The Roe Buck season opened for me this past weekend with two clients over two days. Both of them are site members and have stalked with me before.
The weather was as usual bloody horrible, cold wind and nothing growing food wise for the deer, but at least it was dry. The first client shot a reasonable old 6 pointer in heavy velvet out of a group of 5 that appeared very late in the evening on a grass meadow. But prior to this I had seen a doe on the other side of the road which did not look at all well.
The doe was in an awkward place to obtain a reasonable shot, and although we had tried to make use of a nearby ditch to gain some distance the shot was still in excess of 200yds.
The doe was walking very slowly, and with an arched back, scanning her with the binoculars I could make out areas on her back that appeared to devoid of hair, and the caudial patch was not white, but black, a sure indication that she was having some serious problems due to the clotted dung on her behind. I also noticed she was very thin, and could make out the hip bones every now abd again when she turned.
However she spotted us and mad eoff into the nearby wood and we let her be, as it was a sure bet she would not go far in that condition. I intended to stalk her and cull her tomorrow with the other client.
On the arrival of the client (who's name I will not mention as I do not have his authority) I told him that we were going to try and find and stalk this particular deer to end her misery. The weather was slightly better than the day before. Arriving early morning on the area, we stalked from two fields back to see if she was in the area, and I immediatly spotted her again almost in the same place as previous. The wind was not good for us, but after a slight detour around the wood we managed to come down the side with the wind above her, and looking down onto he from a slight bank. The range was less than the previous attempt, but was still some 180yds by my judgement. The client was shooting a 308 sighted in 1.5 inches high at 100yds. The shot was taken and the beast hit hard, which then proceeded to take a few steps into the edge of a nearby blackthorn hedge, where she stood head down. After a few minutes the beast laid down and her head also went down.
I approached her and although just about alive I decided to make sure with a knife. The beast was in a hell of a state, very thin, hair loss, and suffering badly from dioreah.
Not the best start for a client wanting a buck, but a good result none the less.
The weather was as usual bloody horrible, cold wind and nothing growing food wise for the deer, but at least it was dry. The first client shot a reasonable old 6 pointer in heavy velvet out of a group of 5 that appeared very late in the evening on a grass meadow. But prior to this I had seen a doe on the other side of the road which did not look at all well.
The doe was in an awkward place to obtain a reasonable shot, and although we had tried to make use of a nearby ditch to gain some distance the shot was still in excess of 200yds.
The doe was walking very slowly, and with an arched back, scanning her with the binoculars I could make out areas on her back that appeared to devoid of hair, and the caudial patch was not white, but black, a sure indication that she was having some serious problems due to the clotted dung on her behind. I also noticed she was very thin, and could make out the hip bones every now abd again when she turned.
However she spotted us and mad eoff into the nearby wood and we let her be, as it was a sure bet she would not go far in that condition. I intended to stalk her and cull her tomorrow with the other client.
On the arrival of the client (who's name I will not mention as I do not have his authority) I told him that we were going to try and find and stalk this particular deer to end her misery. The weather was slightly better than the day before. Arriving early morning on the area, we stalked from two fields back to see if she was in the area, and I immediatly spotted her again almost in the same place as previous. The wind was not good for us, but after a slight detour around the wood we managed to come down the side with the wind above her, and looking down onto he from a slight bank. The range was less than the previous attempt, but was still some 180yds by my judgement. The client was shooting a 308 sighted in 1.5 inches high at 100yds. The shot was taken and the beast hit hard, which then proceeded to take a few steps into the edge of a nearby blackthorn hedge, where she stood head down. After a few minutes the beast laid down and her head also went down.
I approached her and although just about alive I decided to make sure with a knife. The beast was in a hell of a state, very thin, hair loss, and suffering badly from dioreah.
Not the best start for a client wanting a buck, but a good result none the less.