(Another) First Roe Buck

Wiltshire Lad

Well-Known Member
Yesterday morning I went out on my ground and shot this buck. Weather was foul, but result was good! Only wondering if I should have left him a bit to shed his velvet, but impatience got the better of me as I have seen quite a few around my orchard.
first buck (WL).jpg
 
I would have certainly left him to clean up, that looks a very nice buck there! I no you risk the chance of not seeing him again , but there is no better trophy than a naturally cleaned and coloured up buck , but well done ! He is a cracker , you never no an even better one may take his place !
 
excellent mate well done .... just clean it up and give it a little light stain in places and it will make a lovely mount
 
Well done......the memory of your first roe buck will last forever. As for whether you should have left it for a bit longer only you can answer that but personally I would say having taken the decision to cull it then don't let doubts about it cloud the memory!!

Mulac
 
It does look a very good buck! I wouldnt fret the velvet. Probably 75% of the bucks I shoot are in velvet as i try and get the cull done early and before the cover is up. Deer is only as dead either way and almost nobody keeps all the antlers. If you went out to shoot a deer why the hell would you leave it just because it has velvet?!?!?

If you want it mounting a decent taxidermist will colour them and you will hardly know.

Well done.
 
It does look a very good buck! I wouldnt fret the velvet. Probably 75% of the bucks I shoot are in velvet as i try and get the cull done early and before the cover is up. Deer is only as dead either way and almost nobody keeps all the antlers. If you went out to shoot a deer why the hell would you leave it just because it has velvet?!?!?

If you want it mounting a decent taxidermist will colour them and you will hardly know.

Well done.


must say im with you there... as long as the beast is going to good use so what about the antlers... i like a nice rack but its not main priority
 
got to agree with you guys to a degree , i am not that into trophy heads , having said that i have a buck on my ground and mid summer i will take him out if he is still there , he is past his best now , but meantime there are plenty of cull bucks to keep me busy , just a foot note if the op decided to measure it for a medal the colour would knock it down a point or two which may be all the differance , i no a guy who missed out on a gold by a fraction and the colour had lost it that place , but well done again ,its a very good first !l
 
Thanks for all the comments. I originally put in for my variation for a rifle to shoot deer primarily to protect my woods and orchard, so I'm by no means a trophy hunter. Having said that, if it happened to look like it might make the grade (any grade!) I'd probably get it measured.

I plan on skinning the head later in the week and boiling it. From my research it seems like colour is a small part of the scoring, but as Arron said, those few points may make the difference. I'll not cut the head just in case, so I can give it a quick weigh. To be honest, whilst the length is around 26cm and the span is 20cm, the beam doesn't look that thick, so I can't imagine it will meet the weight. But I am definately no expert!

Whatever happens I'll remember it, and be proud of my first buck.
 
Oh, and as a quick aside, when I shot my first roe doe a couple of weeks back I also glassed a more handsome buck than the one I took!
 
I've shot plenty of bucks like that but I would er on the side of caution.
Lots of people will give you a pat on the back but by removing too many large bucks you may create more of a problem in your woods.
Let me explain
Bucks are now starting to set up territories. They will keep out younger bucks and hold a larger territory than a smaller buck.
When you shoot a mature buck his place will be taken by another one. If you shoot too many large bucks then eventually you end up with a situation of many smaller bucks holding small bits of territory.
Those bucks will all make their own fraying marks and hence you end up with more damage.
It is a difficult game to play, knowing what to take out. If you are after reduced damage then keep the majority of your cull to yearlings, preferably below ears length and make sure you cull out as many does as you do bucks.
Don't cull more than 1/3 in any one year for a stable population and if your after a population reduction then keep it to 1/3 in a year but bias your cull towards your females, particularly older breeding females.
There is no magic cull plan and you may get it wrong, but the great thing is you can then just take it easy and they'll recover.
GOOD LUCK
 
Despite tricky conditions, you made a good job of this buck. I know because I was there with the wind blowing the rain into my face and filling the binos!

Shot placement was spot-on so "buck-fever" didn't influence the important thing, irrespective of trophy quality.

That reminds me- I've got the offal in the fridge still to cook!
 
The weather was awful. With regard to not taking large bucks, I understand the comments. My ground is not over hundreds of acres, and the roe damage is due to browsing the very young trees I have planted. Controlling bark damage from fraying will probably be a problem for the next generation!

When I planted my very modest orchard I was advised to surround it with two metre high deer fencing. I didn't want to do this as my intention was for the area to be beautiful and a place for my kids to play. Surrounding it with deer fence would make it look like Stalag Luft.

I chose to get a deer rifle which has also lead me to learn more about deer, including recently passing DSC 1. But my stalking journey is only just beginning. I am having fun learning how to stalk, gralloch, skin and butcher. It turns out I am now also learning about trophy preparation. That's the great thing about this hobby, there are so many diverse aspects to learn about.

Like XavierDoc I am a collector of hobbies, and probably already have far too many, but enjoy learning about new topics in all the detail I can.
 
Cracking job sir and makes me all the more keen to find the buck that's knocking around on my farm (rather than the does that were brazenly parading in front of me on Saturday morning).

6 months ago, I hadn't even considered stalking but one conversation with a farmer, one push from my rifle captain at the club, one well priced rifle and a hastily booked and passed DSC1 course = me here and now. Like you, it's quite a journey and there's so much more when you scratch beneath the surface.

Great times and plenty more to come.
 
behave im getting envious again i am in the same boat just starting stalking, funny ive been shooting years but it never occured to me to stalk,well done again doug,
 
I've boiled and bleached the skull. I was going to try and stain the antlers, but as I am now thinking of getting it measured I will leave that until after the measurement. Depending on the results of the measurement I will colour it myself, leave it or get a pro to do it.

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Hi Wiltsire lad, do you have a weight and length of this buck so we can have a guess at what it may score
thanks jab
 
purely out of interest , and following on from your question about leaving to colour up naturaly , would you leave it to clean up next time ,or still shoot in velvet , there is no right or wrong answer, just interested to see your veiw on it , atb with scoring it , regards arron.
 
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