I headed out at the end of April this year to fill the freezer as I'd had a bleak couple of months trying for a fallow. I went to a local spot near Heathfield where I know there is a resident roe doe that always seems to bring in a young buck or two so I had a good feeling I'd be able to get a roe instead of a preferred fallow.
I'd only been in the high seat a short while when I saw the doe moving through the trees followed by a buck. He decided to sit down and have a rest so it was a waiting game, him peacefully enjoying the early evening and me knowing the freezer was empty and this was my last chance for a little while.
Eventually he got up and presented a suitable high neck shot over the small trees. He dropped immediately and the doe took off running, barking as she disappeared over the hill. A quick suspended gralloch and he was carried back to the truck and off home to hang in the chiller for a week or two. I didn't think anything of his antlers at first, just that they looked a bit bigger than previous bucks I'd shot. I don't shoot many roe but I do like the look of them and my youngest loves the antlers so I thought this one would be worth sticking in a bucket ilof water and letting the warm weather do the hard work for me.
Fast forward a couple of weeks and he came out the water without a scrap of flesh or gristle on him so was left on the shed roof to dry a bit (in hindsight I should have taken better care of him due to a couple of grey squirrels that have taken up home in a large oak tree at the bottom of the garden) before I'd planned on screwing him to the shed.
It was only reading a thread on here a few weeks back about guessing the score of roe bucks that I thought I'd pop him on the scales out of curiousity and was pleasantly surprised when the weight showed 552g. At this point I thought I may have a Silver medal head judging by the weight and a few other measurements I took so I contacted one of the registered CIC measures, Barry who was over in West Sussex.
After a couple of emails I packaged up the head and posted it off to him. I would have loved to taken the head over in person and found out more about the process but I didn't have the time for a 6 hour round trip.
When Barry emailed me to say it had just scraped a gold medal at 130.93 CIC points I was really glad the squirrels hadn't got to it!
I figured a fitting mount for a reasonably rare East Sussex gold medal roe would be a piece of oak from a traditional Sussex style barn that was built a few hundred years ago that I had from a friend after he converted the barn.
I've now got to convince my wife to take down a piece of décor to put this up instead!
Barry was really helpful and went above and beyond what was expected in the level of service he provided and I'd recommend him to anyone who is looking to get a head measured.
I'd only been in the high seat a short while when I saw the doe moving through the trees followed by a buck. He decided to sit down and have a rest so it was a waiting game, him peacefully enjoying the early evening and me knowing the freezer was empty and this was my last chance for a little while.
Eventually he got up and presented a suitable high neck shot over the small trees. He dropped immediately and the doe took off running, barking as she disappeared over the hill. A quick suspended gralloch and he was carried back to the truck and off home to hang in the chiller for a week or two. I didn't think anything of his antlers at first, just that they looked a bit bigger than previous bucks I'd shot. I don't shoot many roe but I do like the look of them and my youngest loves the antlers so I thought this one would be worth sticking in a bucket ilof water and letting the warm weather do the hard work for me.
Fast forward a couple of weeks and he came out the water without a scrap of flesh or gristle on him so was left on the shed roof to dry a bit (in hindsight I should have taken better care of him due to a couple of grey squirrels that have taken up home in a large oak tree at the bottom of the garden) before I'd planned on screwing him to the shed.
It was only reading a thread on here a few weeks back about guessing the score of roe bucks that I thought I'd pop him on the scales out of curiousity and was pleasantly surprised when the weight showed 552g. At this point I thought I may have a Silver medal head judging by the weight and a few other measurements I took so I contacted one of the registered CIC measures, Barry who was over in West Sussex.
After a couple of emails I packaged up the head and posted it off to him. I would have loved to taken the head over in person and found out more about the process but I didn't have the time for a 6 hour round trip.
When Barry emailed me to say it had just scraped a gold medal at 130.93 CIC points I was really glad the squirrels hadn't got to it!
I figured a fitting mount for a reasonably rare East Sussex gold medal roe would be a piece of oak from a traditional Sussex style barn that was built a few hundred years ago that I had from a friend after he converted the barn.
I've now got to convince my wife to take down a piece of décor to put this up instead!
Barry was really helpful and went above and beyond what was expected in the level of service he provided and I'd recommend him to anyone who is looking to get a head measured.
that's about as accurate and technical as it got I'm afraid.
