We are up and gone in the dark the next morning after a chunk of bread and cheese with Orange Juice. No matter what, I want some food in my gut before I go traipsing around the countryside.
In the pre-dawn darkness of the second morning Tom was rushing a little bit as we made our way through a small locality. I get to experience another local revelation, a lightning bolt from the curbside straight into my open pupils. I literally thought a transformer had exploded beside the road. Turns out it was a speed camera. If you could view that photo you would see a stupefied Canadian, stunned and wide eyed. They have number plates on the front of their vehicle, of course we do not. The ensuing discussion on the laws of the land and the resulting differences was interesting. They take speed fines very seriously in the UK. Admissions of guilt, fines, points, courses. Damn. More education.
The offending Equipment. (Google Street View)
Soon enough we roll down the lane way into the farm yard. Tom pulls in beside Lee’s office door, which is wide open. We get out and stretch. Lee is already out and about checking his critters and he arrives shortly to plot the mornings plan. This morning we will be walking from the yard.
I loaded up the pack and the rifle and we are off down the lane. We are chatting as we go slowly walk along between the mature hedges along the lane.
The rain last night has left everything wet and it is quite cool this morning and surprisingly quiet. There is a breeze but with the hedges it is very hard to tell if it is having any affect.
We begin working our way along the field edges searching for our quarry.
As we jump through a ditch and a small hole in a hedge we come out into that short grass margin and immediately see two Muntjac turning a corner to our left and we trotted after them hoping for another look. Sadly, they disappear before I can get on the sticks. Listening to Pheasants crow as we walk, Lee’s sharp eyes see a Fox making his way into a small piece of crop that is still standing. It is a strange little island of uncombined crop that can only have been left for wildlife to feed on. How this Fox escaped us I have no idea. He obviously had an escape route down a small drain and did not need to come out of that island into the stubble again. Lucky for him. I was quite ready to do my part for game management on this farm.
What an amazing countryside. I marvel at the amount of cover for the wildlife that is provided by the ditches and hedges. I remark that I would love to take my Spaniels through this area as I am quite certain they would be thrilled the entire time. The moisture, temperature and cover would make it just ideal for my dogs to hunt. Alas, we are after Roe and we are not seeing anything moving. That overnight rain and cold front have them all bundled up in the lea somewhere. We move through several fields glassing as we go and have no luck.
We pop out on a farm lane that heads directly toward another shed that I have never seen and about 200 yards down the track there is a Chinese Water Deer (CWD) bedded in the lea of the hedge row. We jumped off to the side of the track to hide and get closer for some pictures. After fifty yards or so the CWD’s head swung our way and the jig was up. Gone into a standing crop never to be seen again.
At the end of this lane way we take a 90 degree turn to the left. If I have my bearings right, we are now heading generally back toward the farm yards some ¾’s of a mile away. After several hundred yards of quiet stalking along this lane way we approach an entrance to a combined field which looks like wheat and, as we poke our heads around the corner, we are surprised by a Roe Doe standing in the lea of the lane’s hedge on the crop side. No panic on her part as she watches us and slowly makes her way deeper into cover. Again, what a pleasure to see such a pretty little deer so close.
Lee and Tom are now feeling the pressure waves requiring success. Their glasses come up and they are scanning this field’s edges like their lives depend upon it. I am also joining in at this point and have not seen anything that suggests an animal in this field.
Suddenly Lee says he sees something down the field. I try my damnedest to understand what he is looking at and I end up looking at three weeds at the other end of the field. As we move closer, moving to the right edge of the field, which happens to be the lea side of the wood, the quarry decides to stand up. It is a Roe Buck. We are all excited now and Lee says we should take him. Tom tells me the bullet drop at the distance. They ask if I am comfortable with a shot of 250 plus yards off the sticks and after having figured it out the other day I am certain I can pull it off.
I get settled and then Lee starts wondering out loud if we should move closer.
I am settled and the cross hairs are on this buck and I am waiting for a decent angle. I would like something more broadside but our nerves are up and the concern about the Bucks stage right exit is on our minds. The buck has not seen us at all, when he starts to circle a little and presents a hard quartering away shot. I squeeze off the shot as soon as the back rib clears that delicious hind quarter. He drops instantly. He has fallen in the same grass where he was bedded
Both Lee and Tom are surprised by the shot and elated that I have pulled it off. We were not reticent about celebrating.
We make our way to the buck and I reload and ensure that he is indeed dead.
Then we all break out in smiles and serious congratulations. Lee is commenting that anyone from the continent would give their eye teeth for this buck. There is nothing typical about him. What a weird little trophy.
An impressive, weird trophy.
I’m quite pleased that my first Roe Buck is something novel and not the biggest one in the country.
We do all the obligatory pictures and I help with the Gralloch on the spot and are about to start to drag/carry him back to the larder when Lee realises we are quite far from home at this point in our travails. He decides that he will get the quad and retrieve him later. Fine by me, as there are no Coyotes here.
My introduction to the Gralloch.
We continue our stalking back toward the farm house and do not manage to encounter any further opportunities.
We part ways after instructions that I would like a Euro mount and Lee shows me a nice Red Stag in the chiller that he had taken a few days ago. That is an encounter I would like to have, but that would have to wait for another time.
Tom and I find a gourmet breakfast on our way to the BnB for a snooze. Apparently, the big yellow M serves up at a drive through here too.
We are bound to find another Roe and Muntjac, right?
We make a plan to be back for the afternoon. It was a bloody early start. (Did I say that already)
In the pre-dawn darkness of the second morning Tom was rushing a little bit as we made our way through a small locality. I get to experience another local revelation, a lightning bolt from the curbside straight into my open pupils. I literally thought a transformer had exploded beside the road. Turns out it was a speed camera. If you could view that photo you would see a stupefied Canadian, stunned and wide eyed. They have number plates on the front of their vehicle, of course we do not. The ensuing discussion on the laws of the land and the resulting differences was interesting. They take speed fines very seriously in the UK. Admissions of guilt, fines, points, courses. Damn. More education.
The offending Equipment. (Google Street View)
Soon enough we roll down the lane way into the farm yard. Tom pulls in beside Lee’s office door, which is wide open. We get out and stretch. Lee is already out and about checking his critters and he arrives shortly to plot the mornings plan. This morning we will be walking from the yard.
I loaded up the pack and the rifle and we are off down the lane. We are chatting as we go slowly walk along between the mature hedges along the lane.
The rain last night has left everything wet and it is quite cool this morning and surprisingly quiet. There is a breeze but with the hedges it is very hard to tell if it is having any affect.
We begin working our way along the field edges searching for our quarry.
As we jump through a ditch and a small hole in a hedge we come out into that short grass margin and immediately see two Muntjac turning a corner to our left and we trotted after them hoping for another look. Sadly, they disappear before I can get on the sticks. Listening to Pheasants crow as we walk, Lee’s sharp eyes see a Fox making his way into a small piece of crop that is still standing. It is a strange little island of uncombined crop that can only have been left for wildlife to feed on. How this Fox escaped us I have no idea. He obviously had an escape route down a small drain and did not need to come out of that island into the stubble again. Lucky for him. I was quite ready to do my part for game management on this farm.
What an amazing countryside. I marvel at the amount of cover for the wildlife that is provided by the ditches and hedges. I remark that I would love to take my Spaniels through this area as I am quite certain they would be thrilled the entire time. The moisture, temperature and cover would make it just ideal for my dogs to hunt. Alas, we are after Roe and we are not seeing anything moving. That overnight rain and cold front have them all bundled up in the lea somewhere. We move through several fields glassing as we go and have no luck.
We pop out on a farm lane that heads directly toward another shed that I have never seen and about 200 yards down the track there is a Chinese Water Deer (CWD) bedded in the lea of the hedge row. We jumped off to the side of the track to hide and get closer for some pictures. After fifty yards or so the CWD’s head swung our way and the jig was up. Gone into a standing crop never to be seen again.
At the end of this lane way we take a 90 degree turn to the left. If I have my bearings right, we are now heading generally back toward the farm yards some ¾’s of a mile away. After several hundred yards of quiet stalking along this lane way we approach an entrance to a combined field which looks like wheat and, as we poke our heads around the corner, we are surprised by a Roe Doe standing in the lea of the lane’s hedge on the crop side. No panic on her part as she watches us and slowly makes her way deeper into cover. Again, what a pleasure to see such a pretty little deer so close.
Lee and Tom are now feeling the pressure waves requiring success. Their glasses come up and they are scanning this field’s edges like their lives depend upon it. I am also joining in at this point and have not seen anything that suggests an animal in this field.
Suddenly Lee says he sees something down the field. I try my damnedest to understand what he is looking at and I end up looking at three weeds at the other end of the field. As we move closer, moving to the right edge of the field, which happens to be the lea side of the wood, the quarry decides to stand up. It is a Roe Buck. We are all excited now and Lee says we should take him. Tom tells me the bullet drop at the distance. They ask if I am comfortable with a shot of 250 plus yards off the sticks and after having figured it out the other day I am certain I can pull it off.
I get settled and then Lee starts wondering out loud if we should move closer.
I am settled and the cross hairs are on this buck and I am waiting for a decent angle. I would like something more broadside but our nerves are up and the concern about the Bucks stage right exit is on our minds. The buck has not seen us at all, when he starts to circle a little and presents a hard quartering away shot. I squeeze off the shot as soon as the back rib clears that delicious hind quarter. He drops instantly. He has fallen in the same grass where he was bedded
Both Lee and Tom are surprised by the shot and elated that I have pulled it off. We were not reticent about celebrating.
We make our way to the buck and I reload and ensure that he is indeed dead.
Then we all break out in smiles and serious congratulations. Lee is commenting that anyone from the continent would give their eye teeth for this buck. There is nothing typical about him. What a weird little trophy.
An impressive, weird trophy.
I’m quite pleased that my first Roe Buck is something novel and not the biggest one in the country.
We do all the obligatory pictures and I help with the Gralloch on the spot and are about to start to drag/carry him back to the larder when Lee realises we are quite far from home at this point in our travails. He decides that he will get the quad and retrieve him later. Fine by me, as there are no Coyotes here.
My introduction to the Gralloch.
We continue our stalking back toward the farm house and do not manage to encounter any further opportunities.
We part ways after instructions that I would like a Euro mount and Lee shows me a nice Red Stag in the chiller that he had taken a few days ago. That is an encounter I would like to have, but that would have to wait for another time.
Tom and I find a gourmet breakfast on our way to the BnB for a snooze. Apparently, the big yellow M serves up at a drive through here too.
We are bound to find another Roe and Muntjac, right?
We make a plan to be back for the afternoon. It was a bloody early start. (Did I say that already)
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