Shooting from a high seat

Sir Johnny Scott advises

Shooting from a high seat is not for everyone but it is an ideal way to control deer numbers and provides a sound base for a first shot with a rifle at live quarry.

Purists will say that shooting deer from a high seat is not proper stalking and to some extent they are right, as it lacks the fieldcraft of a true stalk. It is, however, an ideal method of controlling deer numbers and, provides a solid base for your first shot with a rifle at live quarry. (Read more: Muntjac – why do they need to be culled?)

High seats are generally about 10ft off the ground, with a seat and a guard rail on which to rest your rifle, accessed by a ladder; they can be portable or fixed, single or double.

One of the advantages of a high seat is that you will be firing downwards at an angle and will not have the same concern about a backstop that you would have with true stalking. The other is being above the height of roe deer when they emerge from woodland to graze at dawn or dusk, and well clear of the danger of being seen or scented.

High seats are sited with a clear arc of fire in areas of high deer activity – where they like to feed, known deer crossings in woodland, or deer trails.

Calibre

In England and Wales, the minimum calibre by law for red, fallow, sika and roe is .240.

Be sure to wear warm clothes, as it can be cold at dawn or dusk (even in early October), and stay quiet – roe deer have phenomenal hearing. Keep alert; just when your concentration begins to wander, roe will suddenly appear, delicately stepping out of cover into the field.

Once you have picked out your deer, rest your rifle on the guard rail and wait for it to turn broadside; remember to take a deep breath, hold it, aim directly in line with the front leg, halfway between the lower one-third of the chest and the top of the back and gently squeeze the trigger.