.30.
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Hunting waterfowl with the A5
No, waterfowl is not a synonym for a wicked move during water polo, as I thought at first. This expression is used to describe all wild birds, both sedentary and migrant, mainly found in and around water such as ducks, waders, swans, geese, … To make things simpler, small game in an aquatic environment.