Roebuck - the smallest from the "big game" list in Romania

[biriuck 261]

It's been a while since I last posted here. Life went crazy with family and children, the economy suffered due to pandemic and war and hunting was somehow less important for a while. I finally managed to find some time for roe buck hunt and, after 2 days with many other beasts in sights (stags and bears but also with young buck), my luck changed and I finally found a buck good enough.

I was in the forest, going down towards a clearance when I spotted this male at about 72m. After a quick evaluation, I decided to take the shot despite the sharp angle, the small window between the tree branches and the fact that he was facing me. I'm usually aiming for the ribs behind the front leg but this time I had to aim at the neck.

He dropped on the spot.

After all the ritual and a few photos to remember, I realized how far away we would need to carry him until the closest accessible road. Luckily, the gamekeeper helped me where the terrain was too difficult.

 

and a few shots with the other animals we encountered....

[biriuck 261]

I'm rarely hunting for "big" game in the plain areas, I feel like something is missing when I'm stalking in open field. Maybe is the lack of trees, maybe I don't like stalking between different crops, not sure exactly ...

Anyway, I planned a fishing trip in a different county and my godfather suggested me to also take my rifle because the roe deer rut season is at his peak in that area and I have good chances to see old bucks in open field. Usually they remain mostly hidden in small forests or near the rivers.

I had no luck at fishing and I decided to make it short and try a buck the next morning. Terrible idea! Very difficult to wake up at 4 AM after a long night with old friends in one of the best wine areas from Romania 

After seeing a few lonely females, I started to think that it may be too late and the rut is over. My luck changed when I saw this splendid buck at a very long distance. He was completely distracted, running like crazy with the mouth open after some smell left behind by a horny doe. We had to make a wide circle with the car to shorten the distance and then to continue on foot.

Somehow, I managed to forget my binoculars in the car and I must confess that I'm very bad at estimating distances in this type of terrain. He was about to enter in a sun flower plot and I decided to try the shot. It was a clear hit but immediately I realized that it was not perfect because he managed to run afterwards.

My second mistake was to trust the gamekeeper. I wanted to go there by foot because I had my eyes locked on the place where I shot him and where he entered the crop but he insisted to take the car because is far away. When entering the car, I checked the scope and I saw that it was on magnification 10. That is very high for me, I'm usually using 4 and 6.

Anyway, we looked for blood without success (in the wrong spot) and we decided that we should put the dog to search. Obviously he found nothing where we released him but immediately started to bark at ~50m away.  The buck was alive but unable to move, he entered just 10-12 meters in the sunflower plot. We also found a consistent track of blood once we correctly identified the spot.

 

The dog simply refused to participate at the photo shooting.

Bottom line, it was a bittersweet experience. I was rewarded with a great buck but I was annoyed about my mistakes and how poor I managed the "buck fever"

 

Edited August 14 by biriuck

[sparky the hunter 72]

I have just come across this story, what fantastic write ups and pictures. Love the old Mannlicher! I have always had a soft spot for them.

[biriuck 261]

@sparky the hunter, thank you for your kind words!

I'm usually not a very big fan of hunting roe deer during the rut season because I want to also enjoy their meat. I think that it requires more attention at cooking if is hunted in this period. However, I could not refuse an invitation from a hunting club and here is the result - a lovely buck with some very interesting antlers.

My first evening was entertaining, I managed to see 9 females and a young red stag but no roe buck. The next day I also took the Buttolo blatter to try to call a late rut season male. To both mine and gamekeeper surprise, this young male answered almost instantly. We were not even able to set in our observation spot under the shadow of some trees when I saw him at about 60m looking straight to us. 

I whispered to the gamekeeper to not move because a buck is looking at us and...he was gone. He jumped back in the thick bushes. I moved the rifle into my shoulder and I asked my companion to call him again. To my luck, he answered again and showed himself in the same spot. 

I realized that he is young but I really liked his rich ornated antlers and the left one seemed under developed. I took the shot, aiming for the chest to do less damage to the carcass. (9.3x62, Norma Oryx 18.5g) 

It is a trophy that looks very well while looked at from the front and I will find a good spot for him on my wall. The bonus was that the meat was also lovely and was enjoyed even by my small daughters

[sparky the hunter 72]

Another great Story. There is certainly a good trophy, some real length on those antlers.

[biriuck 261]

I think that the worst time to go after a buck is right after the rut season. For at least 3-4 weeks after the rut I see mostly females on our hills. The same thing is also valid for red stag. 

However, since I was unable to go after them at the beginning of the summer, I need to suffer and work extra for each hunt. It was exactly as I expected during this hunt, plenty of females and young males but no decent buck in my sights. 

We decided to change the strategy and, instead of waiting for them to show off from some nice spotting locations (like the one from the picture bellow), we entered the forest and walked from one forest meadow to another.  

 

This seemed to be a bad idea at first since the leaves were very dry and we struggled to make as less noise as possible. In the first meadow we encountered a small bear and in the next one we scared a female bear with 2 small cubs. The gamekeeper started to regret that he did not took his rifle with him too but we continued our stalking 

After a small detour, we managed to reach the next meadow from a high hill and ....here it was. A small orange spot in the bushes down hill at first, but then he made a few more steps I managed to see that is an old male with clear signs of degeneration. The shooting position was not ideal, my binocular indicated 156m and an angle of 32 degrees but I had only my shooting stick and it was very difficult to remain steady due to thousands of small rocks at my feet.

The entry was behind his left foot and the exit wound trough his chest with a clean shot that damaged 2 ribs, lungs and heart. He made a spectacular jump and, I don't know how, then managed to run for 30-40m to the left. I was quite sure that it was a good hit, especially since I saw the impact, but we decided to not rush after him and waited for about 2 cigarettes before searching. The blood trail was big and enough and we found him immediately in the bushes. 

The next day I realized that he was even older than I initially estimated. I had to boil the skull for a very long period in open fire and his dentition was in poor shape

Edited September 6 by biriuck

[sparky the hunter 72]

Another great write up, some fine photographs as well.