Whoops I forgot about this thread
Well the weather was very changable but didn't hinder the hunt too much. The wind was very high which meant that the Deer were staying in sheltered spots and not moving much first day. We worked our way to a Box stand overlooking a small sheltered field as we approached the stand along the fence suddenly a Roe Doe popped her head up about 70 yards away in the grass and slowly got up and wandered off to the opposite side of the field. We could see she was heavy with Kid and was probably settling down to give birth
due to he condition she did not jump the fence but followed it round and out of sight and once she had gone Walt climbed up the ladder to open the door to the stand.
Once up there he froze and hissed down to me to be still
not visable to me but to walt was a 4 point Roe Buck laying next to the fence ( a 3 strand barbed wire fence) looking our way. So slowly I climbed the ladder to see, we then decided that we could carefully make it into the stand and wait and see what occured, this was all we could see of him:-
Later he got up to browse and walt said if I wanted i could take him but seeing as how I already had a 4 point I realy was looing for a 6 pointer.
as you can see I had plenty of oppertunity to shoot him but I just took pictures. Then Walt spotted a 2nd Buck laying a bit further back
This is him after he stood up. All we could see at first was an ear. This was the late afternoon early evening and as I had the morning stalk the following day I was not concerned.
The next mornign the wind had dropped but it had rained during the night so it was wet underfoot and the vegitation was wet so we got a little damp
. This morning I didn't take my backpack and camera as we were walking a lot and we needed to be quick and quiet to cover the ground between the woods and likely crops. The estate/farm cover 2000 acres. We saw a couple of Muntjac a little way off but roe Buck was the quarry and they were provving elusive but as we came to a small copse adjoining the farmm acces track Walt froze. About 60 yards into the copse was a 6 point Buck browsing I stupidly lifted my binos to examnine him when I should have really got the rifle ready and so lost the oppertunity when the Buck ghosted into the trees and dissappeared. We did wait and look for him but only turned up a Muntjac Buck and Doe. Trouble with stalking deer in May is the height of the crops
they just vanish into them.
After stalking some more and only seeing 3 Roe Does after that Buck and even sitting in a hot spot using another Box stand we were making our way back when again we saw a pair of Muntjac and after a short stalk to get the distance down I shot the Buck at about 90 yards. A nice young Buck and he is very tasty and tender
.
Now as to costs well roe stalking is done in outings fo between 4 and 6 hours. So you start at daynreak and stalk depending on the estate untill about 09:00, we stalked until later but that is just the way Cliff and walt do it
thenrest up during the day untill about 16:00 then stalk untill dark which about 21:00 depending upon the month. Prices vary from about £75- £100 per outing ($135-$180US) and a lot of estates levy a trophy fee which varies wildly. medal are warded according to weight of the antlers and go Bronze, Silver and Gold where we were bronze starts at £150 and it goes up from there. Sorry but the prices are set in relationship to the Continentals who are Roe mad
and they will pay a lot so we are lumbered with this system. The farms/estate see this as a cash crop and the carcases are sold to the Game dealer unless you want to buy them. Unless you can afford your own land with der on it this is the way of things here.
You can bring your rifle but that requires a Visitors Firearms Permit which needs to be sorted out before you come otherwise customs will sieze it. Rifles must be of .240" bore minimum and use ammunition which is designed to expand and gives a minimum muzzle energy or 1700ft lbs for England and Wales.
Scotland is different as for Roe can use.22 centrefires providing a minimum bullet weight of 50 grains with 1100 ft lbs and 2450fps minimum muzzle velocity. This can be used for Roe only. Other deer require minimum cal of .240" with a 100 grain bullet at 2450fps minimum muzzle velocity producing at least 1700 ftlbs muzzle energy. A game licence is required whihc is obtainable for Post Offices at £4 for a short one and £6 for a year.