First Buck of the season..........

re'M'ington · April 4, 2010

Today was the first decent day we have had for what seems like months,so,I jumped into the truck with the rifle and was off to a place that usually holds a few Bucks.I was after a Buck that was cleaned off or a young follower,but,when I got there the owner told me that there had been three large Lurcher type dogs running in a pack,he had even seen them ragging a dead lamb(not sure whether they killed it or not),but,if they did it was killed on another farm as he doesn't have any stock at all,he has three plantations though,and,I was still hopeful of at least seeing Deer.I was sadly disillusioned though,and,after walking the whole of the land there wasn't even any signs of Deer,so,Plan 'B' and off to a farm that is very local to me where I had seen 7 Roe on a lamping trip a few days ago.

I pulled off the lane into a heavily ploughed field and glassed the valley for any signs,no Deer to be seen,so,I traipsed off along the headland and I had the wind in my favour and I had a good feeling,the sun was shining down(on the righteous?)and as I got to the very last field I was rounding a corner and I froze as I saw a pair of ears poking above a hump.It was a Doe and as she slowly made her way out into the field I could see that she was scouring very badly,but,I have a feeling that is because of the recent rainfall pushing through a flush of new grass(that's my guess anyway).I waited patiently to see if there might be a Buck with her,and,after about ten minutes(seemed a lot more)there was a movement to the right,and,lo and behold out he came.....albeit a bit of a skinny bugger,he wasn't exactly in the first flush of youth,in fact he was definitely going back.He stepped clear of the hump as the Doe had,but this time he only took the one step,and he dropped with a shot to the boiler room.

The Doe wasn't sure what had happened and stayed close by waiting for him to get up,she soon bounded off though when I made my presence known.

It was a perfect end to the day...........now I had a hell of a long trek back and it's all up hill too.....I guess he had the last laugh.

He was a 3 pointer and had a flattened tine which is common on this land,and he was still in velvet as they are on all of my permissions,but,he was best off the land,and,the freezer was a bit on the light side too.......happy days.

Martin