For those of you who are dedicated RoeBuck hunters, what equipment do you use? Rifle, caliber, bullet brand & weight, scope, etc?

What distance is your "typical" shot and how far do you feel comfortable taking a shot?

My staple Roe rifle is a Sauer 202 + Swarovski 1,5-6x42 in 7x64. Pet load is Sierra 160 SP GK / N160 / 56.0 (CCI 250). If Wild Boar are present, I switch to the harder Sierra 160 HP GK + same load & zero. Shooting distance from highseat varies from 50 - 250 m.

mine is CZ American550 .243 home roll ammo = lapua case, fed210m, Vhit N160, sierra85grn HP,=deer fox 87grn vmax, 90grn scenear target

And CZ American550 Varmint 308 lapua case fed210m, Vhit N133 110vmax= fox 168grn sierra mk target

CZ kevlar laminate 223 as yet not found good load for this little beasty , but looking @ some thing on the lines of 69grn /

Bill,

I use a Sako .308 topped with a 3-12x50mm Swarovski PH scope...That does me for all my stalking although I find the .308 a little on the heavy side for Roe.

If I were to put togther a dedicated Roe and Muntjac rifle, it would probably be a 6.5x55 topped with a 2.5x10x42mm Swarovski, but as my Sako still shoots better than I do, I am having hard time justifying the change..

I am also looking forward to seeing what my 9.3x62mm does to Roe..I suspect it might offer even less meat damage than my .308 due to its lower velocity...

Regards,

Pete

Pete,

Are 22 centrefires legal for Roe in England? I believe they are in Scotland, no? I'd love to use my Savage 22HP (aka 5.6x52R) on a Roe sometime.

Stu,

They are legal in Scotland but not in England or Wales at present. There are some moves a foot to have the law changed so its in line with Scotland, but I am not sure thats a good idea for political reasons.

It seems a likely compromise will be that .22 centrefire will be allowed for Muntjac and chinise water deer but not roe and I think thats probably a wise place to draw the line...

Regards,

Pete

Stu

Pete summed it up in a previous post. Any medium calibre is great for Roe - if its slowed down a bit.

When you came over last year, you were using my moderated 270win - which would normally be regarded as overkill for Roe!

However, the load I use is well down on factory standard - end result, dead animals with very little meat damage and no recoil.

Rgds Ian

Hi Pete,

what do you put through your 308?

I have been shooting 150gr Super Hammer Heads but found they didn't exit on two fallow at 40yds, so don't think they will be man enough for Plains game. I've switched over to the 165grn Barnes-X now although I'm yet to fire them in anger.

Are you taking your 9.3x62 with you for PG?

On the thread, I'm a long way forom dedicated Roe Buck stalker but the few I have taken have been with my Sako 243 and 90gr softs. with an 8x56 Swaro on top I've had great results. Will probably use the 308 next week though as I want to get as much practtice with it as possible.

Rgds,
FB

DB Bill,

The diminutive Roe Deer doesn't take alot of hard killing, cause; they are, after all.....small deer.

My dedicated Roe Deer set-up is a Blaser R93 in .243 Winchester with a Weaver Grand Slam 3.5-10x50 using Nosler 85 grainers. Just recently changed over to Nosler from the Speer 85 grainers which I used for over 20 years and gave solid results. Also had a 6x42 S&B scope on the rig but opted for a little bit more power for aging eyes. Besides the 6x42 S&B found a home on my .375 H&H.

Trust me, at distance they are also VERY SMALL, often presenting an obscured target. I've made longer shots but any honest Roe Deer shot over 200 meters is longish shot and has someone tugging the trigger that knows what he's about. There are of course the forest, fringe and field opportunities but folks who do the long range stuff are potting Roe in open fields, good work if you can get it but that's not always the case so the presentations will be varied therfore the range as well.

There's no sense in mounting a monster scope cause the Roe is so small you won't be discerning too awfully much of them after twilight and even if you do the best scope and bino won't I.D. the rack or the sex anyway, so a solid, 6x42, 3-9 or 10/12 power is more than adequate.

I've shot Roe with .222, .223, .243, 7mm Rem Mag, .308, .30/06, 9.3x62 and yes, even the .375 H&H!

I've shot scores of Roe Deer with .222 & .223 Remington, but used handloads cause the ammo tends to have light, frangible bullets, especcially when the box said Remington or Winchester on it. Now they are manufacturing ammo with the appropriate bullet for .224 "big game". The RWS, Sako and Norma stuff is popular where folks use .224's. In the .224 bullet range, the Speer 70 grainers (if you can get them to shoot in your rifle) and ESPECIALLY the Sierra 55 grain HPBT GameKings have worked excellently for me on Roe Deer. If I use a .223 Remington the load has the Sierra's in it now. I've only tried one box of Nosler 60 grain Partions so far in .223 and cannot yet get that guilt edge accuracy with them, just call it work in progress, eventually that will certinly become my bullet of choice for .224 hunting.

Cheers,

Gerry

I use to use my Husqvarna 1600 in 7x64 with a Schmidt & Bender 3-12x50 which is great for Roe deer and wild boar.

But this season i will use an original Mannlicher 1900 in cal 6,5x54 with a claw mounted original Austrian scope.

I like old rifles...

Husky

quote:

Hi Pete,

what do you put through your 308?

I can't say I use anything fancy just some rather plain jane 150grn Speer Soft points...If I do my stuff they will group 3/4" to 1" regularly and I think its my shooting that stops them grouping better if the truth be told..

They are quite a soft bullet, but they seem to work ok on roe, muntjac and the odd fallow pricket/doe I have shot...On reds I really could do with something "harder" as the last 3 I have shot, the bullets have broken up on bone and failed to exit. They last beast was typical, a largish red staggie shot just after the rut..I hit square in the back of the neck as it was going up a bank away from me at about 90yards (that fatal last look back!) The beast dropped like it was struck by lightening and never even gave a kick and when I took the head off later, I confirmed the spine was smashed, but the bullet had litterally disintergrated...I found a few shads of copper under the skin near by and just the base of the bullet with a touch of lead in it...So I suppose the bullet had failed miserably, but hey, my deer was dead and did not go anywhere...

I tried some heavier bullets a few years back and found I got a lot of runners on roe as they simply did not open up...Its difficult finding true all around compromise especially when you might take roe or red in the same day...I would imagine the situation is even worse down south where you get those huge woodland reds....

quote:

Are you taking your 9.3x62 with you for PG?

I am hoping too, but due to health problems I am struggling to get time to develope a decent load. It shoots the cheap and cheerful Speer .270grns great, but I need to do some more work on the Barnes X 286grn which is what I intended to hunt with. But we'll see, I still have a month or so, so hopefully I will get it sorted..

Regards,

Pete

I use the Barnes TXS in my 22-250, and find it to be a bit hard, the roe deer tend to run a bit. Looking for soemthing solid, but a bit softer. Mostly I hunt roe with my drilling (20-76/6.5x57R) with 120 grains Swift A-Frames. Works like a charm

DB Bill: You posed great questions....and to everyone here, I have thoroughly enjoyed reading all of your responses. It never ceases to amaze me how small the world is and how much we share in common. My experience with European calibers is limited, but as I was reading the posts I was wondering if anyone used the 7x64 Brenneke on roe deer, a cartridge I used on a spring buck in RSA a few years ago (after I shot a 35 pound duiker with my .378 Wby at 5 meters one night, they encouraged me to 'borrow' the 7x64 when we went after spring buck)..in that case I was using a CZ rifle that looked and felt a lot like a Winchester M70...and then Husky (above) mentions that he used the 7x64 on the deer your are talking about. I was impressed by the 7x64...it worked very well on the 100 pound (or less) antelope at maybe 150m. How much does a roe deer weigh? Anyway, I like the 7x64.

In my post above, I stated I used a 7x64 as my std. Roe caliber. Dressed weight of adult Roedeer varies between 17-23 kg.

Jerry speaks a huge amount of good sense.

(rest edited - sounded a bit up my own arse)

Well I'm not a very experienced roe deer hunter, but my favourite rifle is the little Sako Vixen with a Lothar Walter barrel in 6X45.
I shot this nice buck last summer at aprox. 200 yards, the bullet was a 90 grs Lapua Mega.
Muzzle velocety is 800 m/s - 2625 f/s
The buck ran about 30 yards.
The rifle is topped off with a 3-12X50 Swarovski with a illuminated reticel, and yeah I know, this scope is to big for this nice litte action.

Andre: My apologies...you were the first to respond to the DB Bill's initial inquiry and I skipped right over it.

Dachsterrier: Good photograph.

Dachs,

Lovely rifle, dog and buck!

1894mk2,

I agree 100%, great Sako rifle, Dachshund & very nice 6er Buck.....


The hunter looks a bit used.....

Dachsterrier,

Nice one... thanks for sharing the photo and realting your cartridge/bullet success for Roe Deer.

Cheers,

Gerry

Dachsterrier,

Very nice Roe buck. Congratulations!