Muntjac and Chinese Water Deer in England

When I received the email notifying me that I had won a hunting trip to England, I couldn't believe it at first. It was only three weeks away. A suitable flight to Birmingham was quickly booked and my suitcase packed. Due to the short time available, it was not possible to register my own gun for transport to England. But that was not a problem, as I was able to use a good rental gun locally.

On Friday morning, I took a flight from Frankfurt to Birmingham. James, the CEO of MyHunt, picked me up at the airport. It took us almost two hours by car to get to our B&B. We had the whole Friday to ourselves, so we decided to shoot a few clay pigeons. Even though I'm not a very experienced clay pigeon shooter, I had a lot of fun. Before dinner, we had a beer in the pub of our B&B. We planned the next day of the hunt and went to bed quite early after dinner.

The next day we went to meet our hunting guide Jason at 6:15 a.m. A quick coffee and we were off to the first stalk. In a wooded area, we were to go after Muntjac. After the first few metres, a small group of Muntjac crossed our path. However, they quickly disappeared into the undergrowth and so we moved on slowly. It wasn’t that long afterwards, when we could make out another group of Muntjac looking for food under a tree. A suitable buck was quickly identified. I slowly and carefully set up the stalking sticks and got ready to fire. It felt like it took an eternity for the buck to get into a clear and safe position. Then the shot rang out. The bullet hit was clearly audible. There was some hair at the wound site, but otherwise nothing was to be seen. After about 20 minutes of searching Jason found the buck 50m away.

The shot hit just behind the shoulder blade, but the bullet was deflected by a rib and came out further back. A piece of bowel was pulled out with it and blocked the exit wound, so there was no blood trail. My first successful hunt outside of Germany! The Muntjac got the last bite and was field-dressed on the spot. Now breakfast was waiting for us at our B&B.

‍

Jason picked us up in the afternoon for our second stalk in a different area, more suitable for Chinese Water Deer. The wind had increased considerably and we moved through small wooded areas and along hedgerows through the fields. A few Chinese Water Deer were sitting in the fields, but there was no suitable animal for us to focus on. We finally returned to the car in the dark. We had dinner in a very cosy pub right next to our B&B, very popular with other hunters.

‍

Jason picked me up at 6:15 the next morning. James was hunting himself with a different guide that day and so we hunted separately. We drove to a former golf course that had been abandoned and was now overgrown, the perfect place for the deer to live. The wind was still strong, making it difficult to stalk the Chinese Water Deer. We kept seeing them, but either there was no suitable animal or it disappeared too quickly into the tall grass. On our way back to the car we spotted a suitable buck. We quickly approached him across the open space, keeping low. The wind was favourable and I set up the shooting sticks at about 90 m. It didn't take long for the buck to stand broadside. The shot broke and after a short run the buck fell. There were no suitable tree species nearby, let alone any real trees at all. So, some ground vegetation had to serve as the last bite. Now it was back to the B&B for breakfast. James arrived at the B&B shortly after me, and he had also been able to shoot a Chinese Water Deer for his freezer. There was still some time for a hot shower and to stretch my legs a little.

‍

‍

In the afternoon, we went on our fourth and final stalk. The weather had deteriorated significantly. The wind was consistently strong and it was raining. I drove with Jason to a small forest to keep us out of the worst of the weather. We stalked along a small path. Just before the end of the forest, we came across a small group of Muntjac. Jason assigned me a young female. We stalked up to 25 m, then I got ready to fire. The animal dropped on the spot. The wind was getting stronger and stronger and we hurried to break camp and ran back to the car. James also had hunting luck and was able to shoot another Chinese Water Deer, despite the terrible conditions where he was too. After dinner, we met Jason at the pub for a beer. We let the day fade away with nice conversations.

On Monday morning, after breakfast, James took me back to Birmingham Airport. A very exciting and enjoyable hunting weekend in England had come to an end. I look forward to going hunting with James again sometime.

Good hunting!

Sebastian