My roe doe hunting season in Scotland

So far it has been a good roe doe hunting season here in Scotland. I think I got five so far and it is more or less the same as last season. It is now almost mid February and although the season is open until end of March, I feel a bit uneasy shooting does that late.. I might be tempted to take a yearling or a kid, but not a mature beast. Even with roe’s unique delayed implantation there will be a sizable fetus, and I find it upsetting at gralloch. Call me squeamish, but if I don’t have to (I never have to…) do it, I won’t do it. I am after all recreational stalker and am not doing it for money. In this particular forestry deer are not the slightest problem…

Last roe doe this season?

I finally managed to have a free weekend to go out. Last time I was in noticed lots of tracks and signs in one place and the plan was to sit and wait for the roe to show up. As soon as I crossed Erskine bridge I was not too optimistic. There was a think mist covering the hills above the city. It meant the forestry would be also in the mist… So I was thinking about change of plans, but I had not any idea where to go instead so I went to the place I wanted anyway. There was a think mist with visibility limited to 60-70m… It did not look good, but I decided to wait, it was still early after all. After maybe an hour a bit of wind started moving the mist away and at times I could see to 200-300m, and after a couple of minutes all was back to 50-60m.

Suddenly I spotted a movement to my right. There was a fox walking across the grass towards me. I turned on my camera, and then he stopped. He must have heard it! He was looking my direction, but the wind was good and soon he was on his way. No shot this time.

The time was passing and nothing else was showing up. After a couple of more minutes a doe appeared far away. Too far for a shot and in not easy place to stalk closer. It was also a bit too late and could have been to dark to take a shot in time I could get there. So I sat and waited…

It was 30-40 minutes after sunset and it was really getting dark with the mist coming in again, when I heard something in the forestry. It sounded like a deer running. A branch cracked somewhere not too far away and after a minute or so a roe appeared on the edge of the forestry no more than 50m away. It was a bit too dark to see the deer on the camera, but I turned it on anyway and pointed to the place I thought the deer was.

She was looking away from me so it was easy to spot the tush. I took the Tikka and looked through the Minox rifle scope. It was dark but I could clearly see the doe and cross hairs. I was a bit concerned about the wind as she was quite close, so when I could see the shoulder I squeezed the trigger when she was still quartering away.

She jumped and run a few meters away from the forestry, staggered for a second and run back to the trees. I heard two branches cracked and it all went silent… I waited for a few minutes and went for a look. No signs of pins or paint… I took my torch and went between the trees. I went back towards the place I was when taking a shot and there she was under the branches. She was a bit closer than I expected. The bullet entered a bit too far and the exit wound was just behind the shoulder.

After quick gralloch I put her in the roe sack and was on my way to the car. She was a yearling doe at 11kg, average weight for a yearling in this area.

Roe deer hunting video

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