Friday 28 May 2010

Deer Hunting In The UK Pt2

The second day at Chez Bambi started well before dawn with us stumbling out of the house, trying not to wake the dogs. We drove through the sleeping countryside, for once I wasn't the chirpy one in the works van, the Bambi Basher's excitement was infectious. He's hunted everything huntable in the area and kept up a hilarious community on the farms we passed, the locals, and their foibles.  It was nearing light as we left the road and passed into the woods. We were to meet up with a couple of his pals from work who had previously done their Deer Management Training with him. The chaps showed up shortly after our arrival and taking a side of the woods each we set off in search of Capreolus Capreolus.


Here in old blighty, Roe Deer are found on heathland, grassland and in of course in woodlands. Roe Deer are often quite solitary creatures, although single Roe Deer does and youngsters of the previous year are often seen together. As we were in time for their mid-summer rut the bucks and does are seen together, this rule is sometimes confounded as groups of Roe Deer may feed in close proximity at other times of the year, attracted by the availability of foodstuffs, rather than the prospect of Chika-Chicka-Wah-Wah. Roe are the Kate Moss’ of the European woods: petit (65-73 centimetres / 26-29 inches at the shoulder), agile, ghostly creatures, with a passion for messy rock star boyfriends. (OK I made that bit up – write your own blog). The Roe Deer’s summer coat is a bright reddish brown; with a pale, powder-puff rump patch, which is fluffed out when alarmed. They are tailless, although in winter the females have a short tuft of white hair that looks like a tail. Colloquially known as‘ the shaving brush’ The Roe’s antlers are quite short, fairly straight, usually with three points on each side.   

We crept into the woods and were rewarded with a sighting almost strait away, cunningly the deer had silhouetted themselves against someone's farmhouse. No safe backstop - no shot. We stalked on, creeping down the pathways between the trees, after a long slow walk
BB - "think of it as armed rambling" we had worked our way around our half of the wood and met up with the others - they'd seen a highly shootable buck, but it had given them the slip. We split up again and with the chaps walking up into the part of the woods we'd just left.


Then We Were Bushwhacked!


We were standing on a bit of high ground, the top of a natural drainage ditch when out of nowhere bounded a very handsome looking Roe Buck! He was defiantly at the higher end of the size range, Bambi Basher hissed "rifle" and pointed in the direction the deer would go, I dropped to one knee, shouldered the rifle, put my finger on the safety.............. WTF! A massive weimaraner bounded past, chasing the buck! The Roebuck was gone the the dog gave up and came back our way. With steam coming out of his ears Bambi Basher set off a ferocious pace in search of the dogs owner.  When we found her she was apologetic to say the least, claiming the dog has escaped from the garden where he was usually safely locked up. 


WTF! You should have seen the one that got away!


Your pal
The Bushwacked.


Picture credit goes to Free-extras.com

12 comments:

Bpaul said...

Great story. Especially like the "write your own blog" part.

From across the pond,

Bp

Holly Heyser said...

Ouch, that hurts, man.

The Suburban Bushwacker said...

Bpaul

Thanks man, glad you like it
SBW

The Suburban Bushwacker said...

Norcal

I was proper gutted, but then I was more worried BB was going to shoot the dog and and/or shout the owner to death!!

SBW

Josh said...

I thought this story would end up with a recipe for hot dogs...

Tough break, man. At least you get to see deer with antlers, as I usually believe that our local deer don't have antlers - that antlers are a myth perpetrated by our State Fish & Game department to sell tags.

The Suburban Bushwacker said...

Josh

Nearly

SBW

Tovar@AMindfulCarnivore said...

Ooooooh. That's gotta hurt! Better luck, and fewer roamin' weimaraners, next time.

Like Josh, for a long time I thought legal antlers were a myth, at least where I hunt. So your luck may be starting out a lot better than mine did, dog notwithstanding.

The Suburban Bushwacker said...

Tovar

The funny thing was the way the season works out we saw about 30 great 'eating does' over the weekend but they were out of season.

SBW

Chas S. Clifton said...

Soon you'll be ready for Elk Hunting University.

The Suburban Bushwacker said...

Chas

Yea! that looks great
SBW

Anonymous said...

Hey Bushwacked,

What does heathland mean?

What is 'chicka chicka wah wha?

I promise there will be no weimaraners in your way if you come to Louis Creek to hunt. Grizzlies in not being in the way, however, I cannot promise.

cheers,

Kristeva

The Suburban Bushwacker said...

HDR
Re heathland
Lowland heathland is an open landscape generally found poor, acid sandy soils less than 300 metres above sea level. It usually contains dwarf shrubs of the heather family, notably ling (Calluna vulgaris), bell heather (Erica cinerea), cross-leaved heath (Erica tetralix) and bilberry. However the term ‘heathland’ can also be used to describe a type of landscape, which may include areas of gorse, bracken, acidic grassland, valley bogs, bare sandy or peaty ground, scattered trees and shrubs and open water habitats.

Re chicka chicka wah wha
Say it a bit faster

Re grizzles
I was hoping you'd say that

SBW