sunday roe buck

[interlock]

Hi Guys,

I have had a really slow deer stalking season so far this year. I have only shot 3 bucks in 5 outings (most years i shoot 20-50). New job etc. So decided to finish the last fornight on a bit of a high.

Last night decided to go stalking for a roe buck. (we call still hunting stalking). on a local farm that i have permission to hunt deer. In season at the moment are Roe Bucks and muntjac.

It was a pleasant evening with some slight wind, just enough to hunt into. I went with my 15 year old son, ben. I was shooting my mauser sporter in .30-06 with 165gr gamekings.

Following a pretty intensive stalk around the ground where we saw lots of deer slots and bumped a couple from some cover we had got to about the end of the ground. we had a chat, bemoaned the flask i had failed to fill then headed back towards the car. at this point we were about 2 miles from the nearest track.

We approached a spur of woodland and i saw a buck in the woods... but he was silhoutted and not a safe shot so he went on his way for another day. I stalked through a slight gap in the woodland and saw a buck walking across a field of oil seed rape about 200 yards away. I mounted the rifle on sticks and put the crosshairs on his shoulder. gently squeezed the timney trigger and then heard the resoundingly loud thump of the bullet impact. The deer simply fell down dead.

made my way up and found this year old roe buck. carried out a full gralloch in situ. all was in order, all lymph nodes checked and fine. a healthy young animal. (well, until i saw it). Took it home, lardered it and entered it into my records. hanging in the garage now. When i skin it in a couple of days or so i will photograph the wounds.



A good evening had by both ben and I. Soon he will start on the big rifles.

all the best

steve

 

[BBQLS1]

Very cool. If possible, post up some pics of the areas you hunt. I'd like to see more of that.

I like seeing what everyones hunting grounds look like.

 

[exbiologist]

yeah, what he said. Foreign hunting, is well, so foreign to me.

 

[wankerjake]

Sweet! I always like your Roe buck pics.

 

[interlock]

Jake,
I was hoping for a muntjac buck... they are worth looking at. I will post some more pictures when i go again.

 

[d2wing]

Congratulations. Thanks, I enjoy accounts of hunting in other parts of the world.

 

[TNboy]

20-50 a year? Wow, that's a lot of shootin!

 

[Freedom_fighter_in_IL]

Interlock, quick question. Why so much rifle and bullet for such a small quarry? .30/06 with a 165gr game king for a more or less 70 pound on the hoof animal? Thats a lotta lead for such a small deer. No offense meant here just more of a curiosity. I know you reload so why not load up say a 110gr SP at a medium velocity?

BTW nice rack on that for just being a yearling! Very nice indeed.

 

[interlock]

Interlock, quick question. Why so much rifle and bullet for such a small quarry? .30/06 with a 165gr game king for a more or less 70 pound on the hoof animal? Thats a lotta lead for such a small deer. No offense meant here just more of a curiosity. I know you reload so why not load up say a 110gr SP at a medium velocity?

FFIL,
i currently run 2 stalking rifles. a 7mm08 remmy model 7 with 139gr interlocks and the 30-06 with 165 sp. It is more really about the ground i shoot. I tend to use the .30-06 over the more open ground and the 7mm08 in the woods. I shoot all sizes of deer from muntjac to red stags... with both rifles. so i have loaded rounds which kill everything well within thier performance envelope. The 165's expand at the same rate when going through 10 inches of roe as 2ft of red. I have used two loads in the 7mm08 by marking the scope turrets, in the past, but generally i like to settle on one load and stick with it.

i also have had a few runners using a smaller caliber (i am not going to upset the .243 users by specifying which round). I like to use the bigger soft point bullets placed in the pocket.... although this one was the shoulder.

Underkill is no good... overkill is fine! meat damage is not excessive.

I hope this clarifies the choice.

As for the rack... this is shot off nice soft farm land with lots of grain put out for pheasants. racks are often very good on here.

 

[Freedom_fighter_in_IL]

Oh ok, thank you for the clarification. I thought I remembered you having a 7mm.08 which was what made me ask. That 7mm.08 would be fine medicine for Red Stag as well with shots out to 300 or less. Seen quite a few Elk Bulls drop from the interlock and Interbond bullets out of a 7mm.08.

Have to love farmland bucks that are all fattened up!!! I've never had the chance to eat Roe Deer. How does it compare to Fallow?

 

[interlock]

You are right... the 7mm08 is really a potent round. Don't tell the wife but i like having the .30-06 aswell.... a man can't have too many rifles.

Yeah, soft, fat, lowland roe are lovely. this one won 't have held a territory in the rut so didn't have all of the rut to contend with. they are twice the size of the roe in scotland. As the reds down here get to 40 stone - nice easy living.

like all venison it really depends on lots of factors. this one is a yearling buck, shot whilst blissfully unaware of my presence. dead on the spot. quickly bled and gralloched... it will make really good eating. I think if all these factors are applied to all the species i shoot i would rate muntjac as 1, roe 2, fallow 3. I do the butchery myself and i like to cut little butterfly type steaks out of the backstraps. they are my favourite bits. I will hang this one for about 10 days in the cool garage. later in the year i would hang for longer.

I would love to come to the states and hunt your stuff... but i would have to hunt near a track or with a pony... them big old elk would take some lugging out of the woods.

steve

 

[Freedom_fighter_in_IL]

Hunted horseback most of my life while Elk hunting. Rarely am I more than a mile from my horse and usually no more than a 100 yards. Quartering out a big Bull Elk is some hard work no doubt, but it is well worth it. Never have gotten into the "all terrain vehicle" craze but now that I am in my older years I am certainly considering it! Hell, just packing out the head and horns and cape from a big 6x6 is a job in itself. After gutting, there is not really that much of a size difference between Stag and Elk. Elk usually carry a much bigger gut than Stag for some odd reason. Meat wise, you will get, on average, about 30-40 pounds more meat off the same age Elk than you would off a Stag. The difference between an Elk Cow and a Red Hind is relatively small. I prefer the meat from a cow in both species as well as most all venison.