Bold buck amid a barking chorus

What could be more enjoyable than an evening stalk for a muntjac with a passionate countryman who knows all there is to know about the sport and the quarry?

- JAMIE TUSTING 

George and I were standing quietly in the gloaming, overlooking a large grass clearing on the edge of Wakerley woods in Northamptonshire. The old runway of Spanhoe Airfield was behind us, and George recounted its history, most notably its roles in both D-Day and Operation Market Garden. Then, as dusk gathered around us, a muntjac buck ventured out of the woods.

George Burnham has been shooting deer around Corby for several decades. He spent much of his life as a farmer, before retiring and splitting his time between fishing and stalking. When the water is right, he buzzes up to the river Teviot in the Borders, and when the water isn’t, he will inevitably be out stalking.

Mastery

I met him through his involvement with the estate shoot, as he frequently takes up the role of tractor driver for the beaters’ wagon. There seems to be no greater joy in George’s life than the time he spends outside, in whatever guise that takes. George is a true countryman, and his mastery of so many forms of country pursuit, from trout and salmon fishing to stalking, and his knowledge of native flora and fauna is impressive, to say the least.

What makes George such a special man, though, is his willingness to share his knowledge. And he shares it with such humility and in such a dry, but wickedly funny, way.

After the first muntjac escaped from Woburn Abbey around 1925, they spread quickly from Bedfordshire, thriving in the lowland arable and woodland landscape.