I went out last night and shot what turned out to be a very big bodied buck. It was a quick shot as he was on a mission to get somewhere, so a quick whistle and bank.

He had no head but I could see the tackle so the 308 was used. It wasn't until I got to the beast that I realised he had cast his head and was probably a good buck at some point not long ago...

Head and hoofed he topped 140lbs this morning and two of us strained to get him onto the quad last night, (I could never have got him done on my own).

It didn't even occur to me that bucks were casting now so just thought I'd mention it.

Rgds,
FB

Kind of late or are all the deer in the UK casting now?

I had just visited Wyoming and Texas and didn't see any hard horned deer.

Back in Spain and have yet to see a deer.

D99,

The Fallow are Casting now with the bigger bucks leading the way. the yearlings will have velveted growth now.

Roe have cleaned off around the start of the season to now, although the buck I shot last week was in Velvet I believe this to have been his first head.

Muntjac will cast in the next couple of months, and will be clean again in August which is quite handy as the fields will started to be harvested by then.

Red and Sika I won't guess at but perhaps someone else can help, (Or correct me if I am wrong!!)

FB

Fallow Buck,

Red deer cast in January and february. They are now all in velvet.

Exmoor Reds casting about now. Saw group of dozen last week all still carrying antlers. Hopefully pick up a few antlers this time of year.
We've had swallows for last 3 weeks and heard the first cuckoo yesterday. Still a few about but some of the South Europeans or N. African hunters must be taking too many out because that epitome of a summer morn is getting scarce.