Roe Buck Stalking - Scotland
Disclaimer: If you don’t like hunting, or want to see dispatched deer or blood, you should probably skip this one.
I've never been good at sitting still. Sitting in a deer stand, waiting in the cold, zero-dark-thirty morning. . . it's never been my thing.
So when I found out Roe Buck stalking meant actually walking, reading the land, moving quietly through forests and field edges, I understood immediately why people love it.
Awake by 7, in the field by 8 AM. . . It feels like bird hunting. It feels like my kind of hunting.
Quietly cover ground. Glass. Wait. Stop to smell the gorse. Cover more ground, quietly.
Most of the Roe deer we found were female and out of season. There was a very nice buck who (unfortunately) saw us before we saw him. Coming around the corner and into another field, we spotted this buck in the tall grasses. He bedded down for what seemed like forever, but that did give me time to get into a better shooting position.
Waiting, Waiting, Waiting some more. Patience is not my virtue, y’all.
Finally, he went on the move and I was able to take a clean shot.
I knew Roe Deer were little compared to Whitetail, but I didn’t realize just how considerable smaller they were until this day.
The second day found me just south of Edinburgh on an estate near Balerno, This time, we did get up at right at sunrise to get out into the wild. The deer were onto us as, and sounding the alarm as soon as we got out of the truck. (Watch the video to hear them bark alerts.)
We knew they were all around us; nice little game of cat and mouse. Found lots of deer but never was able to get a clean shot on any of them. We had stalked about a 4-mile loop and were 500 yards from the truck, when something made me turn around. Lo and behold, there were two deer just standing there, almost waiting; entirely suicidal.
We loaded the rifle onto the sticks; my heart was racing; I took the shot. And the deer ran. I knew I hit him. We went looking and couldn’t find him. I was devastated, the very last thing I want to do is wound an animal. After searching in the thick forest, we decided to call in the professionals.
Two stunning black labs, Scapa and Oban. Once on the ground, they found the buck in record time. Turns out, with my heart racing so fast, I ended up hitting him a little behind where I wanted to. Still a quick death, just not as clean.
After a second lesson on field-dressing (or gralloching) we headed back to the larder to hang and give him a rinse before taking him to the butcher. I’ll save you the photos but I did get an extremely up-close tutorial on how to properly prep the deer head for an Euro mount.
That was. . . interesting to say the least.
I couldn’t be more grateful for the wonderful people I’ve met during my travels to Scotland. . . turned true friends. The ones who give of their time, knowledge, and expertise to guide this little American on her quests to stalk Roe Bucks in the Scottish wilderness