My First Roe Buck

[unlacedgecko 1,467]

I completed my DSC 1 with Jon Snowdon of Greenlee in September last year. I applied for my FAC the same month and received it after approx 4 weeks. After a recent period away with work I used some of the money i had saved up to purchase a Remmington 700 in .243. I bought the rifle as a package from Bywell Shooting Ground. I came with a Bushnell 5-15 x 42 scope and a T8 mod. With the addition of a Harris Bi-pod and Butler Creek sling, and after a Saturday morning zeroing on a local range, I was ready to stalk.

 

A local farmer and a golf course green keeper I shoot rabbits for had both given me permission to stalk deer on their land. Nobody else manages the deer on this land. It is a mixture of arabale land (wheat, barley and potatoes), golf course and a small amount of rough grazing. There is a good amount of mature hardwood, mostly on field edges and along side the railway line, although there is a nice patch of about 30 acres on a hillside. The deer have been causing crop damage to the arable land and killed several saplings on the golf course.

 

After finishing work on Friday I checked with the farmer and went for a walk around his land. 30 seconds after getting out of my car i practically tripped over a roe deer. It was grazing in the vegetation on the field boundary, about 8-10m in front of me. I paused and examined it with my binos. An out of season doe unfortunately, but it still got my heart going. I waited for her to move off before continuing up the hill. Two hours later I had seen no further deer, and had to head home as I had guests coming for some BBQ rabbit (courtesy of the golf course and my .22 rimfire). As I made my way back to the car along a tram line I saw a fox coming towards me. An adult dog fox judging by the size. I froze and he got to within 5m of me before the cross wind carried my scent to him. Even then he wasnt particularly bothered, and sedately made his way through the crop to my left.

 

0400 Saturday saw me on the golf course. It was carpeted with rabbits, many more than I usually see on my evening rabbiting forays. I think 1 or 2 early starts this week are required. After walking across the course to the woodland boundary I saw 3 muntjac feeding in the rough grazing. Unfortunately none offered a safe shot, but I sat there and watched them for 10mins until they moved into the wood. I surprised another muntjac on my way back to the car. They really are bizarre looking creatures.

 

Saturday evening was another blank, this time I only saw white tail of a rapidly departing muntjac down a track next to the railway line. I had left it too late, and fading light meant I headed back to the car.

 

My alarm went off at 0345 on Sunday. My girlfriend was getting a bit sick of this by now, but I told her I would be back to bed after a couple of hours. I was dressed and on the course within 20mins. A quick walk around that and the neighbouring farm produced nothing. However, on my way back to the car I spotted two roe bucks on the rough grazing. Using the dead ground got to within 40m of them. Belly crawling to the top of a bank got me within 30m. I was downwind of them and watched them feeding for 5-10mins. After establishing that they were behaving normally and seeing no obvious signs of illness I decided to cull one of them.

 

One moved off into the woodline. Waiting until the remaining buck was side onto me, I fired at his chest, behind the shoulder. On impact I was him donkey kick in the air, before he took off for the cover of the trees. I was confident that I had hit him in the kill zone. I reloaded and waited for 5mins. I could hear him moving through the undergrowth for a few seconds before silence reigned. I made my way to the impact point and saw a good amount of pins and paint. It was a blood trail a blind man could follow. 5m inside the tree line i found my buck. I confirmed death with lack of retinal reflex before bleeding him and transporting him home to gralloch. The seatbelt webbing i picked up at the scrap yard on Friday made an excellent crrying strap.

 

I spent the rest of the day butchering him. My girlfriend was not happy that I never made it back to bed, and even less happy when she came down stairs to find a deer carcass hanging in the front room!

 

That night I had some friends over for BBQ backstraps. After eating our own body weight in venison there was still an awful lot of meat left. I have just had some tenderloin sandwiches for my lunch, and they were bloody lovely! I could get used to all this free meat!

[unlacedgecko 1,467]

The 100grain Federal round blew his heart in half.

[unlacedgecko 1,467]

 

At 5 points it is not the most impressive trophy, but the memory will stay with me for a long time. The hide is in my freezer. I plan on preserving it. I will boil out the skull and display them both in my gun room, when i get around to building it...

 

 

cheers

 

Ug

[mally 832]

Congratulations on your first Buck

[consett lad 43]

well done mate that is a cracking read

[Sky09 8]

great reading mate well done

[J Darcy 5,871]

Thanks for a great read. And don't worry about the points, your first roebuck is always a trophy no matter what size he is.

[unlacedgecko 1,467]

Thanks very much for the kind words everyone. Im so pleased I am able to contribute to this forum after all the times I have read of other peoples experiences.

 

cheers

 

Ug

[wint 3]

Well done on your first buck UG,great write up.I would of loved to see the look on the mrs's face when she came down the stairs lol

Andy

[brno17 5]

well done mate. there will be many more but none will matter as much as this one......

 

atb

alan.

[martin 332]

Your first Buck is something that will always stay with you,congratulations UG mate...........Martin

[cassshantia 16]

well done mate ive 6 shifts to do then im on the war path for some early morning walks out to see if i can add to this topic

again well done

[riggers 2]

congrats pal and thanks for a good read that first buck is always special savour every one and give them the respect they diserve

[dogs-n-natives 1,182]

Very well done mate, happy for you! And a cracking write up too.

[unlacedgecko 1,467]

cheers DnN. Ill make sure I bring the rifle with me on my next trip north, as Im sure you could find a use for it... Im gonna be coming up in the next 3 weeks. You available?