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Mark 'Stratts' Stratton is exactly the kind of person it's a pleasure to welcome to our
sport.
He is enthusiastic, keen to learn and has a sense of humour.
After years' rabbit shooting and air gunning, he wants to start deerstalking.
He seeks advice on the Stalking Directory forum.
Not only do they give him advice, they club together, pay for him to take his deer management
qualification the DCS1 and they even take him out stalking.
This is really good.
This is encouraging people to go stalking.
Excellent yes because that is what the guys wanted to do, put something back into stalking
basically and it just snow balled from there.
This year I have been out six times.
I have managed to shoot my first fallow and muntjac.
I have a lot to owe those guys and the forum itself.
We are joining this new trend of introducing Stratts to stalking and, thanks to the generosity
of professional stalkers John Button and Alex Hinkins, he is going out after an animal today
in Suffolk.
It's also thanks to the generosity of Browning, which is lending him a Browning X-bolt rifle,
ammunition and a Zeiss Duralyt scope.
He also has an AimZonic moderator thanks to importer Alan Rhone, one of a range of AimZonic
moderators, which we pick up from one of Stratt's local gunshops, John Bradshow near Peterborough.
Honestly, the number of people involved in giving Stratts a good time!
It's like Jim'll Fix It without the scandal.
What do I normally shoot - .243.
I am just on here for the rabbits.
I have got a .22 ... FAC air as well, but that doesn't seem to get used so much these
days.
I got a .308 recently, but I haven't had much chance to use that at the moment.
Stratts is using Browning's new green ammunition.
Here's Browning's David Stapley to explain it
Traditionally some forms of non lead ammunition both in shotgun shells and in centre fire
ammunition some people could say that it hasn't had the density or knock down power so the
energy transfer into the animal.
With the E tip this special formula of zinc and copper it is a gilded metal.
What we call a gilded metal alloy of zinc and copper and one of the features of this
bullet is that it retains nearly 100% of its density.
So it has the maximum transfer of energy into the animal.
Stratts' target itself is a fine example of Stalking Directory humour.
That one was me pulling it.
You are a despicable man.
Terrible, terrible target.
It does make us chuckle every time we look through the scope to be honest.
Happily, Stratts is no bum shot.
With the exception of one slightly wandering shot that Stratts asks you to excuse, the
target is showing less than one minute of accuracy, perfect for deerstalking.
Here is his DSC1 target, shot from prone, kneeling and standing off sticks.
He's proud of it.
We joined Stratts for part of his DSC in Thetford Forest.
He has to walk around a wood with his BASC assessors saying whether or not a shot is
good.
He doesn't know yet that he will pass, so you can see the stress in his face.
Yes, I think I will be alright.
I have done a bit of shooting.
Yes I am ok, confident, quietly confident.
Which has been the tricky bit so far.
The paperwork and the assessments yesterday
The written assessments.
Yes definitely.
What was wrong with that.
Just the nervousness.
Like being back at school.
The ID's were the tricky ones for me.
But ok, interesting.
It has been good.
Most of the questions are straightforward.
Will you shoot a deer when there's another deer behind it?
Answer: no.
But some of them catch Stratts out, like this one.
He spots the distant deer.
It's the one right next to it he can't see.
His assessor is happy too.
He is a good lad, he is a good lad.
We have just had the safety walk Charlie and we have done that in the style of a simulated
stalk.
Mark has indentified five deer in there.
He errs on the side of caution, but that is no bad thing and he has given me some really
good reasons why he would or wouldn't have shot the deer.
We have gone through the questions and very thorough answers and I am really pleased with
him.
Back to our day and we meet Jon Button, who looks after the deer management on thousands
of acres of land in Suffolk, and he loves his job.
There is here fallow, roe, muntjac and we get the occasional red come through, but not
resident here at all.
So hopefully we will see one.
Now, we have a little game to play today.
So Stratts has got his piece of paper saying he can stalk deer, but how good is he really?
John and I have agreed not to say what species he is likely to see today.
First up, this deer bounces out of the wood.
What deer is that?
Fallow.
Sure?
John spots that it has a fawn hidden away in the undergrowth next to us, so we walk
slowly past it.
Next, we spot this animal
What is that?
Roe doe.
Positive?
I am positive.
Jon reckons it is high-stepping this way to place its feet carefully in between the sharp
stubbles.
Later on, Jon shows us some of the heads he has had off his ground, including this monster
he is in the middle of bleaching.
Here are two nice sized ones we have shot from round here, from this ground.
Quite good size.
Both thick quite heavy.
Gold?
Sorry?
I am not sure ... We have got some interesting ones here from fighting.
This one here is a small one.
You can see this hole in the side which isn't a bullet, which I am pretty sure, possibly
from fighting during the rut with an antler into it.
And he survived.
And he survived, yes, but he didn't when he met me.
Back to our stalk and John spots a herd of - what are they Stratts?
There's a pricket in the middle, an ideal cull animal.
We stalk carefully up to the side of the wood.
And...
well let's pick up the story after the event.
Jon and Stratts are sitting on the back of the vehicle to give us the post mortem.
I felt comfortable.
I felt good on the shot and I just pulled the shot and I am pretty sure, we are all
pretty sure that I shot straight underneath it.
So I am gutted absolutely gutted.
Far better you are than the deer is.
Yes.
It is just one of those things.
I am sure if I carry on stalking I am going to have other moments like this.
At least it was completely missed and not a wounded animal we haven't recovered.
Yes.
So that is one good thing.
... out stalking.
Do you think you will come round to that point of view?
Me?
Oh yes, that will only take a few minutes.
Get a rough night's sleep out of the way tonight and I will be fine in the morning.
It is not going to stop me obviously.
Never mind, mate.
We've even seen George Digweed put in a second shot.
Not often, but we've seen it.
And all you Stalking Directory lot - when you get Stratts online after you have seen
this - play nicely!