Any success moving roe deer to standing rifles?

muddy42

Well-Known Member
I live in Dumfriesshire and regularly stalk on an area which has a large population of roe. On Saturday we tried moving deer to standing guns. From dawn onwards we carried out three deer "drives" with three mates walking through large mixed forestry blocks with three rifles waiting at the far end in the field waiting for deer to cross grassland to another area of woodland.

It goes without saying that we were militant on the safety front, high vis worn by all, maps detailing manoeuvres, permitted arcs of fire in fields away from beaters with a safe backdrop, and a horn to signal the end of the "drive" to permit the beaters' safe exit.

These were all in areas where I have seen deer break cover before, however the deer were very uncooperative and generally doubled back through the wood. No shots fired.

The deer may have been winded somehow, but the wind would never be perfect for this kind of manoeuvre? Also the weather was a bit blustery which might have made the deer prefer the warmth of woodland. No deer were seen grazing in fields that morning.

Has anyone else done this? Any success? Thanks.
 
The way i understand the Law, it is "ILLEGAL" To drive Deer in the UK??????????????? And your write up sound's as this Not far from where i live i no of, after the Pheasant season is finished they are having Muntjac Drive's with Shotgun!!!!!!!!!! :cuckoo: AND they got STOPPED :thumb:
 
I'm not sure it's illegal providing no vehicles are used.

However the moral aspects and in particular the safety one aspect is open to question. It seems to overlook the whole skill and fieldcraft associated with stalking.
 
Maybe you should have asked someone how to do it before rather than after? Not illegal or immoral and quite efficient if done properly. The key thing to get in your head is that you are moving deer not driving them. JC
 
What you want is a good hunting Teckle. You need to know your ground well and were abouts the roe will break cover, cross rides etc. It do's not take long to find out the right places to stand the guns. A great passion of mine hunting roe with a teckle and a combi. I have got a invite to hunt my teckle on a new bit of ground on Saturday.
Tomorrow its a students hunting day at a agricultural college in southern Sweden with driven Moose, Roe and Boar on the menu so will be looseing of the Kopov.
I love hunting with the dog and driven game :D.


www.prokennel.se
 
Maybe you should have asked someone how to do it before rather than after? Not illegal or immoral and quite efficient if done properly. The key thing to get in your head is that you are moving deer not driving them. JC
+1 on that JC
Its only illegal to use a vehicle for the purpose of and i think more than two dogs.
 
I've done this successfully in Sussex with both roe and fallow where we needed to get the cull up with only a few days to spare. The estate had a long valley with one side fairly open and the other side wooded. We placed two rifles at the top end on the open side with proscribed fields of fire and absolute instructions not to move and not to fire at anything across the brook in the valley bottom. The wind was essentially in their faces and two of us walking gently up on the other side of the valley, our scent moving the deer quietly away from us and towards the rifles. I was one one of the walking rifles and my partner and I kept each other in vision or waited until we had re-established visual contact before moving on.

This worked fairly well and the deer presented themselves nicely at the top of the valley although the fallow were far more cooperative being a stronger "herd" animal. We got a couple of fallow and a roe but most of the roe seemed to sense the danger and came back through the "line", we picked one off but that was it.

The only minus point, and quite a serious one, was one of the placed rifles being unable to follow instructions and walking off his station in mid-drive. Fortunately I saw him and explained in words of mostly four letters that he was never to do this again, in fact he was never allowed to participate in a drive again.
 
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Alright lads, stop kicking him for being honest.

He's done nothing illegal or dangerous that I can see from his post or even bothered the deer more than a couple of dog walkers.

Muddy,

You need to talk to some European stalkers mate, they are the experts in this sort of thing. I see that someone above has mentioned dogs, they are an important part of it as they can gently ferret deer out from heavy cover on a long, 10 metre and orange, tracking lead.

Unless your valley is less than a hundred metres across you will need more bods as well.

Raised firing points shooting in the opposite direction to the beaters and on a 45-90 degree arc of fire depending on the conditions are safest.

So in summary, dogs, radios, orange, experienced steady hunters, raised firing points, appreciation of the topography and a rock solid briefing.

The rest will come down to experience mate.
 
Richard Prior talks about moving roe in " Trees and Deer " - a favourite trick is to double back through ( which is obvious considering they're trying to hide- I know I'd do the same).
 
I think it ought to be stressed here that what is being talked about is moving deer and not driving deer -some readers may not be aware of the difference.
 
An art of it own, the same as driving pigs.

Continentals are masters of it.

If Ive ever driven out a plantation Ive always made sure Im driving them INTO the wind, if the wind is up your arse 9 times out of 10 they will bolt straight through the line, deer generally flee into the wind.
 
Done this once in North Scotland, Keeper sent me out to the other side of a small forestry block then him and a mate walked it. What he did'nt tell me was that i had to cross a stream that was to wide to jump and up to my ball's, It would have been nice in the summer but this was winter with snow on the ground, I got a deer tho :D.
 
I have done it for a mate who needed to get his cull figures up. I just quietly walked up the deer, bumping them gently, as if you were just there to look at them. This was in two narrow woods that ran along a steep sided, V shaped valley.
Both worked well.

Then we had a notable failure, I walked up through one wood to push the roe out into a field and on to another wood, where my friend was waiting. I moved 7 of them out of the wood, gently walked them into the field going toward the other wood. All going swimmingly until they must have winded my friend, the deer turned around and ran at me, passing within 10yards :(

ft
 
That would make sense to me Flytie.

In my experience game usually hangs around for a little bit if they catch a sight of you, but run like clappers immediately if they catch your wind.
 
Moving deer is an art in it's self, basically have the "beaters go slowly with a bit of noise, alternatively a small dog with a bell [teckel/terrier] remember fleeing deer will not stop!!!!!! You are just wanting to move the deer not chase
Knowing the ground is the key and being aware of where the deer move to when startled and in what wind.
Emphasise to the rifles as to where they can shoot, it's a good idea to go the day before and mark areas such as 100m distance and where they are in relation to others as well as non shooting areas.
Again this is not tecnnically stalking but there is skill involved , try and treat it like a pheasant day and see how successfull you are.
I'm sure plenty on here will slate you for it, but that could be more down to the fact that they weren't invited along!!!!

Bon chasse
 
I have taken part in a few deer moves. You have to know your ground well, and understand the way the deer use the ground. I have done both the stationary gun bit and the mover. On one occasion, I stood at the point of a large wood, with falling ground to my right and level, then rising ground on my left. The position I chose was about thirty yards in from the end of the wood, with a slight clearing to both sides, and I stood beside a beech tree. I ended up shooting a roe doe, which emerged from in front of me with two others and dropped down below me before pausing just inside the edge of the trees allowing a downhill shot at about forty yeards, then a bit later on I shot a sika stag with a broken left antler (broken off just above the coronet). I spotted that moving from right to left in front of me and then breaking out into the field on my left. It paused ( to look back at the walker) as it ran past me, and I managed to fire the shot with the rising hillside behind it. It was stood at about thirty yards and ran forward round the back of the wood. I was eventually loined by the walker, who had not seen any of the deer himself. We both walked around the wood and found the sika about fifty years from where I had taken the shot. Another sika pricket aslo came out in front of me, but I didnt shoot, as it was unsafe to fire back towards the walker, and the deer doubled back into the wood from where it had come. Two deer in half an hour, made possible by somebody walking silently through the wood, slowly pushing the deer ahead of him. Like all methods, best to use it once or twice a year, so as not to educate the deer,

Lakeyj
 
The problem with moving deer is that in order not to alarm them the movers do not wind the wood and approach downwind, however, the guns will if they are upwind.Deer will not move in any circumstance towards a human scent.
Try position the rifles and movers accross the wind you will probably have more success.
S.
 
We do it it quite regular but mainly in new planted area,s . Just walking with the wind at your back will move deer if you have a very steady dog all the beter .But if you go to fast or if they have any idea that there is a danger at one end they will turn back come out the side and so on .Most time when this happens the job has not been properly planned and the deer wins.
 
I have been involved with deer movement days as a shooter and as a deer dog tracking man for many years, if organised properly it can be an very effective of controling the doe populotion.
 
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