The stalker's best breakfast

When he goes to help a local keeper, Leon Challis-Davies also has a crack at muntjac

- Leon Challis-Davies

We are just weeks away from pheasant and partridge poults and ducklings arriving at shoots up and down the country, and every gamekeeper has their foot to the floor. There's an array of tasks to complete, from pen repairs and gun bus repairs to health and safety audits and predator control.

Everyone knows how busy this time of the year is, and I love nothing better than getting stuck in and helping out. Stuart Eborall of Warwickshire Wild Game called asking for an extra pair of hands for a morning's estate management.

I arrived pretty early with the intention to help set up a new pen on Stuart's rights for the upcoming season. Stuart did say the small wooded area we were in may hold a muntjac or two and the rifle should come along. So with that in mind, I packed a few must-have breakfast items, hoping by pure luck we'd get the chance to try for one of my favourite meats.

Just before day-break we loaded the trucks with all the tools and materials we would need, including rolls and rolls of fencing, making sure we wouldn't need to return to the farm. Arriving in Warwickshire's picturesque countryside we decided that it might be best to have a scout around for those beautiful muntjac before we made a start crashing about unloading and working on the pen.

As the sun peeked over the horizon it cast a warm golden glow across the woods, and streaks of light hit the woodland floor. I was full of anticipation. Something rustled through the bush and undergrowth, disrupting the tranquillity of the morning. Stuart's uncanny ability to see elusive creatures amidst the foliage is special, and within minutes he had spotted two potentials.