Goose Cracker
AH enthusiast
After spending early 2020 getting my dream gun room/reloading room exactly how I wanted it in our suburban Atlanta home, I was asked to relocate to London for work. First time I’ve lived outside the US in an almost 30 year career in investments.
Luckily, I was invited to join an unbelievable UK deer stalking syndicate before I had a place to live here. Was only able to get out once during the fall season and took this lovely fallow buck during the very early stages of the rut. I had to borrow everything – rifle, boots, hunting clothing, etc. All of the stuff we sent over from the US (inc all my hunting kit) is stuck in one of those cargo ships waiting to get loaded or unloaded. Our stuff departed Atlanta before Labor Day and isn't scheduled to arrive for another few weeks.
There are loads of fallow deer on my new syndicate – including a really handsome (but a little young) melanistic buck we watched on his rut stand twice. He has a bit of a “fishtail,” so he’s likely to get culled next year anyway.
So much about UK deer stalking is different than deer hunting in the US. Just a few of them:
When we’re back from the US after the holidays I have to get cracking. I’ve got to finally get my UK firearms permit completed and sent off. I also need to get a gun safe installed in our apartment and complete my deer stalking certificate. I’m planning to purchase a firearm here rather than import one of mine from the US – I'm seriously considering my first Blaser. I’d like to be fully operational for next year’s roebuck rut and fallow rut.
Life throws you curves. We’re planning to make the most of this one. Guessing that in addition to Africa every other year, I’ll be doing trips to Europe rather than North America for the next several years.
Luckily, I was invited to join an unbelievable UK deer stalking syndicate before I had a place to live here. Was only able to get out once during the fall season and took this lovely fallow buck during the very early stages of the rut. I had to borrow everything – rifle, boots, hunting clothing, etc. All of the stuff we sent over from the US (inc all my hunting kit) is stuck in one of those cargo ships waiting to get loaded or unloaded. Our stuff departed Atlanta before Labor Day and isn't scheduled to arrive for another few weeks.
There are loads of fallow deer on my new syndicate – including a really handsome (but a little young) melanistic buck we watched on his rut stand twice. He has a bit of a “fishtail,” so he’s likely to get culled next year anyway.
So much about UK deer stalking is different than deer hunting in the US. Just a few of them:
- Head shots. While we rarely do it in the US, only the "mature" animals aren't head or neck shot in the UK with minor exceptions. You can sell wild game in the UK commercially, so they try to minimize damage to the meat. Only allowed to use non-lead ammo, as you’d guess.
- Stalking vs still hunting. While we do a lot of sitting in stands in the US for whitetail, most hunting here is stalking. They do have "high seats" (i.e. deer stands), but spend most of their time stalking. I’ve taken a few roe and muntjac in the past while visiting, and I head shot or neck shot each of them.
- Deer vocalizations. Deer in the UK are much more vocal than whitetails or mulies. A lot more. And they sound very different - from the munti's "bark" to the gunt/roar of the fallow on the ground where I hunt.
- “Rut stands” versus rub/scrape lines. A fallow’s rut stand is a sight (and smell) to behold. Imagine that a mature whitetail did all his rubbing and scraping in the same 50 yrd by 50 yrd area. And he ran around that same area stomping it down to bare dirt/mud and grunting almost non-stop for hours. So much fun to watch.
- You've all seen the thread on importing trophies into the UK and how dicey that's become here. I'm not even allowed to use the word "trophy" to describe an animal on my syndicate because of the negative connotations - we use "mature."
When we’re back from the US after the holidays I have to get cracking. I’ve got to finally get my UK firearms permit completed and sent off. I also need to get a gun safe installed in our apartment and complete my deer stalking certificate. I’m planning to purchase a firearm here rather than import one of mine from the US – I'm seriously considering my first Blaser. I’d like to be fully operational for next year’s roebuck rut and fallow rut.
Life throws you curves. We’re planning to make the most of this one. Guessing that in addition to Africa every other year, I’ll be doing trips to Europe rather than North America for the next several years.
very contencious issue here. perhaps your group have an arrangement with a processor for the deer carcases thats why these conditions are in place.
