IRELAND: Sika Stag Hunt In Ireland

[mdwest]

Sitting in the lounge in Dublin preparing to fly back home,so this might not get finished for another day or two… but thought I’d go on and get started now.

Pre-covid I managed to win an auction at DSC for a sika stag hunt in Ireland with Celtic Field Sports. A few months later the rona put a halt on everything…so we just managed to be able to pull the hunt off this year…

CFS is a family operation…over the next couple of years I worked with David, his wife Lisa, and his daughter Jessica at different times to coordinate and plan everything from possible additional hunts (they also offer fallow, red stag, ibex, some great wing shooting options, and a handful of other things as well) to additional touring activities…

Ultimately what we settled on was the sika.. and if time allowed to try for a fallow as well (we only had 3 hunting days.. so while possible, certainly not a guarantee).. then we’d spend 3 days touring Dublin, Cork, a couple of castles, and the cliffs of moher…

Flights were uneventful and easy.. and I have to give American credit… the Admirals lounge in DFW is very nice and comfortable..

Pick up and transport to the lodge was also uneventful and easy.. we were met at the airport by our driver and arrived at the lodge less than 90 minutes later… the lodge is nestled in a quiet corner of County Kildare…the drive from Dublin is beautiful and post card quaint..

Upon arrival we were advised that the weather forecast for the week was dismal with pretty strong rains and wind expected all week, so while not typical for hunters to go immediately to the field on arrival day, David wanted to get us out as quickly as possible to take advantage of as much time as we could get with reasonable weather conditions… so, after a very nice lunch,we met our sika guide, John, and headed afield…

More to follow after arriving home

 

[BourbonTrail]

 

[mdwest]

So day 1 was a bust..

From the lodge we headed off to the border area between County Wicklow and Co Kildare... Sika deer hunting definitely ain't whitetail hunting.. The terrain is steep, thick, and the vegetation is tall in most of the places we searched.. It was also soaking wet as it had been raining off and on all afternoon..

We stayed out until last light and saw nothing at all.. the deer were hunkered down trying to stay out of the rain..

As we got back to the truck, it was very dark (a full 30-40 minutes after last light, we heard some movement in the distance.. when we hit the headlights, sure as hell, there were the deer.. about a half dozen hinds were at the base of the hill feeding just a hundred yards from us.. We also saw a pair of fox through Johns pulsar thermals and thought for a moment about trying to take one, but as fast as we could get the big red lamp ready and the rifle prepped, they were gone.. so it was back to the lodge for a late dinner of venison burgers with caramelized onions, tons of veg, fresh salad, and a scratch baked apple pie for desert (you wont go hungry when hunting at Celtic Field Sports.. Fiona takes very good care of you).. .

Day 2 was early to rise... we expected to be rain free for most of the morning, but the forecast called for high winds until about 2PM... out the door 90 minutes before first light, we headed back to Wicklow to see what we could find.. Upon arrival at our hunting location, John picked up deer with his thermals.. several hinds and their younglings were in just about every place we looked along with a few juvenile stags, but nothing too terribly interesting..

While it was still dark, we made our way to the bottom of a valley where we would watch a hillside that looked favorable.. Sure enough, one we got into position and got quiet, a group of 5 hinds showed up with 1 stag following a few hundred meters behind.. It was still dark out (viewing through the thermals) and the distance was a bit long (450+ meters), so we decided to very slowly and quietly move into a better position where we would have the drop on any stag that joined up with the hinds..

Just before official first light, when you could barely make out a few things with the naked eye, the stag we had been watching in the thermal closed the gap on a pair of hinds and got to within a reasonable shooting distance (about 200 meters).. Its amazing however how well these animals blend in with their environment.. the sika had started getting their dark, chocolate brown winter coats in, and the hillside was covered in tall, brown and tan grass.. Now into actual daylight I was having an incredibly hard time picking the stag up in the scope despite the high quality glass (Nightforce) and the close shooting distance.. I struggled for a full 5-8 minutes, finding the stag, then losing him.. having him disappear over and over again behind a tree or a tall clump of grass.. Finally, at a distance of about 190 meters I had him in the crosshairs and started to pull the slack out of the trigger.. Just a moment before the trigger broke, John whispered "STOP!" in my ear.. followed by "a big one! a big one! coming over the hill..."

Sure enough, cresting the hill at about 300 meters was a much darker, and even larger stag approaching.. only 15 minutes after first light, and we now have 2 deer to choose from...

It didn't take long to make a decision or to get a shot off.. John was right, the new stag was bigger bodied and had a taller rack than the first.. and he was coming in hot after the hinds.. in just a couple of minutes he stopped about 170 yards from our position.. he wouldn't give me a good broadside.. but he did stand tall enough out of the grass that I could get a heart/lung shot on an very hard quartering to angle.. so the rifle barked, the little 77gr .223 flew.. we heard the distinctive thump of the projectile hitting the deer.. watched him run about 30 meters and then pile up.. We had our deer before 8AM, and were headed back to the lodge by 845 after dressing him out and packing him out to the truck...

By 930 we were having a wonderful Irish "Fry Up" breakfast and then decided to take a nap and try to catch up on some sleep (jet lag was killing us) until 330PM when we'd head back out and see if we could possibly take another sika in the same day..

Heading back to wicklow again, we found a nice stag in the very first field we glassed from the truck.. it was about 900 meters away.. so it was time to put on a stalk!

There was a Christmas tree farm between us and the field where we saw the stag, as well as a pretty thick small section of woods that had to be traversed.. which took us some time to get through.. unfortunately, by the time we got into a position near the appropriate field, the stag was gone.. the thermals however revealed that there were a few deer (unknown if stags or hinds) just a few meters into the far woodline.. so we decided to go prone behind a small rise and did a little calling...

There were 2 stags that talked to us a bit over the next hour.. hearing them whistle is a pretty incredible experience.. Neither would come into view though no matter how hard we tried..

With about 20 minutes of shooting light left, a very large, mature, dark hind stepped out and began grazing.. she remained alone fo about 10 minutes and then was joined by 3 more hinds.. after 10 more minutes we were preparing to pack it in as shooting light was now gone.. but right at the last moment a fox popped out (we saw several fox each day by the way.. if you ever want to do a fox hunt.. Ireland apparently is a very good option).. so we decided to see if we could take him.. while we were able hit him with the red lamp several times, the little bugger would never actually stop moving or slow his pace even for a moment.. so after about 20 minutes of watching him we decided to let him live another day, and headed for the lodge..

Returning to camp we chatted with other hunters and learned that our lodge mates all had successful days as well.. While I had the only sika down, 4 fallow deer had been taken by other hunters and a young lad (16 years old) made an outstanding shot on a moving fox and managed to bag it.. Hearing this we decided to change plans and make day 3 a fallow hunt day rather than chase sika again.. This would require a 430AM wake up as fallow are located about an hour in the opposite direction of where sika are hunted.. so we were off to bed by 1030...

 

[mdwest]

Day 3

Up at 430 and rolling to Co Tipperary at 5AM for the purpose of being in the field and in position no later than 7PM to chase fallow.. our fallow guide was a wonderful guy named Dan.. Dan is a former Irish Ranger, turned part time guide and full time mushroom farmer in Co Tipperary.. we got on famously.. Dan is clearly an expert in his specific prey and knows more about fallow that I presume most will forget in a lifetime.. The camp rifle he provided was a beautiful mauser in 30-06 topped with a zeiss optic, which I expected was just the right sort of medicine for a fallow buck..

Before sunup Dan already put us on animals.. we stopped for a moment to glass and thermal a field and found a young spike hanging out.. through the fog w watched the spike get curious about us and actually approach the truck to within less than 40 meters when a monster buck presented himself at the back of the field, maybe 160 meters away, but then bolted before we could even bother to try to dismount the truck or get a gun ready, much less position ourselves for a shot..

Still dark outside, we took the truck another mile or so down the road to another set of fields.. taking care to be quiet, we did a combination of walking, scooting on hands and knees, and belly crawling for better than a kilometer to get into a good position to overlook a field that Dan knows to be frequented by big deer.. The ground was absolutely soaked in Tipperary.. so in no time we were soaked too.. thank God for sitka couldburst gear.. without it I would have likely been miserable for the rest of the day.. but with it everything remained copasetics and comfy

With no luck in this second field, we moved on.. ultimately we did more than 5 miles on foot, conducted multiple stalks on multiple fields.. but had no luck.. we did see a beautiful chocolate coated spike fairly late in the day, and also caught a look at the antlers of a pretty big buck at about 80 yards.. but he was bedded down, and ultimately winded us as we tried to wait him out.. once he caught our scent he stood up and was gone in less than 2 seconds (while bedded down all we could see was antelrs and on occasion a bit of the top of his head for a few seconds at a time)..

We stayed in the field until last light without connecting.. but.. that's the way it goes sometimes.. it wasn't that the deer weren't there.. they very certainly were... things just didnt work out that day for a variety of reasons beyond our control... So the fallow live to see another day..

Exhausted with the early morning wake ups, still fighting a little jet lag, etc.. we hit the bed early.. The hunt was over.. We are due to head back to Dublin and start a little touring around the island on Day 4...



I wont bore everyone with the non hunting details from days 4-7... but will say if you plan a hunt in Ireland, do make sure to take some time to run around the island a bit.. Ireland is country rich with heritage, full of wonderful people, some incredible sights, and is simply a lot of fun to experience..

And also make sure you link up with @Sika98k while you're there! After spending the day in Dublin on Day 4 we met @Sika98k in the Temple Bar area at a 400+ year old pub called The Norseman to have a few pints and share a few hunting tales.. Its always great to meet another AH'er face to face.. with Angus this is especially true.. what a great guy, who is a lot of fun to be around.. the next time we make it to Ireland, we'll definitely be calling him again (Im thinking we might be headed back sooner than expected.. there's a fallow out there that needs to be taken now.. )....

In addition to checking out Dublin for a day we also spent time in Cork, Cobh, and also drove to see the Cliffs of Moher.. which all just made what was already a really great trip all the better..

Thats it! Hunt report complete!

 

[BRICKBURN]

Well done on your Irish Stalking. Congratulations.

 

[Firebird]

Thanks for the report-I’ve been Looking at a deer/wing shooting combo there and let my wife do the touring thing. It sounds like good hunting and a fascinating place

 

[mdwest]

Thanks for the report-I’ve been Looking at a deer/wing shooting combo there and let my wife do the touring thing. It sounds like good hunting and a fascinating place

The wing shooting with Celtic Field Sports is reportedly outstanding...

While we were there, we saw at least a dozen pheasants every day (while not attempting to look for them at all).. tons of other winged game birds about as well...

While my wife is a hunter and prefers to be out on the hunt each day... the other ladies in camp were taken on a variety of tours and excursions every day while their husbands/sons were out in the field.. Waterford Crystal, a couple of notable castles, a very nice day spa, and a variety of other things are all within day trip distance from the CFS primary lodge..

 

[Nyati]

Congrats for a great hunt !

 

[Sika98k]

Well done on your stag Dave and nice to have met both of you over a couple of pints of ” The Black Stuff”

 

[375Fox]

Nice report. I was really surprised to see you used a 223. I’m guessing you can only use a rifle belonging to the specific guide because it’s licensed to him is why you switched to a 30-06 on the next hunt?

 

[mdwest]

Nice report. I was really surprised to see you used a 223. I’m guessing you can only use a rifle belonging to the specific guide because it’s licensed to him is why you switched to a 30-06 on the next hunt?

I was a bit surprised as well when the .223 came out of the case.. but the guide assured me it was plenty of rifle for the task, and he had quality 77gr ammo to feed it.. so I went with it.. It proved to be more than enough to get the job done.. the bullet traversed most of the body after clipping a lung and hitting the heart on the hard quartering to shot... he only went a very short distance and dropped...

Correct on switching to the 30-06.. For fallow we had a different guide.. his weapons choices were a .243 and a 30-06... both were fine weapons (mauser 30-06 with a zeiss.... tikka .243 with a Schimidt and Bender).. the guide brought the 30-06 with him that morning.. but offered to go get the .243 if we preferred it.. For me, it didn't really matter as I was pretty certain that either would result in an equally dead deer.. so we stuck with what was already in the truck...

Bringing your own rifles to Ireland is an option as well.. but we were advised by the outfitter a couple of months ago to consider using camp rifles as he had been having pretty big problems with getting rifles into the country this season... some of the rules have changed apparently.. and the real challenge is the airport is understaffed and they have has serious delays for the last few months in getting people processed in (several hours).. so he just recommended we use the guides guns (no rental fee) instead of risking the ass pain of the airport...

While we were there, there were 8 total hunters at the lodge.. 5 hunting parties (some of us were hunting 2x1).. all using "camp" rifles... all the rifles we saw and/or used were quality firearms, well maintained, etc.. with high quality optics (S&B, Nightforce, Zeiss, Leica, etc).. If we were going back again tomorrow, I'd probably opt to use camp guns again.. even though I typically really prefer to bring my own everywhere we hunt...

 

[cls]

Congratulations, and thanks for a great report. Definitely on my bucket list.

 

[deewayne2003]

Great report sir!…. If you go back I would suggest taking a day trip from Dublin(Conley station) to Belfast by train- the scenery from the train is worth it alone.

 

[sierraone]

I swear buddy, you just have too much fun. Hope to see you at the DSC AH dinner.

 

[mdwest]

I swear buddy, you just have too much fun. Hope to see you at the DSC AH dinner.

We’ll be there.

Looking forward to catching up. 1st round is on me!

 

[AZDAVE]

Dave congratz on a good hunt, Ireland is one of my favorite countries on the planet. Haven't hunted there but looks like I need to consider it. Will talk to you at the AH dinner.