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Red Deer Stag Hunt
Outfitter: Bulgarian Hunt Service - www.huntservice.com
Date: 28th September 2012
Location: Palamara, Bulgaria
Rifle: Steyr-Mannlicher Luxus 9.3x62mm
Scope: Zeiss 2.5-10x50 Victory Diavari
Ammunition: RWS 247 Grain Cone Point

Rather the pad out this report with the usual arrival, transport and accommodation details, I'll tell you what happened on the morning of September 28th 2012.

I left the hunting lodge with my Bulgarian professional hunter, Giorgi Genkov known to us as George, at 5.30am and after a 15 minute drive through dense woodland we were sat in a high seat overlooking one of the few areas of low vegetation. There were 4 or 5 stags roaring close by as this was the period of the rut. Most of the roars were coming from an area of woodland behind us with one much deeper than the others and punctuated by the sound of antlers clashing. After an hour without activity from the high seat and with daylight having broken, George suggested we try to find one of the stags behind us on foot.

Conditions were very difficult for hunting with temperatures reaching 34C during the day which resulted in low activity at dusk. Mornings were better but the tinder-dry still conditions made every footstep a noisy affair. I had been hunting since 23rd and this was my 10th outing without the chance of a shot. I was feeling dejected and the likelihood of returning home on 30th without success seemed a very strong possibility.

We walked as silently as possible down a track listening to the roars close by. George suggested we head into the woods and although I felt it would lead to another disappointment we both did so, following the loudest and deepest of the roars. After 10 minutes of trying to move as silently as possible I suggested to George in sign language that I stalk the stag on my own. I felt that only by halving the noise of our movement could I have a chance of a shot.

Due to the crunch of dry leaves underfoot, I only moved when the big stag roared and then very carefully. Although I couldn't see him and there was only the gentlest of breeze it was clear that he was moving upwind away from me and answering the roars of other stags nearby. Metre by metre, tree by tree I made slow but steady progress. During one silent period I turned by head round and saw a hind staring at me just 25 metres away. I said the wind was light! After 10 seconds or so she turned around and followed her stag into the distance never to be seen again.

After another 10 minutes or so I finally caught sight of his antlers briefly as he moved from my front left into a recess. I continued my stalk with the deep roars sounding closer and closer until I caught sight once again of his antlers. At around 80 metres I decided I was close enough for a shot but unfortunately had taken 2 steps too many to use a tree to steady my left arm. Nevertheless I settled for second best and steadied my right arm and with my scope set to 4x and the illuminated dot in the reticle on I waited for an opportunity. Around 30 seconds later I saw his antlers, head and neck and although I could not see his body I aimed for what I believed to be the heart/lungs kill zone. Boom!

Reloading rapidly I ran towards the stag who was dead by the time I arrived. The 247grain bullet of my 9.3x62 rifle had entered high on his left haunch with no exit wound. The presence of blood and tissue from the mouth baffled me until I realised that when I saw his head and neck just before I fired, he was probably looking hard to his left. Surely enough the bullet was recovered under from the right side of the upper neck under the skin having penetrated the full length of the beast.

George watched my stalk through binoculars and told me it took 52 minutes from start to finish. Due to the conditions and the final stalk It was probably the most satisfying hunt I have ever had.

My stag trophy weighed in at 9.9KG and scored 208.94 CIC points making it a Silver Medal and just 1.06 points short of a Gold. Two of the left crown tines were missing, no doubt having been lost in battle. One of the workers at the hunting lodge confirmed that he had seen my stag the week before with a full compliment of palm tines, that being 5 each side. Total weight of the beast was a healthy 250KG despite having lost weight in the rut and age was estimated at 10 to 11 years old.

The recovered bullet weighed 202.3 grains having retained 81.9% of its weight after penetrating the full length of its body.

There was much celebration that night involving the local home-made fire-water, Rakia. The staff at the hunting lodge were extremely warm and friendly and looked after us well. We will miss them.

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SCI Helvetia Chapter
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