Dropping Nigel off at the Hallerdale turn and then going on with Jim Bird to Broubster for another attempt at that red stag which was patrolling the fence.
We then bagged the 13-point Imperial Red Stag in a text-book stalk and then went on to shoot geese in the evening on Thormaid and Saorach
A second early morning, this time dropping Nigel off at the Hallerdale turn and then going on with Jim Bird to Broubster for another attempt at that red stag. I had no sooner driven up to the vantage point for spying and Jim had let out the dogs than I heard a lot of roaring by the fence and used my small binoculars to spot our beast patrolling the fence a mile away. We put the dogs away quickly and then embarked on a long stalk, keeping low and out of sight and the breeze into our faces.
**"Read More" BELOW for the complete story**
Covered up in green balaclava and gloves and moving well, we found plenty of concealment as we got closer. The stag was so active that I found it difficult to stay downwind of him as he restlessly patrolled the fence and I could see why the ground had been so churned up by a single beast. An added complication was that there were two groups, each of three hinds the other side of the fence with inferior stags holding a group each so that we had about nine pairs of eyes and nostrils to avoid. If any of them had raised the alarm, he would have trotted off into the trees.
After an attempt at stalking close, only to have him move past us behind some long grass, I chose a higher patch of ground downwind of where I thought he would trot by later and we settled down to wait for him. Before long he was working his way back down along the fence and I set up the rifle for Jim and we crouched down and waited. When he was around 160 yards away he paused and turned sideways and I gave Jim the go ahead to fire into his shoulder. This stopped him but did not put him down and I reckoned after a few minutes that, as he hobbled and turned, the shot was in his shoulder and would not be fatal quickly. I took over the rifle and put another bullet through his heart and he fell like a stone.
From the glasses, I reckoned he had a good head and at least ten points and would be an improvement on my home trophy but I still let Jim have the first shot. Upon making the ground to the stag, I found that he was a 13-pointer, one point better than a Royal and known as an Imperial. A truly remarkable stag to have been stalked and shot in the trees and I was pleased to have done it in true and sporting style. I showed Jim how to gralloch the beast but I could not bleed his lungs and we then made our way back to the car and thence to the gate to leave a message for Nigel and Chris. I had told them of my plans and, in case we had got lucky and needed the beast recovered, suggested that Chris dropped Nigel off at Broubster.
Jim and I then returned to the hotel for a well-earned breakfast. Back over to Broubster for the reception party and the difficult job of recovering the carcass. It was down to Chris Ross's remarkable off-road driving as they had themselves failed to get a stag today and so left the trailer and A.T.V. at home. The head looked even more impressive upon further examination and was the best that Chris had ever seen in the trees to be something of a record-breaker. I therefore decided to get the head mounted properly by a taxidermist even considering the estimate of a thousand pounds. The evening goose shooting again as I had managed to arrange the rent of geese on Thormaid and Saorach. T
his time there was just the tree of us and, with Jim holding back on a skein flying over towards Nigel, Nigel was able to shoot one - but I was horrified to see it was a White-Fronted again! Back for a nice meal and then to bed for an earlier night. The weather was an improvement today and mainly fine and my theory was that the stags were out rutting after resting up in the recent rainstorms.