Great day! The hunting season for Chinese water deer opened today, Nov 1, so even though we were here yesterday, we didn't hunt. I had to wait over a year to be able to hunt these unusual deer because last year we were here in Great Britain earlier in October and because the season for water deer opens so late in the year, we could not go after them last year. And that is why I booked this hunt so late in the year this year, even though it meant hunting after the English stag hunt.

So, finally, after a year of waiting, the Chinese water deer season officially opened and this morning we got up at 4:30 a.m., drove to the hunting area and waited for first light. As soon as we could video we started stalking along the edge of some fields and swamps. After a short time, James Ellis our professional "stalker" held up and said we should sit and wait to see what showed up on the edge of a big swamp. We only waited 15 minutes when both Matt Gibson and James went crazy around me saying to get a rest and shoot! I set the T/C muzzleloader on a log, but couldn't see what they were looking at. About then the water deer appeared at 90 yards in a grassy clearing, walking toward cover. I pulled back the hammer and squeezed ... click. I'd forgotton to put a cap on the gun! Goof. So I panicked. I grabbed a cap, shoved it on the nipple and sqeezed (more like jerked) the trigger ... nothing. I'd forgotten to pull back the hammer! By then the water deer was only 75 yards away, and was I'm sure, about to feel my blood pressure boiling over! I regained my composure, and this time did it right, dropping the prehistoric-looking deer in its tracks. It has nearly 4-inch fangs hanging down on each side of its upper jaw! No antlers, just fangs, and it has to be one of the craziest looking critters on the planet! I was ecstatic.

We spent the rest of the day touring around the stunning English countryside, visiting famed shopping towns like Holts and enjoying some of the best fresh mussels I've ever eaten in the King's Head pub in Blakley, on the shores of the North Atlantic ocean. Tomorrow we plan to visit a huge "Deer Park" to look at some of the biggest high-fenced red stags and fallow deer in England. It'll be interesting to see.

Operations manager, Fred Lackie, right, with his massive mule deer.

In other news, Fred Lackie, our super operations manager for all our outfitting territories, took a huge 11x11 non-typical mule deer today in Saskatchewan. All on camera, videoed by Todd Bissenden. Congrats to Freddy.

I can't wait to get back to start hunting in Saskatchewan, but will have to wait for a bit longer, we're off to Quebec next to hunt whitetails on beautiful Anticosti Island, a hunt I've always wanted to experience.

Good luck to everyone out there who's hunting!!!