"The hunt was for Japanese sika deer on several properties totaling probably 7 or 8,000 acres. These deer were first imported to Ireland in the 1860s and released on an estate in County Wicklow. The Irish outfitter is Norman Mulvany, a great guy, very hard-working, very deserving. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend him. He is, by the way, 100 percent on sika for the last six years. There are also red and fallow deer in Ireland, and Mulvany can arrange hunts, although not in this area.
"Here is how the hunt is conducted. We'd be out at first light in the morning to stalk, walking slowly in the woods or along the side of a pasture. Mulvany suits the hunt to the ability of the hunter. It was the start of the rut (which often lasts into November) and Mulvany would use his call to roar like a sika stag. In the evening, you sit in a high seat for two or 2½ hours but I didn't see anything from the high seats. In fact, these are very elusive animals. They stay in the thick stuff most of the time. You see lots of sign but don't see many deer. "On the third morning of the five-day hunt, we heard a stag roar just as we got out of the car. We made a big circle, stopped behind a rock wall and started to call, hoping to get the sika to come to the challenge. We never heard him again. But about 20 minutes after we sat down, we saw him walking toward us along the wall. We were set up, and in text-book-style, he turned........(continued)
