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

[biriuck 269]

The smallest animal from the "big game" list (roe deer, fallow deer, mouflon,  red stag, wild boar, bear, chamois)  is also one of my favorites (maybe also due to the fact that we could not hunt too many species in this year period - from May until October). The only thing that I don't like while hunting roebucks is the warm weather. 2 things, I forgot about mosquitos  

This year I was unable to start the season from the beginning but I finally managed to escape the job responsibilities for one week and I was able to hunt 4 roebucks. 

My first attempt was in a mountain area and I had a mixed bag option (male wild boar and roebuck). I had no luck despite the fact that I was able to see many females and youngsters and ...some beutiful sceneries. After 2 days, I went south ~80km in a hills area and I was able to shot my first roebuck of the season from the first evening (~120m, 9.3x62, Norma Oryx 18.5g)

Sorry for the low quality of the pictures but the old males could be shoot only late, in low light

 

The expedition continued in the next day and another morning but without success. More than 30 females in my sight and only males for my friend. He was able to shoot a nice buck  but I don't have his permission to post the pictures. In the next evening I was again in the field and I tried to shoot a really old male but without luck. The thick vegetation and a jackall prevented me from taking the shoot. 

While I was heading back to my car, I spotted a young buck at about 40m. Since it was clear that the buck will never became a medal trophy and I also had to leave next morning, I decided to shoot him. (~40m, heartshot, 6.5x54MS, RWS Teilmentel 10.3g). My surprize was that he ran away for ~ 50m, leaving a huge blood trail. I think that this could be explained only by the fact that no big bone was hit....

In the next day, I was 200km away in one of favourite regions - a truly wild mountain area. I try to also take my DSLR with me but I often leave the camera in my car because it is too heavy. Stupid choice this time - one male bear chased a female in front of me in brutal game of force and love.

The luck was on my side and this old male went down despite the fact that the light was really low... ~50m, 6.5x54MS, RWS Teilmentel 10.3g

After properly celebrating this evening with a dry red wine, I decided to carefully choose the next one - either a big trophy or a really old male. I did not expected to have luck again in the next day. I put a picture of the area only to show that I'm also able to take a picture in a decent light :))) 

My companion spotted the old male on the top of the hill and I went after him to reduce the distance and to better observe him. Instead of going over the ridge, he changed the direction and came straight to me. I stopped him right before to came in to the open and see me at about 60m away. (Neck shot, 6.5x54MS, RWS Teilmentel 10.3g). The white balance was set to +1 on my phone camere and the picture is "burned"  

It's fair to also add a picture with my companions from this last hunt, each of them observed a different valley  and this was very important because the density is low due to the big carnivores (they  have a hunting quota of 2 males for an area of ~10.000ha).  The old guy is a local hunter, a simple man but with a huge experience in big game hunting 

 

I hope to have enough time this summer for hunting another 1-2 roebucks. Probably I will use the same old rifle despite the fact that the Leica Magnus from my other rifle seems to be from another galaxy compared with the ancient Zeiss mounted on this Mannlicher  

 

 

 

 

Edited June 18, 2018 by biriuck

[Squirrel_Basher 17,100]

Just what this forum needs mate ,new input and what a fantastic account you have given .Some lovely scenery there too as well as some cracking bucks ,thanks for sharing. 

[sussex 5,777]

Quality write up , well done indeed .

[firthy 54]

Looks like you’ve got some stunning ground to hunt in. Well done mate some lovely bucks there.

[Meece 1,957]

This is some quality stuff. I love the simplicity of the content. Its really fresh. I noticed the optics that the old guy has. They look like as if they have been made out of two pairs of old theatre glasses. The lens bodies are different lengths. 

[biriuck 269]

1 minute ago, Meece said:

This is some quality stuff. I love the simplicity of the content. Its really fresh. I noticed the optics that the old guy has. They look like as if they have been made out of two pairs of old theatre glasses. The lens bodies are different lengths. 

You don't want to look through that 

[Meece 1,957]

That was an instant reply.  

2 minutes ago, biriuck said:

You don't want to look through that 

Well, are they a  made up set or what? As long as it makes the view clearer that's all that counts. It's nice to have nice new kit but as long as what you have works that's all that matters.

[biriuck 269]

A weird [and dangerous] combination of old and poor quality glass that somehow works for his eyes (or at least he claims that). I tried and I was not able to see anything ... My other companion also had old binoculars but one of a very good quality (a Zeiss) and I can tell that it can compete with modern stuff with no problems.

I think that I will look in my archive for bucks from previous seasons

Edited June 19, 2018 by biriuck

[Welsh_red 4,631]

Great write up 

[biriuck 269]

As I promised earlier...

Last year was one of my worst in terms of time allocated for hunting and this mainly because I had to travel often in other countries (mostly to UK).

I spent most of the time from the beginning of the season trying  to hunt a specific roebuck but I had no luck ( due to bad weather, human activities or simply bad luck). At least I had some beautiful sceneries and a lot  of exercise (much needed after the winter season)

After this failure I had to travel to Exeter for 6 weeks because my company had a contract with MetOffice. The bad part was that this was in the middle of the season, the good part was that at least I escaped the horrible weather from Bucharest (+40 degrees). I had the pleasure to work with very nice people there and they helped me to have a nice experience. One of the managers even took me to a shooting range nearby just in case I miss the burned gunpowder smell  

I was amazed on the fact that the shooting conditions are so easy to set up in UK, in Romania is very difficult to obtain all the approvals for something like that and an expensive concrete fence is required  (but this is already another topic). 

Back in my country, I was eager to go after a roebuck and, after unsuccessfully searching again for the old [and cunning] male, I had some luck in a beautiful morning, managing to hunt 2 nice roebucks. (~60-80m, Voere 9.3x62, Norma Oryx 18.5g)

 

....and a picture with my hunting guide from that morning. A person with some amazing hunting experiences, especially one related to a bear (again, off-topic)

 

 

In the end, this was my only roebuck experience from that season because soon after that  my parents complained about a salami shortage and I had to hunt a wild boar. And then, the red stag season started

 

[mole trapper 1,693]

What an incredible write up! Thank you so much for doing this.

 

[biriuck 269]

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Edited June 21, 2018 by biriuck

[biriuck 269]

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[biriuck 269]

I try to add the text for the pictures from above but the site is giving me this error...

[Yokel Matt 918]

Superb write up and excellent account of your trip. More of the same please!