Found an old friend again .......maybe?

Lakey

Well-Known Member
Hi All,

A couple of years ago I came across a very nice Roebuck down a hedgerow on one of my permissions that I had never seen before. I managed to take a couple of pictures in the early dawn light. The Roebuck was a beauty, with some age to it.
Now despite targeting this roebuck several times, with clients and alone I never ever caught sight of it again.

Here is that picture

OldPallingtonRoebuck.jpg
 
This morning I was out early, seeing which bucks were where and trying to decide which animals might make a trophy animal and which animals might be suitable for culls etc.

I spotted a roebuck walking across a field (next door to the one where I took the picture of the nice Roebuck above) and after spying it through the bino's I realised it was 'better than average' and worth a closer look. I only had binos and camera with me, and after a steady stalk up to the area where he was last seen, he came racing out of the thick hedge about 10 metres in front of me. I had the camera at the ready and managed to take a few pictures

Now I reckon this COULD be the same buck from a couple of years ago. It has a great left antler but a thinner right antler with a very low brow tine coming off the coronet. It shows some real age with 'ice cream cone' wide based antlers and drooping coronets, and the general antler configuration is similar to the earlier animal. It would be wonderful to think that it was the same animal.

Here are this mornings pictures

P1130120.jpg
 
dont know mate but they are flipping great pics my bloody heart started going almost got buck fever then :D
 
Not the same. On ballance the original seems to have a weaker growth on the same right side but the pedicule seems to be forward on the older beast. If it is the same beast it has gone back a long way. Certainly a cull candidate due to age. He could still hold his own but time to let a good young buck through.
Jim
 
Its pictures like them Andy that sometimes get me feeling ive shot enough mate...

Great pickies bud..:tiphat:

Will give you a bell bud and see about getting out together..

Terry
 
THanks for the comments so far. I see that the heads are not exactly the same but it is certainly a coincidence to have two very mature roe bucks in exactly the same area, both with a weakness on the right side, and both showing advanced age? Could the change in the right antler be due to the 'boxing off' and low brow time growing out of the coronet and rising at a steep angle inwards.

I guess we will probably never know..........
 
Difficult choice mate!
I don't think it's the same animal.
The latest pics show superb muscular definition and a fantastic neck for a Roe.
But!... He has very sloping pedicles which is a sure sign of age.
If there are others of a similar standard, but younger, you should maybe relieve him of his duties after the Rut.
Great photos as always!
MS:D
 
Great pics and nice to see good mature bucks, you must be doing it right.

As for guessing if its the same animal, as you said yourself, it's a million dollar question, the coronets on the first buck are really sloping but don't seem to be as sloping on the second buck, at least not on his left antler, i am thinking the one thing least unlikely to change is the angle of the coronets, as this get more pronouced the older he gets with each sucessive cast, but the first pic the buck has summer coat and it is easier to see his coronets than the buck in the second pic.
You'll have to start catching them up and ear tagging them...!

So its a massive sit on the fence, if you catch up with this big fellow, it would be nice to see the pictures.

Moose
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the replies.

Moose, the coronets are sloping on the second buck, here are a couple of 'cropped in' shots' showing the antler as close as the photographs will allow. If the buck didnt have that withered right hand antler it would be a real corker.

P1130125b.jpg
 
And from a different angle. Sorry about the grainy image but I have cropped into it 'within an inch of its life',and it has degraded the image accordingly

P1130132ab.jpg
 
It's more noticable with the pics cropped to see the sloping corenets.

Can you crop in the first picture of the buck in summer coat and put it next to the last cropped pic you posted, as i think there is a similar facial look about them, but maybe all the bucks from your area look like this, i am now beginning to want to believe this is the same buck.

Moose
 
are the pictures of the two bucks 2 years apart?

I would say they are not the same on a punt. even at two year intervals there are a number of marking that are not showing on the second one.

looks like he is giving you the beady eye in that second one. cracking photo.
what range were they taken at?
 
are the pictures of the two bucks 2 years apart?

I would say they are not the same on a punt. even at two year intervals there are a number of marking that are not showing on the second one.

looks like he is giving you the beady eye in that second one. cracking photo.
what range were they taken at?

Thats the point, I am not sure if we are looking at the same buck 2 years apart (possible wishful thinking on my part ) or two different animals ?

Concensus of opinion seems to favour the two different bucks theory.

The picures were all taken at around twenty metres (except for the first picture (of the buck two years ago)) which was taken at around 40 metres in very early morning light. I cropped into that image which has left it grainy thanks to the low light conditions.

Thanks for the replies

Lakey
 
Back
Top