here's a little insight into hunting roe bucks in the uk,I decided to go up to my permission to hopefully catch the end of the rut so headed off out to dumfries in scotland.
I set up camp away from where i would be stalking and was set hopefully for a great time.
i headed off out for a morning stalk but alas nothing showing so went back for breakfast which was very nice before heading out again which only revealed does so off home again empty handed . i spoke to the other guys on the ground and had both seen bucks but couldnt get onto them before the light faded so all ended the day unsuccsessfully but it was great to be out so i was chuffed.
now more outings for me ended up the same way and frustration was setting in and was starting to wonder if my recent run of bad luck was sticking with me . meanwhile one of the other lads had been back out for the buck he had seen still hadnt managed to catch up with him on our final morning i set off after the storms we where having for my last stalk again only producing does and getting the fealing the rut had maybe been happening in the night under the full moons rather than daytime in horrible weather, the next thing i hear a shot ring out nice one at least someone has been successfull.
on my radio came a voice, can you come down to give a hand so i headed down to end my stalk again not seeing a buck. my friend had managed a nice buck to take home a quick gralloch in midge infested air and he was in the coolbox and we all met up to say our goodbye and i was heading off up to my friends ground as i had a week off and didnt want to go home emty handed.
three hours later i was in aberdeen with the storms hot on my heels i got my head down for an hour before heading out on our first stalk , lots had been shot before i got here so my spirits where high.
to cut a long story short two days had passed and all i could see where does by this time i was abit deflated as the ground was hard going and no bucks where showing it was looking like my run of bad luck had hit everyone and i had two days left and was very likely i was going home deprived of sleep and buckless.
wed morning we set off and stalked an area where big bucks had been seen but hadnt been shot so not getting my hopes up sat down glassing a valley and from where we had just come from ten minutes earlier a buck was running along the bottom head down and flat out result my first glimpse of a buck . 200 yrds away he stopped for a second and i was up on sticks as i found him in the scope he turned broadside to eat a few leafs he stretched out ,safety off ready to squeeze the trigger he suddenly ran off , i looked at trev and he laughed it really isnt my time to get a buck he didnt stop for two fields and then the reason became apparent he had winded two does and i think he was as desperate to get to them as i was to get a buck.
we headed on another field over in the corner of the wood another doe so we sat to glass incase a buck was in toe but no so we set off again this time meeting up with another doe and follower but again no bucks.
we got to the end of the wood which had a stone wall running down the side and waste tall bracken with a fence splitting two fields and we needed to to cross into the next field trev gripped the wire to push down , with that the wire made a squeak and from nowhere a buck jumped up stamping his feet forty yrds away in the wood ,he was not a happy chap we had woken him and he barked out, i was on my sticks but only had his face and back of the neck in view as the ferns where covering him. i knew he wasnt going to go i had my two breaths whilst i followed the neckline down i squeezed the trigger.
the next thing i here is you have missed you **** and as i came up a buck ran to the side i looked up with horror and the first thing i said was absolutely not that was a definate dead dear.
all sorts went through my mind but i was still convinced i had hit it we climbed the wall and into the wood, i left my sticks against the wall to mark my position and headed off to the strike but no tell tale blood or anything , i cant believe it after all this time i have gone and missed we carried on seaching in vein but i still kept thinking i have hit it . we made our way to the last point of where the buck had dissapeared out of view and trev climbed a fallen tree to get a better view meanwhile i was heading back to the strike area to widen the search , meanwhile trev had jumped down and went further out and ther was a lovely dead buck ,what a relief as we headed towards him it had been a low neck exactly where i had aimed .
how strange to have two bucks asleep no more than a few feet apart in the rut and will never work that one out but going back to my buck what a cracker i picked him up and carried him to the wall and placed him in the field for pictures and we sat there trying to work out exactly what had gone on and really none the wiser other than guessing.
after a gralloch we headed off back to the truck another big buck had started crossing the open ground we back tracked across a field to intercept him on our last 20 yrds he spooked and was off down the field but made an error in wanting a final look back i was up on the fence post and as i set my trigger and realeased my safety and down he went.
another cracking buck we headed back to the truck to go back and have breakfast . we headed off again that night as we had a call that another buck had been seen acting strang we got there to find a small buck which was dispatched , it turned out it looked like a 22 bullet had hit the deer in the shoulder and smashed its shoulder it was walking on three legs ,it must have been in agony we loaded him up and off home in the failing light .
i had one more stalk before heading off we stopped to glass an area and found a nice buck chasing a doe a plan was hatched and off we went down the edge of a field using the dyke as cover we where getting close to where we spotted them and out of the blue two deer where off flat out across the fields , now we hadnt spooked them so something else was going on we quickly made our way into the barley tramline to get a view and this buck had chased off a smaller buck across two fields he was making his way back to his doe close by to us.
what a sight of a buck strutting his stuff like a prancing pony he trotted in to the call i was on my sticks ready and waited he crossed the dyke and fence and into our field he turned and at the last second before i fired he lifted his back leg and looked at us , it looked like a comedy moment when he looked you could imagine him say ah no you got me as he clocked us my 270 barked out and a heart lung shot was down on my final morning i managed to pull another one ,well to say i was chuffed is an understatement and what a great crack with the lads. I hope i havn't bored you all too much but until i gain experience with my 686 I can't talk too much on handguns ,atb wayne.
I set up camp away from where i would be stalking and was set hopefully for a great time.
i headed off out for a morning stalk but alas nothing showing so went back for breakfast which was very nice before heading out again which only revealed does so off home again empty handed . i spoke to the other guys on the ground and had both seen bucks but couldnt get onto them before the light faded so all ended the day unsuccsessfully but it was great to be out so i was chuffed.
now more outings for me ended up the same way and frustration was setting in and was starting to wonder if my recent run of bad luck was sticking with me . meanwhile one of the other lads had been back out for the buck he had seen still hadnt managed to catch up with him on our final morning i set off after the storms we where having for my last stalk again only producing does and getting the fealing the rut had maybe been happening in the night under the full moons rather than daytime in horrible weather, the next thing i hear a shot ring out nice one at least someone has been successfull.
on my radio came a voice, can you come down to give a hand so i headed down to end my stalk again not seeing a buck. my friend had managed a nice buck to take home a quick gralloch in midge infested air and he was in the coolbox and we all met up to say our goodbye and i was heading off up to my friends ground as i had a week off and didnt want to go home emty handed.
three hours later i was in aberdeen with the storms hot on my heels i got my head down for an hour before heading out on our first stalk , lots had been shot before i got here so my spirits where high.
to cut a long story short two days had passed and all i could see where does by this time i was abit deflated as the ground was hard going and no bucks where showing it was looking like my run of bad luck had hit everyone and i had two days left and was very likely i was going home deprived of sleep and buckless.
wed morning we set off and stalked an area where big bucks had been seen but hadnt been shot so not getting my hopes up sat down glassing a valley and from where we had just come from ten minutes earlier a buck was running along the bottom head down and flat out result my first glimpse of a buck . 200 yrds away he stopped for a second and i was up on sticks as i found him in the scope he turned broadside to eat a few leafs he stretched out ,safety off ready to squeeze the trigger he suddenly ran off , i looked at trev and he laughed it really isnt my time to get a buck he didnt stop for two fields and then the reason became apparent he had winded two does and i think he was as desperate to get to them as i was to get a buck.
we headed on another field over in the corner of the wood another doe so we sat to glass incase a buck was in toe but no so we set off again this time meeting up with another doe and follower but again no bucks.
we got to the end of the wood which had a stone wall running down the side and waste tall bracken with a fence splitting two fields and we needed to to cross into the next field trev gripped the wire to push down , with that the wire made a squeak and from nowhere a buck jumped up stamping his feet forty yrds away in the wood ,he was not a happy chap we had woken him and he barked out, i was on my sticks but only had his face and back of the neck in view as the ferns where covering him. i knew he wasnt going to go i had my two breaths whilst i followed the neckline down i squeezed the trigger.
the next thing i here is you have missed you **** and as i came up a buck ran to the side i looked up with horror and the first thing i said was absolutely not that was a definate dead dear.
all sorts went through my mind but i was still convinced i had hit it we climbed the wall and into the wood, i left my sticks against the wall to mark my position and headed off to the strike but no tell tale blood or anything , i cant believe it after all this time i have gone and missed we carried on seaching in vein but i still kept thinking i have hit it . we made our way to the last point of where the buck had dissapeared out of view and trev climbed a fallen tree to get a better view meanwhile i was heading back to the strike area to widen the search , meanwhile trev had jumped down and went further out and ther was a lovely dead buck ,what a relief as we headed towards him it had been a low neck exactly where i had aimed .
how strange to have two bucks asleep no more than a few feet apart in the rut and will never work that one out but going back to my buck what a cracker i picked him up and carried him to the wall and placed him in the field for pictures and we sat there trying to work out exactly what had gone on and really none the wiser other than guessing.
after a gralloch we headed off back to the truck another big buck had started crossing the open ground we back tracked across a field to intercept him on our last 20 yrds he spooked and was off down the field but made an error in wanting a final look back i was up on the fence post and as i set my trigger and realeased my safety and down he went.
another cracking buck we headed back to the truck to go back and have breakfast . we headed off again that night as we had a call that another buck had been seen acting strang we got there to find a small buck which was dispatched , it turned out it looked like a 22 bullet had hit the deer in the shoulder and smashed its shoulder it was walking on three legs ,it must have been in agony we loaded him up and off home in the failing light .
i had one more stalk before heading off we stopped to glass an area and found a nice buck chasing a doe a plan was hatched and off we went down the edge of a field using the dyke as cover we where getting close to where we spotted them and out of the blue two deer where off flat out across the fields , now we hadnt spooked them so something else was going on we quickly made our way into the barley tramline to get a view and this buck had chased off a smaller buck across two fields he was making his way back to his doe close by to us.
what a sight of a buck strutting his stuff like a prancing pony he trotted in to the call i was on my sticks ready and waited he crossed the dyke and fence and into our field he turned and at the last second before i fired he lifted his back leg and looked at us , it looked like a comedy moment when he looked you could imagine him say ah no you got me as he clocked us my 270 barked out and a heart lung shot was down on my final morning i managed to pull another one ,well to say i was chuffed is an understatement and what a great crack with the lads. I hope i havn't bored you all too much but until i gain experience with my 686 I can't talk too much on handguns ,atb wayne.
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