Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Europe English Roe Buck

Thankyou CRS, I'll see what I can do.

I booked our accommodation in Dumfriesshire yesterday for a few nights towards the end of February. It will be the first time that I've travelled up there in exactly two years due to the COVID restrictions. We should have a good do, especially as Will will be set up with his own rifle by then. I'm very much looking forward to it.

Kind regards,

Tim

Very nice. Hope your February hunt goes well. I've always been fascinated by the deer hunting over there in the U.K. from videos I've seen online. It looks like absolutely perfect land for hunting.

Is deer stalking still fairly common there, or has it become too restricted and/or expensive for widespread participation?

Most excellent.

Thankyou ZCM. If this African variant takes off, there's a chance that we won't be allowed to travel north of the border so the February trip may have to be deferred.

Shooting is a niche activity here and although I have no statistics to base my opinion on, I suspect that it is the least popular shooting activity with target shooting and clay shooting being the most popular. Shotgunning generally whether for game or clays is probably the most popular.

Fingers crossed for February.

Tim

Congratulations!!! Great Roe Buck!!

That's awesome, nothing like the feeling of pride for you children, accomplishing a goal. Nice buck.

Well done, congrats to you both!

Apologies Gents. I've been lazy in following up on our trip to Scotland in February but here's a few more photos that I hope you will enjoy.

Unfortunately, we blanked as the conditions were far from ideal and extremely changeable as you'll see from some of the photos below. We only saw one deer over the course of the weekend but couldn't get on her in time to take a shot before we were rumbled. Anyway, Will still enjoyed it as it was his first trip with his own equipment although the terrain is hard going and he found it difficult to traverse. I invited a forum member over to stalk a few years back and I remember him saying it was the hardest terrain he'd ever hunted on.

We are up again at the end of October during the half term holidays for another go. Hopefully, it will prove more successful. I'll post a few more photos then, possibly starting a new thread rather than continuing on this one.

Enjoy the photos.

Tim

Looks like a great time together anyway in beautiful countryside.

That's some pretty scenery. Is it fairly common to get snow in February there?

Sorry to hear you got blanked, but at least your boy had fun on the trip. I hope your hunt in October is a success.

ZCM82,

Snow falls fairly frequently in the Borders area of Scotland and of course further north. Occasionally, it falls quite heavily in the Borders but in the main it will be a skittering or perhaps up to 4" or so but soon thaws.

Where I live in Cheshire near to Manchester, snow is almost unheard of these days.

Tim

Even with nothing ending up on the ground it's well worth time spent out in the open in that country. The weather? Spice for the story. Thanks for sharing.

Nice pictures! thanks for sharing

Is Scotland generally preferred to England for getting a good free-range Roebuck?

All depends on where you are. I used to live in Yorkshire (born and raised) and I had plenty of good sized Roe around me. I also hunted in Scotland on a lease some of the guys from the local US military base had and the roe were few and far between. Hunting in the UK can be mysterious to many who haven't lived there. Essentially, all the game on a piece of property belongs to the land owner rather than the state. The state/government takes no real active part in preserving/conserving any wildlife for the use and enjoyment of citizens other than regulating seasons and methods of harvesting them.

Therefore, it is up to individual land owners how they manage the wildlife on their property and why I think (of course, I may be a bit biased) that the UK is a true sportsman's paradise. Seasons are very long, there are no draws, no tags and no bag limits. The only down side is finding somewhere to hunt. I was fortunate that I grew up in the hunting scene and locally, had no shortage of opportunities to hunt. My father and I managed 450 acres of land for a family who gave us a free hand to do as we wished as long as there were pheasants to shoot on 3, formal, driven hunts per season.

We controlled the vermin on the estate such as crows, magpies, foxes, stoats, weasels and other egg stealing and pheasant eating predators to assist the wild population of pheasants which also helped song birds and other non game species. We took about 400 rabbits a year from this property too, most of them ending up on our or other friend's tables. Because we were in the 'circle' of game keepers as they are called, we had no problem getting invites from property owners to help them with rabbit issues and then this led to deer culling opportunities. So, as I said, it depends on where you are and who you know. I miss hunting in the UK.

I have a friend who did a 3 year exchange tour with the USN to RAF flying Nimrods with 42 Squadron from RAF St Mawgan (and lots of time in RAF Kinloss Scotland) and he and the squadron were always working on their lease, raising pheasants and in general really caring for the property and game as they saw fit. He really enjoyed the experience. Lots of plusses and some minuses to both models.

My fairly limited research didn't indicate any preference for England vs Scotland as it pertains to roe bucks, though for quality mainland Europe seems to be preferred. I hunted them in Norfolk and had a blast, taking a nice old buck and a cull doe. I am not sure there are any non free range roe bucks in the British Isles but I guess I could be wrong, and it may also depend on a person's definition of "free range" as some estates are bigger than some islands that are hunted. They're so intensively managed where I was that I didn't find them hard to hunt at all, but they were for sure wild, free roaming animals.



Good job to the OP!

They’re beautiful deer definitely on my bucket list!

RH,

All roe stalking is fair chase. I'm afraid that I'm not a trophy hunter and so far from an expert. Prior to the buck that Will shot at the start of this thread, I would have to check my records to recall the last one that I shot. We tend to concentrate on the winter months for the does as the hours are better and there is no chance of midges. However, I would say that there are good bucks available in Scotland although arguably the best ones are from south of the border as the food sources are that much better.

Thanks for your interest.

Tim