Rifles, stalkers and recommendations

Its 09:00...

At the start of the day the stalker will require the guest to take a shot at the target to verify that the rifle is correctly zeroed. It takes minutes to do and no matter how experienced or sure the guest is of his rifle, it remains a vital check that can avoid a miss or worse wounding of a deer

There will always be debates about the ideal calibres for deer, but experience suggests that flat shooting calibres pushing 125gr – 150gr expanding bullets are best for shooting stags, especially during the autumn breeding season known as the rut. Lighter calibres such as the legal minimum of .243 with a 100gr bullet are used by some, but not preferred by our stalkers unless when hind shooting

Larger calibres being used with bullets heavier than 150gr are not preferred by most professional Scottish stalkers. Heavy bullets are not needed to effectively dispatch stags and can sometimes have less effect by not expanding enough before leaving the beast. Also in less experienced hands often increase the chance of misses

Moderators, introduced under Health & Safety legislation, have also made for more accurate shooting by not only reducing noise but also by significantly reducing recoil. Additionally, they have greatly reduced the disturbance to deer herds when the annual cull is underway.

The professonals...

Professional estate stalkers know their ground intimately and constantly assess weather and wind conditions to make decisions as to where their deer will be and the best route to take on the day. Initial assessments and decisions will have been made before you even arrive in the morning. These professionals will have had many guests out with them and seen “rifles” of different competence. They know that hitting a target competently is no guarantee of a person’s performance on the hill when all sorts of conditions will make the shot much more difficult. They will endeavour to get guests as close as possible to the chosen target animal to ensure a successful shot. This will usually be under 200 metres and often much closer.