Successful stalk this morning on a 6pt Roe Buck

[Brithunter]

Hi All,

         Don't get out often enough as permission to hunt is awfully hard to obtain around here. So my Deer hunting is by the day, paying for an accompanied/guided outing. Outings are of several hours like this mornings I got to Robbos at 04:50 and we left in his truck at 05:00 to go and search for a cull Roe Buck. The Roe Buck season opened 1st April. After looking in two trouble spots, where the bucks are causing tree damage, we didn't see any deer so we went to a new piece of land he has just acquired the hunting rights too with me modifying what I could afford to shoot.

        For some reason the prickets and buttons which are classed as normal Culls are just not being seen  Oh they're out there just where? The bigger bucks are marking their territories out as their antlers are getting clean fo velvet and despite being a small deer Roe Buck are aggressive and will attack and chase off other Bucks so the young bucks are constantly harassed and so they hide.

         The weather this morning was chill with a very biting wind and a high but dense grey cloud cover which made it more difficult as the deer stay in cover to keep warm as they are starting to shed their winter coats now. Just off the boundary in a non shooting area for us right (awaiting permission to hunt it) now we spotted a couple of nice Does and watched them for a little while but didn't see a buck so we moved around the boundary of this crop field the the next hedgerow and glassed the next fields. Robbo spotted a nice big Buck at about 350 yards but he was too big for my meagre budget so we glassed for a while before turning at right angles and following the hedgerow to the next paddock which boarders a beck ( small brook of about 6 feet wide). We had not been there many minutes glassing when a Roe Buck appeared out of the becks scrub hedgerow and started making scrapes. He was a nice representative 6 point Roe Buck of decent body size, in all a nice mature Buck, while watching him we disscussed my options and seeing as without some nice sun to entice the deer out of the heavy cover and the fact we were just not seeing the smaller bucks I decided that I would take him.

   Now as I had booked an evening stalk as well, a whole day but we rest up during the midday as otherwise it's a dawn to dusk job and I had 4 hours of driving to consider as well, Robbo said if you want to cancel this evening stalk it's fine with me as after all if you shoot this one that's you budget done and I know I'll see you back another time. So we watched him come down the hedge row towards us making scrapes and fraying the branches as he went until he got to 125 yards and then presented a nice broadside shot. Me still debating on the shot for a while while watching him through the scope. I finally decided to do it and as I squeezed the trigger he decided to turn and come a bit futher towards us so the bullet although it entered where intended angled back and bust the diaphram  and destroyed the liver as it exited. It should have been a high heart/low lung shot but because it turned it didn't quite work out that way.

At the shot he lept and kicked out his back legs then did almost did a head stand. We are sure his nose touched the ground and he lept into the old hedge row and was lost to sight. So we sat and talked it over and waited about 20 mins beofre going to find him. He had made two bounds, about 12 feet, and crashed but was just hanging on when I spotted him under the trees. A touch to the eye caused a blink but that was it so the knife was used to end it. Ammunition used was a first for me as it was factory Federal Fushion 150 grain in .270 Winchester. The rifle is a 59 vintage BSA Majestic Featherweight De Luxe with a 3-9x42 Lisenfeld scope that is set on 6x magnification. The shot was from kneeling on the side of a small bank using crossed sticks and it was 07:30 by then my first mature 6 Point Roe Buck  . Photos will have to wait until I can get to town and have them lifted off the card as the software will not work with any OS later than Win 2000

[Dave in WV]

Congrats on your deer. Looking forward to your pictures.

[Sweetwater]

Great report on a super hunt! Good Job, BH!! Now, when the pics come onboard....

[theoldarcher]

Congratulations!  Very nice report on the hunt.  Thanks for sharing.

God bless, Arch

[Old Fart]

Hooyah way to go.
Pic's or it didn't happen  just kiddin' 

[billy_56081]

Thanks for sharing.

[Brithunter]

Hmmm let's see if this works:-




Fingers crossed...................  now you should be able to see the Buck and the shot.

[billy_56081]

Very cool Brithunter.

[Wyo. Coyote Hunter]

BH, Hey nice story...congradulations on the nice buck..I read about this years ago...but it was in Scotland...hope that is not a bad deal for you, but it sure sounded like fun...we talked over going, my wife and I, but is was one of those things we put off and now will never get done...good shooting hope you hav e many more in the future.

[Sweetwater]

Great Video!! Good show, Ole Boy!

[Brithunter]

Oh I was not aware that Robbo was filming this at the time as I was concetrating on the Buck 

It's not that bad a deal when you break it down. We were done by 07:30 but if I had wanted to stalk another we would have collected the beast then carried on stalking. On this bit of ground we were only about 1/2mile from the truck so left back packs etc in it and carried only what we needed. Robbo normally wears a Bum pack but had left it in the truck and was going to go back for it as it had his knife in it but I had a Buck cross lock on my belt and a Boker fixed blade in my pants leg knife pocket so he used them. I ddin't even have to get mucky  .

Now Robbo has lots of land which he leases the stalking rights or has the shooting permission over, the idea is to manage the deer not eradicate them so of course there is a limited number than can be removed from any one place. The busy time for Roe Bucks is the rut which takes place from Mid July through to the middle of August. Things like weather and location dictate when. Some places it's earlier than others. Oh Roe Bucks love hot thundery weather and a good storm can trigger the rut!

 I may see if I can swing a stalk during the Rut as it's an exicting time to stalk  .

This was my second visit to him for stalking as I went a couple of months ago when the Swedish Mauser refused to fire    on a nice Roe Doe. Meanwhile I need to phone a chap about cleaning/preparing and mount the skulls of this Six pointer and a Four pointer I still have in the freezer from 2005.

For price comparision back in 2003 I made the trip across the Pond to hunt Whitetails by invitation from a friend, we camped in Northern Missouri and with the flights that, hunt club fees (they held the rights) and non res licences plus a bit of spending money for food etc and three nights in Motels on arriving and leaving it cost me around £1000 for the two weeks. At the time the exchange rate was 1.8 USD to the GBP so that about $1800US and I shot a typical 9 Pt Buck, a Button Buck and a large Doe. Now the exchange rate is awful (for us Brits) as it's only 1.48 USD to the GBP so it's a good time for you Americans to visit the UK 

During the Rut the cover is really grown up as are the crops so stalking is more difficult and challanging  a good scope is a must as the Bucks like woodlands and it's dark in there especially early and late in the day. My Leupold 2.5-8 Vari X 111 struggles in these conditions that's what it's like. The 3-9x42 Lisenfeld does better but the Schmidt & Bender 6x42 and the Meopta 7x50 are far better in those circumstances. On Thursday the Leupold would have been not problem at all and I am thinking of getting my 8x57 P-H 1200 Super put on for deer which has the Leupold on it as a heavier bullet is useful for the bracken areas of which it seems there is a lot in Yorkshire.

[Siskiyou]

Congratulations on a nice looking, frisky buck.  Your first post of the subject was great, but the video got the blood flowing.  A very nice, chunky buck taking on his world. 

The reaction to the hit was very interesting and the video highlighted it.  Rather suspect the video itself was worth the cost of the hunt.

Now that you have used it , what is your take on the 150-grain Federal Fusion bullet in the .270 Winchester?

[Brithunter]

Hi Siskiyou ,

         The Federal Fusion seems to be fairly accurate in this rifle, not outstanding but MOA give or take a bit so good enough  . I was a little worried about the very small exposed lead tip but the bullet certainly did the job and without doing too much damage to the carcase. Now I only got two boxes of these to try and have 9 cartridges left of them now so I will try to get some more if I can. Of course one easy shot is not a test as such but it certainly has not put me off using them  . Perhaps later in the year i will get the chance to try these cartridges on a larger Deer species possibly Sika if not a Red Deer but we will see what pans out on that score. I expect them to perform quite well but time will tell.

One thing about thse Fusion cartridges is that they shoot well in another BSA .270 I have and that's a fussy one. Thought it was a right lemon, a nice looking one but still a lemon, as everything I shot through it before these Federal Fusions shot patterns not groups  . However it likes these Fusion cartridges.

Oh and thank you for the kind words  .

[Swampman]

Good for you.  Glad the hunt went well.

[Brithunter]

Thank You swampman it's appreciated  This was my second outing with Robbo the last one ended in failure after the firing pin refused to fall on my Swedish Mauser and no so far we have been unable to discover what caused it. Had a Doe bang to rights in my sights and the trigger moved but the firing pin refused to release  Was a good stalk too.

Hopefully the next stalk will be in July near my old hunting grounds down South in Sussex  however I have to save up first.