20 http://www.rifleshootermagazine.co.ukcrept silently into the trees, our senses heightened to the
point that every rustling leaf and every bounding hare had us
freezing in anticipation. We emerged from the woods having
seen nothing, and started around the field edges that would
loop us back around to our starting point. Turning the corner
at the bottom of a large rape field, Justin froze and dropped
to his knees. We followed suit as we saw what he had seen- a doe was slowly picking her way out of the rape onto the
grass margin. She was completely unaware of our presence,
but we were hair-raisingly exposed. All it would take was one
wrong movement and she would be spooked into the dense
cover she was already edging her way towards.
Justin clipped on his bipod and set the rifle up with the
smallest, slowest movements, every muscle straining to hold
his position. Settled into a slightly awkward stance, he
trained the scope on her and we all held our breath. It was
agonising; she would turn towards us, graze, turn broadside
to pick her way forwards, and then turn face on to nibble the
grass again. My knees were going dead – I could only
imagine how Justin was feeling! Just before she reached the
cover, she turned broadside once more and paused for a
second... bang! She skittered about like a squirrel in the
headlamps, and then fled. It was a clean miss below, all
caught on film by Jess. Justin was philosophical about it,
relieved that he had missed cleanly and not wounded her.
We continued our stalk and, although we saw a fair few
and Justin pursued one, a shot didn’t present and we
eventually made our way back to the high seat to pick up
Lewis and Christian for breakfast. Christian had shot a good
doe (spotted from the high seat and taken after a short
stalk), and was grinning like a Cheshire cat.,1217+($&7,
Breakfast was a happy affair, as we chatted about the
highs and lows of the morning and argued over whether
bread should be buttered or not. Three coffees later and it
was time to head to the woods for some fun – squirrel
hunting! I was surprised when Justin suggested I have a go
myself, and Jess handed me her shotgun to use. As far as I
was concerned, I was there in a journalistic capacity, so I
was absolutely made up to unexpectedly get in on some of
the action.
The sun was filtering down through the canopy as we
arrived in the woods, casting dappled patterns on the
understory. We paired off to cover more ground, and I spent
a blissful few hours ‘stalking’ squirrels with Justin. We
developed a great system whereby one would shoot the drey
while the other picked off anything that emerged. It was the
most fun I’ve had in a long time. After the tension and
silence of the morning stalk, it was great to be able to chat»
STALKING WITH EMILY DAMMENT
ABOVE: A relaxed
afternoon spent
squirrel hunting was
a great way of
relieving the tension
of the stalksBELOW: Dan and
Christian examine
the buck