First Does of the season

Well the morning started out badly as I forgot to set the alarm & the early start at 6.00 turned into me waking up at 7.15. Oh well off I went not expecting too much to be around. I was pleasantly surprised to see 5 Roe feeding in the first field I arrived at so after parking up the track I made my way back down but then spotted 2 more in a closer field. I managed to get within 400 yards without being seen using a pylon base & a bush growing there as cover, unfortunately there was a gas gun hidden there & just as I settled down....... hiisss, a quick fingers in the ears & boom followed by one more 30 seconds later. Bugger me the Roe were still there feeding away merrily. :eek: They didn’t look like they were coming any closer so I backtracked to the hedge line & stalked down it until I was within 150 yards but then I had to negotiate a completely clear patch in the hedge. I got down on my hands & knees ready to belly crawl but as I started moving forward they saw the movement & off they went.........bugger again.

So back to the first field & the 5 were still there feeding steadily but this field is large & very open with no cover whatsoever & I knew they would do the off as soon as they saw me. Last week I observed Roe in this field from my high seat some 600-800 yards away & whilst the muck heap nearby was being replenished they didn’t take a blind bit of notice of the comings & goings of the tractor so I wondered if they would do the same to the Range Rover so I upped sticks & drove back down & around the field margin until I was 300 yards away. They had looked up & followed my progress but then went back to feeding...........result. :D I turned straight on to them & wondered how close I could get so slowly eased the Rangy forward getting closer & closer, each time they looked up they stared for a few seconds & went back to their feed.

I slowly eased out of the seat & opened the upper tailgate, quietly dropped the lower half & shutting the upper crept up & eased the rifle onto the roof. Bipod deployed & no reaction from the deer at all. There were 3 Does & 2 young Bucks, 2 of the Does were a good size so I eased the cross hairs onto the closest which was probably 120 yards away & set the trigger. The 140 grain Federal struck home & she dropped, got up, staggered 2 yards & dropped again. The other 4 ran off about 50 yards, stopped & continued to feed.........amazing! :eek: I dropped down & eased the Rangy forward until I was level with the downed Doe, checked for eye movement, nothing, looked up & the 4 had continued to feed not 90 yards away, so up on top again & down went the larger of the 2 remaining Does, again they ran off 50 yards & stopped, again they continued to feed. I could have easily taken the 3rd Doe but she looked young & small so she was left for another day.

Back to the farm to report in, one happy landowner. Round to the barns & gralloched & prepped the 2 ready to hang, what a great morning it turned out to be.

Has anyone else experienced this level of tolerance with Roe before?

ATB
Chris
 
It seems Lady luck was with you all the way on this one!, I could'nt stifle a chuckle when you related the bit about the gas gun :lol: & made a mental picture cartoon of it. Steve.
 
Perhps all the deer had been previously deafened by standing too close to the gas gun?? :lol:
 
243varmint said:
You jammy bugger Chris. Having deaf Roe on your perm :lol:

Nice one mate

Jonathon

merlin said:
Perhaps all the deer had been previously deafened by standing too close to the gas gun?? :lol:

I was clay shooting with Martin the main tractor driver on this particular farm today & he said he had set the gas gun up a week ago because the Rooks were digging up the beans sowed there & before he had left the field the Roe were out feeding not 500 yards from him! :rolleyes: They are just very tolerant of farm vehicles.

Oh & the ones I shot were in a separate field 1/2 mile away but probably still deaf but definitely not blind. ;)

ATB
Chris
 
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