After some advice on a small permission

J111

Well-Known Member
Hi all,

I've got a new permission which I'm struggling with at the moment. It's about 10 acres and is basically a mansion with a large garden. about 300m long. I't got a main road down one side of it and then a belt of dense woodland about 1/4 mile deep up a steep hill which is the only safe direction to shoot in. The woodland doesn't really have any paths or tracks in it and is very steep ground and hard and noisy going on foot. The landowner says he's being plagued by roe which are eating his wife's garden and I did see one at about 2 in the afternoon when I had a look round with him a couple of months ago. The place is pretty busy as there's people coming and going most of the day so I'm really limited to mornings.

I've been out on two mornings before dawn now and set up with sticks looking up the hill but not seen anything yet, although I did hear a roe barking as it cleared off when I arrived the last time I went. I'm thinking it will be better when the leaves are off the trees as I'll be able to see more.

Does anyone have any ideas for how best to approach this sort of thing?

Many thanks.
 
Hi all,

I've got a new permission which I'm struggling with at the moment. It's about 10 acres and is basically a mansion with a large garden. about 300m long. I't got a main road down one side of it and then a belt of dense woodland about 1/4 mile deep up a steep hill which is the only safe direction to shoot in. The woodland doesn't really have any paths or tracks in it and is very steep ground and hard and noisy going on foot. The landowner says he's being plagued by roe which are eating his wife's garden and I did see one at about 2 in the afternoon when I had a look round with him a couple of months ago. The place is pretty busy as there's people coming and going most of the day so I'm really limited to mornings.

I've been out on two mornings before dawn now and set up with sticks looking up the hill but not seen anything yet, although I did hear a roe barking as it cleared off when I arrived the last time I went. I'm thinking it will be better when the leaves are off the trees as I'll be able to see more.

Does anyone have any ideas for how best to approach this sort of thing?

Many thanks.


Bait (apples/sugar beet) and a high seat. Not stalking but it is management.
 
A Trailcam or two will be handy to get an idea of when they are moving about.

You mention that there are a lot of people moving about during the day, but if they are used to seeing people all the time, you will be surprised how quickly they may re-appear when things go quiet and also that they may not run that far when disturbed.
 
On a sunny winter day set yourself up after your morning paper and coffee (so say 11am-3pm) as the deer is likely to want to sun themselves and nibble some tender shoots, if there is a lot of traffic they will be used to that and still show up.
I always question the perceived wisdom of the stalking world where most people think most deer are shot around sunrise and sunset. Maybe most deer are shot around sunrise and sunset because most stalkers only go out around sunrise and sunset?
 
Portable high seat set it up the night before then go one hour before sunrise sit for minimum three hours. I am sure the baits will not work if its a big fancy house there will be more than enough food for roe.

A place were I go from time to time and after dealing with the direct impacts I then deal with out lying roe on the surrounding farm.

 
Totally agree Erik! Most roe deer in winter time are active in the daytime and the late Ken McArthur and myself shot more between the the hours of 10am and 2pm than in the mornings or evenings. A little bait may help but use a high seat safety wise,
On a sunny winter day set yourself up after your morning paper and coffee (so say 11am-3pm) as the deer is likely to want to sun themselves and nibble some tender shoots, if there is a lot of traffic they will be used to that and still show up.
I always question the perceived wisdom of the stalking world where most people think most deer are shot around sunrise and sunset. Maybe most deer are shot around sunrise and sunset because most stalkers only go out around sunrise and sunset?
 
Portable high seat set it up the night before then go one hour before sunrise sit for minimum three hours. I am sure the baits will not work if its a big fancy house there will be more than enough food for roe.
I agree with this, it is the way i dealt with one of my area's (3 acres) but i don't put down food for the deer.
I wasted so much time on my place (they were never there, just the evidence) i decided they could ring me at anytime when a deer was in their garden and i would try and get there as i am usually only 15 minutes away, it worked out a few weeks ago, they rang me, 15 minutes later i arrived, 1 minute later a roe buck was down.
I have put this up before but it illustrates what damage the deer are doing, classic browse line.

Cheers
Richard
 
Nice one guys. Some great ideas there - thanks. Will try baiting an area and seeing how that goes. Picked up a sack of sugar beat on the way home from work.
Might also try a high seat up in the woods away form the house for some midday action as Erik suggests.
On trail cams, I see the range of the PIR thing is only 10 m. Is that of any use to us really???
Cheers
 
On trail cams, I see the range of the PIR thing is only 10 m. Is that of any use to us really???

Definitely.

You should be able to put it within 10m of your bait point easily enough to know what time they are feeding there.

Alternatively you could find the paths that they use regularly, and as before, see when they are using them and hopefully get a count of how many animals are causing the damage.

You may even be able to put up a wooden post to mount a camera, in one of the borders or hedges to ensure that you can it precisely where you need it.
 
Just a tip with the sugar beet,if it's dry shredded you may have to wet it. I have used it for Sika in the past leaving it in heaps to form a soggy mess when it rained. It worked extremely well when we had a lot of hinds to cull.
Nice one guys. Some great ideas there - thanks. Will try baiting an area and seeing how that goes. Picked up a sack of sugar beat on the way home from work.
Might also try a high seat up in the woods away form the house for some midday action as Erik suggests.
On trail cams, I see the range of the PIR thing is only 10 m. Is that of any use to us really???
Cheers
 
A couple of years back I was discussing the same problem with a large house owner. As we were chatting the said naughty roe buck jumped into view out of the patio window . Deciding a very quick course of action was needed we legged it upstairs and I nailed it out the bedroom window using his Mrs rolled up duvet as a rest on the windowsill. How far from the wood is the house ?!?!!!
 
Nice one guys. Some great ideas there - thanks. Will try baiting an area and seeing how that goes. Picked up a sack of sugar beat on the way home from work.
Might also try a high seat up in the woods away form the house for some midday action as Erik suggests.
On trail cams, I see the range of the PIR thing is only 10 m. Is that of any use to us really???
Cheers

When baiting find a sheltered bit but open to the sun but with a light canopy to give them a little sense of security . A mate of mine has a similar problem and that was the advice given to him by an old keeper and its working
 
A couple of years back I was discussing the same problem with a large house owner. As we were chatting the said naughty roe buck jumped into view out of the patio window . Deciding a very quick course of action was needed we legged it upstairs and I nailed it out the bedroom window using his Mrs rolled up duvet as a rest on the windowsill. How far from the wood is the house ?!?!!!

Not far mate Could be a possibility. Reminds me of shooting magpies out of a lady in the villages window when I was kid with the airgun!
 
Definitely.

You should be able to put it within 10m of your bait point easily enough to know what time they are feeding there.

Alternatively you could find the paths that they use regularly, and as before, see when they are using them and hopefully get a count of how many animals are causing the damage.

You may even be able to put up a wooden post to mount a camera, in one of the borders or hedges to ensure that you can it precisely where you need it.

Cheers buddy. Will probably try that then. Any recommendations for a cheap one?
 
Just a tip with the sugar beet,if it's dry shredded you may have to wet it. I have used it for Sika in the past leaving it in heaps to form a soggy mess when it rained. It worked extremely well when we had a lot of hinds to cull.


If it is shredded/dried sugar beet be very careful where put it out, on some animals it will smell up inside there gut and kill them unless prpoerly soaked. I know it will kill horses if they can gorge on it, there is also a protected mammal that don't do so well after eating it.
So just be careful
 
Portable high seat set it up the night before then go one hour before sunrise sit for minimum three hours. I am sure the baits will not work if its a big fancy house there will be more than enough food for roe.

A place were I go from time to time and after dealing with the direct impacts I then deal with out lying roe on the surrounding farm.

+1high seat sit & wait ATB
 
well said Erik most deer where i am seem to show up after 8 30 and often much later especially in winter i tend to shoot or see them from eleven up to dinner time,and very often its almost to dark at dusk because theyre late out
 
Put feed down were you want them salt lick blocks etc then nail them in the morning

Watch out with the amount of feed you drop. This is where automatic feeders are great.

If you drop too much feed, the deer quickly realize that the source of food is always there and visit by night. If you only throw down enough to last the day, they'll show up during light.

Vary the food source. Have you tried corn? Generally speaking, this time of the year I find that the deer like their carbo's. Try apples or acorns.

Salt licks are great too. I like to get the salt mineral crystals and work it in to the ground.
 
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