Field roe

monynut

Well-Known Member
Just got back from walking the dogs and while we was out we came across 23 roe in two groups 1 group of 7 and 1 group of 16 these groups were within 500 yds of each other only divided by a river which l know they will cross.

In my opinion these are true field roe as they are resident on the ground and there is not a wood a belt or copse not even a twig or any kind of cover for a considerable distance, l have noticed several deer in areas not noted for deer recently not all l would say would qualify as field roe but certainly in my part of the country (cambs) they are becoming much more common.

My question is, how common are field roe throughout the country and does anyone notice deer in places not usually known for deer.
 
Hi I live not far from you, I was stalking some new ground at the weekend and there were a group of 17 and another of 23 Roe in the same field. I managed to get close enough to take. as you said not a lot of cover around except for hedges. Paul
 
I don't think they are any different except that with the lack of woodland they are having to move into more open ground. I shot my best buck on a piece of really open ground. All they need is ditches and hedges contrary to popular belief. Also at this time of year they are more visible and are likely to be in groups more.

Swampy
 
this time of the year tends to bring the roe out of the woods and into the fields
Happens every year the same, food source I suppose
 
I agree, these are no different from woodland roe. It`s the time of year that you are seeing so many together, these are made up of family groups. In a month or twos time the does will start to get more territorial and push out yearlings and other family members as she gets ready to drop this years kid/kids.

wadas
 
I was driving home from work this morning & spotted 2 roe casually trotting down the edge of a field & not a wood in sight. A buck & doe & they looked as happy as a pig in s#it :D
 
on my ground i have 3 family groups that live in the open fields and sleep in the wildlife strips/beetle banks. i have been watching them for a few months and was planning to take a yearling doe this month if one was barran.

the farmer has just filled up the fields with lambs & ewes, now they have buggered off somewhere else! still on my ground but not really shootable! :( :evil:

but there are a few bucks that will be pushed around soon enough :D :evil:
 
i hav quite a few roe on my ground with very little woodland at all on one one piece there is just a little copse , most of the time they are sat in the hedgerow bottom , 9 times out of ten they are always in the same place but food is plentifull and the hedges are thickish, so i suppose they don't need much more as they would of gone to other pastures
 
Just east of Edinburgh of A1 you can always see upwards of 20 Roe grazing or lieing up in a series of fields with long stubble - mix of does and bucks.
 
Morning All, It seems that many of us have so called Field Roe.
One farm where I have the stalking of about 400 acres in south oxfordshire is all arable with only a few thick hedgerows and there have been three groups of between five and nine, pretty well constantly over the twenty years I have been there.
Like Swampy, my best buck came from this area. A bronze medal, shot in mid april about ten years ago.
 
Interestingly these roe are living on fairly newly acquired NT land and seem to be very tolerant of people being around, l was within 100yds of 3 bucks laying together and another buck doe and yearling again under 100yds all the rest was milling around and feeding happily within 200yds of us they all was aware of us being there, they was all doing their thing without a care in the world.

l did wonder if they was so confident because where they are is so open and flat and largely baron with no hedges, woodland or any natural cover so that any movement or attempts to approach them closer would be easily noticed.
 
Yes - but try having a rifle and actually want to shoot one - its a bit like the rabbits in the garden - they are happy until you have the air rifle ready at the bathroom window - in which case you will never see them!!!
 
air rifles and windows

Guys,
I have to tell you this becuase it is so funny. My dad likes to feed small birds on his patio so he hangs his nuts out there. He is plagued by squirrels on them though.

so he gets an air rifle to shoot them and gets himslf ready in the dining room. The squirrels duly turned up and he duly tried to shoot them off his nuts. He wondered why he kept missing...... he had shot half a dozen holes in the window frame.

steve
 
Swampy said
Guys,
I have to tell you this because it is so funny. My dad likes to feed small birds on his patio so he hangs his nuts out there. He is plagued by squirrels on them though.

so he gets an air rifle to shoot them and gets himself ready in the dining room. The squirrels duly turned up and he duly tried to shoot them off his nuts. He wondered why he kept missing...... he had shot half a dozen holes in the window frame.

steve

Hi Steve
I've got a similar story an old fellow I used to know unfortunately long since dead had a squirrel problem in his walnut tree as he had for years previous, his solution was to slide his shotgun through a partially open sash window and shoot the offending squirrel.
The only difference this year, he wasn't using his trusty old Ward side by side but one of them new fangled Beretta over and unders and proceded to shoot the bottom off the window. :oops:
 
I think it's a fact that the less woodland the bigger the winter herds of roe are, safety in numbers through lack of cover etc - certainly true abroad.

On big arable plains in Wiltshire I used to take a dozen roe a year of 3k acres with not one wood over 1/2 acre on it.
 
Just east of Edinburgh of A1 you can always see upwards of 20 Roe grazing or lieing up in a series of fields with long stubble - mix of does and bucks.

They are a braw sight indeed.

nutty
 
In the South of England roe are commonly found on farmland with decent hedgerows and not much in the way of woodland, just the odd copse.

In my recent post on seeing 35 roe in 5 minutes from a train in Oxfordshire, these were almost all well out in the fields with no decent woodland nearby.

They seem perfectly happy in these situations and this might explain why they have spread so well as there is not much in the way of rural land they they cannot live in quite happily except perhaps the large monoculture wheat and barley fields of East Anglia.
 
On my modest area in Sussex three weeks ago I counted 11 Roe on two fields, and my friend who was with me took a yearling doe out.

At this time of year I find they tend to congregate on certain fields in fairly large numbers. I have only had this piece about 2 years, but my friend who owns it has told me he has seen up to 35 on one field.

Last year I had 6 Bucks in 9 outings, although I only shot one myself, all the others were taken by friends or new friends off this site. There are no other stalkers hunting the surrounding areas as the next door farms are all tree huggers :eek: LOVELLY !!!!
 
What's the biggest roe group anyone has seen in Britain - mine is 16 on young barley - Salisbury Plain, February.
 
There are 2 Herds of Roe that I see regularly, one of them (6-8) were on a stubble field, I have seen them there for 3ish months, totally undisturbed, even once the farmer ploughed the field, they returned, saw them again this morning. The second Herd (7) I also saw this morning, laid up in the middle of a crop field, was with my children so stopped the car, they didn't batton an eyelid, (the deer that is, not my kids)

They are both on reasonably open ground, very small thickets and hedges for cover bit they don't seem bothered.

They are both within a mile of Amesbury (Salisburyshire).
 
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