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1st May is Opening Day. It’s a Saturday this year. That makes things easier for a lot of hunters - no need to take time off work, no need to battle weekday traffic and routines. Nope, an easy Saturday’s hunting for that 1st May opening day roe buck! Unlike the UK, you can hunt on Sundays too in Germany, so it could be a full on roe buck weekend!


I have written at length before on the European roe buck and his role and importance in Germany’s hunting scene and culture. I will not harp on that here other than to simply restate that the roe buck is ‘the number one’ quarry in Germany’s fields, hills and woodlands. Over 1 million are shot every year. That’s a lot of roe buck!





I have been watching the roe deer in March and April. The older bucks, big in body and bold in attitude, shedding their velvet before the young ones and marking out their territory on small saplings. The young bucks unsure of themselves, skittish and nervous around the older bucks, with their velvet still in tact well into April or just starting to peel and hang in tatters from their small, yearling antlers.


We have some very nice bucks in the concession. Four, five and six year olds, big and bold with large, solid heads.


We have agreed amongst the concession holders that we will all take one or two medal bucks this year and in addition cull out some 20-25 yearlings and come autumn some of this years fawns. We have a lot of roe deer. Thinning out the numbers will do no harm.


My youngest son and I planned to go out late Friday evening and sit all night for pigs and then try for an opening day May buck early Saturday morning and see what the day would bring.


Friday night I settled down in one of the larger Kanzels with my Springer Spaniel for company, carrying a R8 Professional shooting RWS .223 55gr soft point factory ammo and a pair of Swarovski binoculars and my son set up in a large tower stand overlooking planted potato and wheat fields. I had a quiet night whereas he had deer, hare, fox and an coon dog / enok running around. A few of these have been seen in the concession but nobody has shot one yet.





We met up at 04.30 a.m. and discussed the wind and where to sit to try for deer. I opted for the border fields and my son decided to try for a yearling spiker that he had seen before in the middle of the concession.





The wind was not great. A slight south westerly breeze and yet the promise of a warm early morning. Around 5.00 a.m. still a while before first light, the first birds started to call and sing, bringing the woods alive with sound. A fox, a skinny vixen, slowly crossed the open field, on the way back to her den. It would have been an easy shot to drop her in her tracks, but likely she has a den full of small pups to care for, so I watched her go on her way. There will be another time, when the pups are weened and can fend for themselves.





I sat and glassed for half an hour but nothing was moving, so I decided to walk and stalk up to where my son was sitting. Over an hour and a half walking the fields and woodland, I saw a wonderful sunrise, a few deer but nothing that I wanted to take and a number of pheasant out and about having come off their night time roosts.





My son had not been lucky and after feeding and watering the Springer, we headed into town for coffees and breakfast. Being a public holiday we were lucky to find a bakery open and we enjoyed a car park Landy bonnet breakfast and hot coffees.








There was some excitement shortly thereafter - a young man on a moped collided with a deer on one of the forest roads in the concession. Police came to the scene and interviewed the uninjured bike rider. They marked the accident site with high viz spray paint but despite deer hair and blood at the crash scene the deer was gone! We called a friend with a Bavarian tracking hound and he worked the sight for an hour plus but no deer was to be found! Strange at best. The police went on their way and the moped rider pushed his now bent moped along the woodland road home.


We then spent an enjoyable day together checking bait sites, walking and stalking the woodlands and making repairs to some of the stands.










Late morning, my son spotted a good buck bedded down in a large clearing and we stalked to within 30 meters. I barked and the buck stood up, turned and bolted for cover in one swift movement. We laughed and walked back to the Defender.





Early evening, we sat again for deer. I opted to sit in the woods bordering some fields planted with lettuce, where the farmer had been complaining about deer on his crops at night. I thought to myself - kind of like hunting deer to protect lettuce for the vegans of Europe! I swapped the new R8 for an old 1970s ‘Blaser Patent’ combination rifle / shotgun in .222 and 16 bore and a 1980s pair of Swarovski Habicht binos. I picked this gun up last year specifically for fox and predators. Old school and somewhat retro but the 16 bore comes in handy for any young foxes that are out and about! A fun gun to carry. Even Saeed wouldn’t be able to criticize this Blaser! My son sat again hoping that his ‘spiker’ would show.





Just before dusk, a young buck came out of the woods and, without missing a beat, headed straight across the meadow for the lettuce fields. Neither big in body nor with a big head - a shooter. He paused at the edge of the woodlands, giving me that moment to sight the .222 on his shoulder. The shot was good, shoulder to shoulder, and the young buck bolted a semi circle back towards me before dropping in some brambles. A two year old buck, not particularly large and just starting to shed his winter coat for his red summer suit.











I loaded him in the Landy and picked up my son. He had not seen any deer at all. Together we gralloched the buck and hung him in the cool room. A small buck but healthy and all organs clean. I used a simple 'Opinel No. 8' pocket knife and it did the job perfectly. I think that they are great knives. We then set off on the 30 minute drive home. During the short drive my son’s iPhone vibrated - a picture from one of the game cameras - yes, his spiker at the 'Kanzel' where he had been sitting up until an hour ago! We laughed. There will be another time!


It was a truly wonderful Friday and Saturday shared with and spending time with my youngest son out in our concession. The weather gods had blessed us and Diana blessed me in particular with an Opening Day roe buck and venison for the table and freezer.


Big thanks to my son for spending time with me and thanks too to all AR readers that have come along on this story and photographs.





"Prost and Waidmannsheil!"



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Good story and a good shot.
Weidmannsheil!

Good day afield, thanks for posting the story.

Waidmannsheil!

Always nice to get a buck on the opener.

Sounded like the perfect opening weekend! Always a pleasure to see young people in the field and a special blessing to share time with your son. Well done Charlie!

A very nice post.

Nothing like Spring and Summer Roe deer hunts
It’s something we Americans are missing on and it is such a reasonably priced hunt in combo with sightseeing
Besides you’re guaranteed shots, which you can’t say about many Western US hunts

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Milan greetings. Very true indeed - this season they are advertising 3-4 day hunts with 3 bucks in Czech, Poland and Hungary from EUR 1.500,- all in or just take single days and trophy rates. European roe deer makes for fun and very reasonably priced sport - hard to beat on value for money!

And as you said, you are more or less guaranteed roe buck or does - depending on what you want to hunt shooting. I was out tonight in our revier and saw 8 or 9 bucks of which 4 were good to take. I was however after pigs tonight and with European boar on the other hand there are no guarantees!

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Waidmannsheil, thanks and I enjoyed the story. I have also enjoyed many opening day Rehbuck hunts, and success on quite a number, and do miss them nowadays.

Quick question, is there no longer a 6,5 minimum caliber on boar hunting (Hochwild) in Germany? I find that interesting. I almost exclusively used a Blaser BD880, Bockdrilling, 30-06, Hornet, and 20ga for Ansitz, great combo. Good luck on all the warm weather hunting you got ahead of you Charlie!

quote:

Originally posted by Charlie64:
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Milan greetings. Very true indeed - this season they are advertising 3-4 day hunts with 3 bucks in Czech, Poland and Hungary from EUR 1.500,- all in or just take single days and trophy rates. European roe deer makes for fun and very reasonably priced sport - hard to beat on value for money!

And as you said, you are more or less guaranteed roe buck or does - depending on what you want to hunt shooting. I was out tonight in our revier and saw 8 or 9 bucks of which 4 were good to take. I was however after pigs tonight and with European boar on the other hand there are no guarantees!

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Thanks Charlie

quote:

Originally posted by Dom:
Quick question, is there no longer a 6,5 minimum caliber on boar hunting (Hochwild) in Germany?

Dom,

I asked the same question, and was told "it depends".

They opened up frieschling for 22 Hornets when I left.

I think uberlaufers, regular sized hogs, bakke and kielers are still on the 6.5mm at 1000 juoules rule.

Ahaa, tks BWW, there's just such a size variance makes sense for Frischling, I know a buncha folks for many years have used less than a 6,5. Just sayin'

I can't remember who it was Mike someone, used to work for the USAF NAF in K-town.

He told me that he stopped trying to kill things with the illegal caliber, as it wasn't worth losing his license.

I think he was a 7x64 guy for the high seat and 8.5 Reb guy for drive hunts.

Same guy told me that he didn't like hunting with a combo gun as he always wished he had another rifle shot. Had 10-15 of the things, but kept gravitating back to the 7x64 for that reason.

I used 223 in Czech on just about everything one time or another besides my 308

Why use illegal cartridges then both German and Chech rules are generous about what to use? British rules are strange then you can`t use a 223r for roedeer in England and Wales, and they think a 3006 are to much for Red deer.

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Dom hi, At present > 2000 joules for large game and as stated Hornet is allowed on Frischlinge / stripers.

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Ref rules, well just some man decided this rule up, made it a law, now you gotta follow no matter how much sense or no sense it makes. Let's say the rule was 375 H&H Mag for Hochwild, or on the other hand so many folks swear by 22 lfb rimfire, let's make a new law that you can use a .22 on all wild boar. Just saying, a lotta rules don't make much sense. I pretty much go by the law and use what is seldom known nowadays, "common sense" ;-)

Anyway, now I know you can use less than 6,5 for Frischling. BTW, I once shot a 65kg (aufgebrochen/field dressed) Keiler with, my Hornet -- but it was totally by mistake, had the Drilling set for a Fox I saw and then forgot to switch it back when the Keiler came by soon after. I quickly switched over to 30-06 and connected again as it ran up the hill. I do believe I would have got the Keiler if I had missed with the '06, but I would have most likely needed a bloodhound as it would have ran a good ways. Upon dressing the Hornet round penetrated lungs, no outshot though.

Again, nice pictures Charlie, and Waidmannsheil for the rest of your hunting this summer!

quote:

Originally posted by Charlie64:
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Dom hi, At present > 2000 joules for large game and as stated Hornet is allowed on Frischlinge / stripers.

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Yep, 2000 I couldn't remember what the number was.

Waidmannsdank!

Thanks Charlie,

Seth

Waidmannsheil! Thanks for the report and great photos. I, too, enjoy using Opinel knives though I've never tackled a deer with one.

Great story and pictures, thanks for sharing!

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Picked up from the butcher today - EUR 25,- butchered and vac packed. Now just need to choose the wine and sides .....






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Remember to marinate well...

Gulasch already on the meat package We had a delicious gulasch made on game meat on the campfire then we hunted in Czech Republic.

What does hinle mean?

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Nordic2 hi, in Germany 'Gulasch' is the general term for chunked / cubed neck and general cuts. But more often than not cooked as goulash which is what we cooked last night ! Tasted great !

Where are you seeing 'hinle' ? Cant see it on the meat - we have 'Keule' which is the rear hip / hock, 'Ruecken' which is the back filets and then 'Filet' which is your tenderloins and the neck and rest as 'Gulasch'.

Out again tonight to see if I can get one more for the freezer and the neighbours who are all calling for venison now that the season is open!

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Lovely report. We do not have spring hunt for roe bucks in Norway. Hope the travel restrictions from Covid soon will go away so that we might hunt roe bucks in Europe in the rut late July.

Love that 223 caliber - trying to find one my self as a roe buck rifle ... maybe a Sauer 80/90 with real steel for that purpose.

Love the Schnaps Charlie

Morten

We call it "grytbitar" pieces for a stew.

quote:

Originally posted by The Norwegian:
Lovely report. We do not have spring hunt for roe bucks in Norway. Hope the travel restrictions from Covid soon will go away so that we might hunt roe bucks in Europe in the rut late July.

Love that 223 caliber - trying to find one my self as a roe buck rifle ... maybe a Sauer 80/90 with real steel for that purpose.

Love the Schnaps Charlie

Morten

Are you Guys too far North for roe deer?

Roedeer are found in most parts of Norway and Sweden. Europes biggest was shot in Överkalix northern Sweden 48kg.

What a great hunt. And I learned a new-to-me word: gralloch, from the Scotch Gaelic.

quote:

Originally posted by boarkiller:

quote:

Originally posted by The Norwegian:
Lovely report. We do not have spring hunt for roe bucks in Norway. Hope the travel restrictions from Covid soon will go away so that we might hunt roe bucks in Europe in the rut late July.

Love that 223 caliber - trying to find one my self as a roe buck rifle ... maybe a Sauer 80/90 with real steel for that purpose.

Love the Schnaps Charlie

Morten

Are you Guys too far North for roe deer?

No sir, but we do not have that many as Europe and south part of Sweden, Denmark and UK. This is due to climate ( winter ). This is also the reason that we do not have roe deer in our upper/northern part of our country ( basically from north of Trondheim and up ) They are somewhat bigger in body too and we hunt them from August 10th.

Morten

quote:

Originally posted by The Norwegian:

quote:

Originally posted by boarkiller:

quote:

Originally posted by The Norwegian:
Lovely report. We do not have spring hunt for roe bucks in Norway. Hope the travel restrictions from Covid soon will go away so that we might hunt roe bucks in Europe in the rut late July.

Love that 223 caliber - trying to find one my self as a roe buck rifle ... maybe a Sauer 80/90 with real steel for that purpose.

Love the Schnaps Charlie

Morten

Are you Guys too far North for roe deer?

No sir, but we do not have that many as Europe and south part of Sweden, Denmark and UK. This is due to climate ( winter ). This is also the reason that we do not have roe deer in our upper/northern part of our country ( basically from north of Trondheim and up ) They are somewhat bigger in body too and we hunt them from August 10th.

Morten

Thanks Morten

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Here we go the end result! Add a glass of great red and its hard to beat!





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Mouth watering Charlie.
I can almost savour the aroma from here.
Cheers

This year, in some areas of Germany the roebuck hunt and also the hunt for one year old females( called Schmalreh) and for the red deer yearlings started at the first of April.
It was very unusual for us to hunt roebucks in snow - a new experience!
Now, after 6 weeks of hunting, we shoot over 30 roe deer, only 4 red deer and nearly 20 boars. From may 15th, we will stop the hunts just to august - it a new concept of hunting , called Intervall - hunting, although it would be allowed to hunt!

The new hunting calender for Sweden has a Roebuck spring season from 1may-june15. Buck season start again on aug16 , Kid from 1september and all roes and hunting by dog 1 october.

New forrest bird(Caper-Blackgrouse)
and mountain grouse season aug25-15february.

quote:

This year, in some areas of Germany the roebuck hunt and also the hunt for one year old females( called Schmalreh) and for the red deer yearlings started at the first of April.
It was very unusual for us to hunt roebucks in snow - a new experience!
Now, after 6 weeks of hunting, we shoot over 30 roe deer, only 4 red deer and nearly 20 boars. From may 15th, we will stop the hunts just to august - it a new concept of hunting , called Intervall - hunting, although it would be allowed to hunt!

M-F, Good to hear from you and yes, a lot of areas started 1 April or 15 April. Very early for roe in my 'traditional' opinion. Were you shooting a lot of the bucks in Bast / velvet or where they clean? Thats a lot of pigs you have shot too! Well done and Waidmannsheil from NRW!

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Yes, the one and two years old bucks are often in velvet so early in the year! I am an old and a little bit traditionell Hunter and so I don‘t like to shoot a buck in velvet!
So, I don‘t shoot anything in the first 6 weeks and I saw my first aim to track wounded animals with my two dogs ( Hanoverian tracking dogs).
I saw a lot of game ( one evening over 200 red deers) and some wolves..