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On tonight's show I'm out with the amazing Howa 1500 in the beautiful Chilterns to help
out with a little deer management. The beautiful Chilterns is a landscape not only offers some
amazing scenery, but also some amazing Muntjacs. Our very own Ian Harford has hunted these
hills on several occasions with Cervus UK and he's taken a few Muntjac. However, the
biggest of the lot escaped his grasps. This time Cervus UK's head honcho, Owen Beardsmore,
has invited myself down to help out with the management on this estate. There's game everywhere
here and the numbers are very healthy. There's large numbers of muntjac and fallow, but also
roe deer. However, numbers can be too big. The more animals there are the more strain
there is on the food resources available in these hills and woods. To ensure that numbers
stay healthy, but also that the game remains healthy each year a number of animals will
be culled. It's all part of ensuring the strength of herds and the health of the animals. The
stronger the gene pool, the bigger the bucks grow. Ok we are here today in the Chilterns
with Owen Beardsmore of Cervus UK. We have come on to this estate, and we have seen some
deer moving about already so the signs are looking good. Now we are out today with the
Howa 1500 in.243, Nikko Sterling 3-12x56 Scope on. Now you have seen us put some rounds through
this and go over the specifications, but today we are out to see what it can do in the field.
I head down the hedgerow towards a high seat. Owen assures me there's been plenty of activity
in these parts over the last few weeks. I haven't gotten to the seat before I can see
movement in the woods. We have just seen, literally as we got out of the car, ten minutes
in, stalking down this corner, I was looking down at the bottom of this bank, to where
the high seat is, to have a look to see if there was anything feeding in front of there.
One was in the undergrowth here to the left. He has gone up over the bank, but I don't
think he has gone far, so we are just going to stalk down a little bit further here, and
try and get him back into the banks if he is still there. I keep my eyes peeled, but
all has gone quiet. Before heading up into the seat I decide to take a stalk down the
ride to my right. However, someone isn't happy with me. That little buck squirrel is not
very happy at all. We are disturbing him, disturbing him as he is eating his feed, he
won't like us tomorrow when we come back with the air rifle either. I unload the rifle to
ensure its safe. Then, I head up into the high seat. Although the woodland is fairly
dense there's great visibility at this time of year with there being no leaves on the
trees. I wait patiently and then I hear a dog barking in the woods. Someone has lost
a dog, I can hear them shouting it. I guess it is chasing something. Then there's movement!
3 fallow deer come running out onto the ride, they stand, wait and then leg it again. However,
I cant take the shot! Ethical shooting is all part of the routine in deer management.
With a dog running loose in the woods and its owner trying to call it back I cant shoot.
I cant see them and could never say my shot would be safe because of that. With there
also being no moderator on the rifle the *** of the shot ringing out through the woods
could cause unnecessary panic in the dog owner. I hold fire and wait for them to pass, but
the deer aren't sticking around. Im back to patiently waiting in silence. All is still.
As the day wears on there's movement to my right.
At the very far end of the ride there's a group of deer meandering through the edge
of the woods. However, with branches across my view and the deer not stopping I can't
take a shot. There is a group of about 4, maybe 5 deer passing, fallow, passed across
the path up there. I would say maybe 100 - 120 yards off. I got the rifle on, but where I
am, there are some branches that are just to far over the track, and there are a couple
of small ones that came in from behind, a couple of young ones, and when they came in.
One stood behind a tree, the one I was going to have a go at stood behind a tree. Then
the other one skipped down and bumped it up, and the pair moved across, so I couldn't get
a shot. We will give it awhile, then if we, that was a shot there. If we don't see anymore
we might go down and try and stalk up quietly. See if they are grazing on the other side
of there. There is more. Two more skip through the edge of the tree
line, but are gone before I can get a good look at them.Soon enough its time to call
it a day. There's been no shortage of deer in these woods today, but unfortunately for
us we haven't had the opportunity to make a safe and ethical shot. However, tomorrow
is another day and my fingers are crossed. It's Day 2 and before the sun has risen Im
in the high seat. And theres movement. A muntjac wanders slowly across the ride, but before
I know it hes gone again. In the low light we didn't spot him until too late. Thats day
2, it is now getting on for about half past 8, we saw a little muntjac earlier on, about
150 yards on the top of this ride, it came across the ride but it didn't stop and I couldn't
quite identify if it was a buck or a female. I couldn't make out. We have seen some of
them come across here earlier on. So we are thinking that some muntjac have come into
this bit of wood where we are, and got up the bank and over the top. There was a bit
of movement there yesterday. So we are going to go down the high seat and stalk up the
bank and have a look over the top and see if there is anything moving around. Unfortunately
our best chance here was yesterday, when we had 3 young fallow dow, a fallow doe, and
two young with here. About 50 yards off. I had them in the crosshairs all ready to go,
but I could hear a dog walker in the background on the top of this bank. Now there are public
footpaths all the way through here. But I think he had lost his dog, he had strayed
off, and he was looking and shouting for his dog. I made the call not to take the shot,
and I think it was the right thing to do in the end. There is no point in taking the shot,
freaking the guy out and having him on the phone to the police or something. I think
we did the right thing by letting them go. there is always another chance. So lets go
see if we are going to get another chance. I head out of the high seat and again there's
a dog on the loose. As I have just come out of the high seat there, as we were just saying
there is another walker over this bank. As I was just coming down at that point, there
is a spaniel chasing 2 rabbits, they were darting off and the spaniel has gone up after
them, come back down and has been jilted by a collie dog, or a collie type dog and has
joined it, and they have both ran off back through the woods, so there are another 2
dogs here. So I don't think we are going to see anything up over the top.I take a stalk
down the ride in the opposite direction to the dogs. If theres any deer in the area they
wouldn't have hung around, but we may be lucky. And we are. There are fallow up over the top,
I head up the hill through the brambles, but when I get back to the top a fallow has skipped
on. They are all sheltering under the tree, one clocked me and bumped off. We call it
a morning and head back to base!. We call it a morning and head back to base. After
a spot of lunch Im back out again and get set up in another high seat in a good area
of the woods. Before long Im joined by a young roe buck. He's spotted us and doesn't hang
about. However, he hasn't been spooked too bad and he meanders up the road and slowly
away.As the light begins to fade we are joined by a muntjac moving through the tree line
on the edge of the clearing. However, he's heading away from us and disappears behind
the trees. It's been a great 2 days in the beautiful chilterns and ive seen absolutely
loads of deer. However, deer management isn't about shooting anything in your sights. Its
about taking your time to observe the deer, picking the right one to be taken from the
herd and ensuring that the numbers are healthy. Ive not managed to pull the trigger on this
trip, but.... As a keen woodsman who loves my outdoor sports ive enjoyed seeing so much
game on the move and thoroughly enjoyed my time in the woods. Sometimes its just as fun
to observe and keep the gun in the holster.To find out more about the Howa 1500 from Highland
Outdoors visit highland outdoors.co.uk