3 Days in Yorkshire

Last month I popped up to Driffield for a few days stalking with John Robson. The result was three very different bucks.

Day 1

Sadly we saw nothing to shoot at during either of the days outings. John went to great lengths and we stalked through some lovely woodland and over a rich variety of farmland with an interesting mix of both arable and pasture.

Day 2

We spent the morning in the Vale of Pickering on a well managed arable farm with a few small blocks of woodland. We had covered most of it and looked in most of the woods and were heading back to the truck when we bumped into the tenant who took great delight in telling us that he had seen deer right next to the truck when he'd let his dogs out that morning! We therefore decided to have another look in the nearest wood. Not far in Breeze went on point, we couldn't see at what but clearly there was something in front of us. Moving very slowly forward we eventually were able to make out a deer and as it moved we could see that it was a buck fraying a tree. He was about a 100 yards or so away with a small amount of thin brush in front of him, he took a step forward exposing his shoulder, I checked with John to make sure he was happy for me to shoot and
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So we finally had one in the bag. We had an enjoyable evening but sadly saw only does.

Day 3

Another early start but a beautiful one. Again a different farm and we bumped deer as soon as we got out of the vehicle. I had a shot at a small buck which was probably too far as I was using sticks and not a bi-pod but then again you never miss if you don't shoot so I had to give it a go. We moved to another farm after stalking through some very well managed woodland and found a nice buck in a young mixed plantation.

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The evening was better we had tried a number of times to find a malform buck which John was keen to remove and had been unsuccessful. We had called it a day as the light was pretty much gone and were heading back to the vehicle, by a different route and there across a field was a shape, a deer, a buck no less and yes it was him. He was right on the boundary and 200+yards away so we waited in the hope that he would head home and therefore come toward us. Eventually he stopped eating and moved off, at first at a walk, then a trot, would he stop? Then he disappeared into dead ground, had I missed my chance? Half a minute later he reappeared with a good back stop but not much of him showing above the crop, to shoulder or not to shoulder, some say it is controversial but when you want to remove bad genes from the pool it drops them where they stand.
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I have a few more photos which I'll post later as I can only post 5 per post.


Anyway I had a good few days with John who is good company and a good stalker.

More pics to follow.

PHJLA
 
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Here are a couple more photos, I'd be interested to hear anyones views as to why the malform had a hole in his head, as you can see it is inside his skull.

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The bag
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Best

PHJLA
 
Well done Patrick, good result there. :cool:

That malformed head is truly extraordinary!

Alex
 
That sure is a strange head and without a doubt one to keep, in years to come you'll be able to tell the grand kids that you shot the last unicorn! :D
 
What a wonderful head that malform is; I have a former danish client who shot over 1,000 roe, he always wanted to shoot a unicorn but never managed it.

I wonder if the hole could have been some sort of parasitical larvae burrowing up when the buck was in velvet - this throwing the malformation. I have heard of something similar with a red stag caused by a nasal bot fly but you wouldn't expect it at the time of year roe are growing their antlers.
 
The spongy appearance of the bone around the hole suggests a previous infection to me. Maybe from an old wound, tip of an antler during rut?

Alex
 
I think that infection is a possibility as it had a broken and repaired leg. What is more amazing was its weight, 56lb, a real monster...

P
 
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