Stalking and Sunshine

[socks 32,253]

England I would have thought ......

[Born Hunter 17,622]

5 hours ago, FOXHUNTER said:

Cracking head , definitely make a medal , possible Gold Let us know. Which county was it shot ?

Dorset 

[sussex 5,776]

5 hours ago, Born Hunter said:

I'll see what it weighs when fully dry and then decide if it's in with a chance but yeah be a shame not to if it is a medal class. 

You show a commendable level of restraint with your deer mate. Fair play.

Trophies don’t really do much for me , the silver I shot was a malform , it had a third antler growing out of the pedicule and made silver (126.4) mainly on weight ..it got its place on the “trophy “ wall as a cull animal ..I don’t get to shoot many roe as my places are 99% fallow ..and on which there are precious few that have quality heads let alone anything in the medal class .i don’t think I’ve ever seen a gold medal wild fallow head in all the years I’ve been stalking , seen a few good heads but nothing that I would immediately class as gold .Medal quality  fallow heads are in the same league as rocking horse shit ..a very rare find ..

I understand people wanting a nice head but to shoot the best animal on the place in the long term seems short sighted at best but I suppose I’m lucky I was getting out four or five days a week and had the luxury of being able to plan on the long term , with owners that left me to get on with it ...

As an aside I would have shot that roe of yours , it’s not a good looking classic,  symmetrical six point head , more just an old buck with a average head that happens to have a bit of weight to it .Perfect cull animal and not shot because it was a trophy .I hope it gets over the line ..

 

 

[Born Hunter 17,622]

9 minutes ago, sussex said:

Trophies don’t really do much for me , the silver I shot was a malform , it had a third antler growing out of the pedicule and made silver (126.4) mainly on weight ..it got its place on the “trophy “ wall as a cull animal ..I don’t get to shoot many roe as my places are 99% fallow ..and on which there are precious few that have quality heads let alone anything in the medal class .i don’t think I’ve ever seen a gold medal wild fallow head in all the years I’ve been stalking , seen a few good heads but nothing that I would immediately class as gold .Medal quality  fallow heads are in the same league as rocking horse shit ..a very rare find ..

I understand people wanting a nice head but to shoot the best animal on the place in the long term seems short sighted at best but I suppose I’m lucky I was getting out four or five days a week and had the luxury of being able to plan on the long term , with owners that left me to get on with it ...

As an aside I would have shot that roe of yours , it’s not a good looking classic,  symmetrical six point head , more just an old buck with a average head that happens to have a bit of weight to it .Perfect cull animal and not shot because it was a trophy .I hope it gets over the line ..

 

 

Totally agree mate. I didn’t pay its head much attention in the field.

[FOXHUNTER 5,020]

10 hours ago, socks said:

England I would have thought ......

County not country

[socks 32,253]

1 hour ago, FOXHUNTER said:

County not country

[THE STIFFMEISTER 14,553]

Did you get Gareth gates autograph ? 

[THE STIFFMEISTER 14,553]

On 04/07/2020 at 21:59, sussex said:

Over 500gr dry , length and decent span that might make the grade , are you going to get it measured ? ..best I’ve ever shot made good silver , I think yours will pip my one ..left two that would have made gold but they were exceptional heads on young deer , one was killed about three weeks later on the road and the other shot by my pals son next door to my perm on one of his first solo outings ....his old fella wasn’t best pleased to say the least ! 

Nice post that pal!  

[shovel leaner 7,648]

On 04/07/2020 at 21:59, sussex said:

Over 500gr dry , length and decent span that might make the grade , are you going to get it measured ? ..best I’ve ever shot made good silver , I think yours will pip my one ..left two that would have made gold but they were exceptional heads on young deer , one was killed about three weeks later on the road and the other shot by my pals son next door to my perm on one of his first solo outings ....his old fella wasn’t best pleased to say the least ! 

The ground I keeper has produced some excellent heads . Since I took over we have had 2 platinum roe 1 gold roe , some silver and bronze as well as some very nice reps . Muntjac also do well here and we have had our share of medal muntys . The roe I put down to good genetics and over winter nutrition from pheasant feed . We haven’t had many fallow until the last few years and I’ve noticed a drop off in the number and quality of the roe . 
       A year or so ago I had a cracking buck that I knew would be a really decent medal, at least silver but probably gold or platinum. I always try to take these bucks after the rut so at least they have passed on their genes . I told the guy I had lined up for it about it and arranged for him to come and shoot it . Just a few days before the planned visit I had a call out . A deer was injured on the hill ( near the bucks territory) and would I go and attend and remove it . I thought I hope it’s not that buck , but of course it was . I didn’t know for sure straight away because both antlers were missing, but I never saw the medal buck again so I guess it was . A real shame . 

[Born Hunter 17,622]

With these medal head tragedies you lot are sharing next time I see a youngster with a medal head that'd be better off left all I'll be able to think is "Well, that'll certainly get run over next week so I'd better flatten it now!". 

[kinkell 787]

2 hours ago, shovel leaner said:

The ground I keeper has produced some excellent heads . Since I took over we have had 2 platinum roe 1 gold roe , some silver and bronze as well as some very nice reps . Muntjac also do well here and we have had our share of medal muntys . The roe I put down to good genetics and over winter nutrition from pheasant feed . We haven’t had many fallow until the last few years and I’ve noticed a drop off in the number and quality of the roe . 
       A year or so ago I had a cracking buck that I knew would be a really decent medal, at least silver but probably gold or platinum. I always try to take these bucks after the rut so at least they have passed on their genes . I told the guy I had lined up for it about it and arranged for him to come and shoot it . Just a few days before the planned visit I had a call out . A deer was injured on the hill ( near the bucks territory) and would I go and attend and remove it . I thought I hope it’s not that buck , but of course it was . I didn’t know for sure straight away because both antlers were missing, but I never saw the medal buck again so I guess it was . A real shame . 

What score do you need to make platinum as I had good one this year that made gold

[shovel leaner 7,648]

1 hour ago, kinkell said:

What score do you need to make platinum as I had good one this year that made gold

CCI don’t do platinum BASC introduced it for heads that measure over 150 .

[sussex 5,776]

4 hours ago, shovel leaner said:

The ground I keeper has produced some excellent heads . Since I took over we have had 2 platinum roe 1 gold roe , some silver and bronze as well as some very nice reps . Muntjac also do well here and we have had our share of medal muntys . The roe I put down to good genetics and over winter nutrition from pheasant feed . We haven’t had many fallow until the last few years and I’ve noticed a drop off in the number and quality of the roe . 
       A year or so ago I had a cracking buck that I knew would be a really decent medal, at least silver but probably gold or platinum. I always try to take these bucks after the rut so at least they have passed on their genes . I told the guy I had lined up for it about it and arranged for him to come and shoot it . Just a few days before the planned visit I had a call out . A deer was injured on the hill ( near the bucks territory) and would I go and attend and remove it . I thought I hope it’s not that buck , but of course it was . I didn’t know for sure straight away because both antlers were missing, but I never saw the medal buck again so I guess it was . A real shame . 

The roe and muntjac over one of my perms dropped of massively when the fallow were alllowed to multiply unchecked , they destroyed so much of the undergrowth it completely changed the dynamics of the deer population . We seldom see a roe , and if we do it’s just passing through and the same with muntjac , they have all but disappeared ..

ive been hitting the fallow hard for the last five years , starting in August right through to November but hardly scratched the surface with regards to numbers ..there are some better quality heads about as we knock over virtually every buck that comes out with the exception of anything with potential .From November it’s doe’s first and last ..I can’t see getting on top of them for a good few years as the more you pressure them the more nocturnal they become and the harder it gets to reach your cull target ..being surrounded by land owning tree huggers doesn't help ..

[FOXHUNTER 5,020]

Interesting to read that fallow seem to influence the number of roe and munties on your ground. I used to stalk at Blenheim Palace in Oxford and there was loads of all 3 species there,  fallow didn't seem to affect the number of roe or munties at all.

[shovel leaner 7,648]

9 hours ago, FOXHUNTER said:

Interesting to read that fallow seem to influence the number of roe and munties on your ground. I used to stalk at Blenheim Palace in Oxford and there was loads of all 3 species there,  fallow didn't seem to affect the number of roe or munties at all.

I’m very familiar with Blenhiem as I go loading there sometimes . I also know a bit about the stalking there . You are talking about a massive estate, some 30,000 acres that they shoot over . Fallow can be moved around and managed, it’s not like they have an uncooperative neighbour or the guy next door shooting them at night. It can be managed properly. 
          In my case , pressure on fallow from neighbouring estates and public access has seen them move in , it always used to be at certain times of year and then they would move off , but we seem to have a resident herd now .