A typical morning outing:-

The necessary ingredients are a couple of blank outings, a shootable roe buck quite close to cover and a not so perfect view.

What happens is this. A buck and does are seen in the field heading to a wood and a stalk commenced along a ditch or some such thing. Can't hang about. You get to a point where you can see them and take a shot if you can. You are likely peering through thistles or something. The buck is poor so a check through the binos is necessary before taking the shot to avoid shooting a doe. They move about a lot. Every time you identify the buck and shoulder the rifle they move. On the occasions they don't move your scope will have misted up through you breathing on it while looking through the binos. On the occasions that you look through the binos for too long they mist up. Gradualy they move away and you have to get out of the ditch and crawl to a clump of thistles to get a clear shot.

You've been calling on your Butalo all the time and they haven't even lifted their heads. The moment you move from cover your Butalo emits a piercing cry as it get's inadvertantly squeezed in your pocket. Instantly all heads turn to look at you. The buck trots clear. You raise your rifle - it's misted. You franticaly stir the lense with your gloved finger turning it into a smeared mess. Glove off, tissue paper, glove on, they're still there, there's the buck, bang, down.

Am I alone in this less than elegant charade? There are the odd occasions one can savour the moment in a cool calm and collected fashion but the reality is more often the above. Still fun though.

1894,

You forget to add that even after a scortching summer the said ditch is wet and muddy on the bottom and that the only time the buck seems to stand broad side as per the books is when he is skylined!

In Scotland of course you can add the being bittemn alive with midges!

And don't forget the dog walker /rambler spooking the buck just as your about to shoot!


Regards,

Pete

I do second the midge observation, so you try with a midge net and then discover that you can't see, so you take it off and the biting starts all over again.

Why do we do it?

Because we care for our way of life, we care about the wildlife and it's habitat, and we know that mother nature needs a little help here and there, because we understand. Oop's ging off on a bit of a tangent, must be the midge's

John

Except that when I'm using a Buttolo I never get to see one single roe deer Otherwise, that's the standard procedure

/HerrBerg

Good stuff, add a lowering evening sun and the optics all appear steamed/fazed.
Night before last I was caught watching 3 fallow unexpectedly...so they were watching me sweat under a headnet, when one of the 20 horseflies around my head, got under the net..b*****d.
Roll on the season of "mellow fruitfulness."

Hi
I was wondering how effective you found calling to be? Does it succeed in attracting the animals from afar or just useful to set up a shot? I have heard of people calling roe in Europe with a leaf...is this possible?

Boghossian,

With regards Roe stalking, calling can be very effective indeed. I think the main factor is the ratio of bucks to does; the more bucks you have competeing with each other the better the results. A fried and I were calling out over a moor adjacent to our woodland stalking block and using a fawn squeak he had 5 different does come in, some from a good 400 o 500 yards. On one or two occations, i have seen a buck come in over 300 yards to a call; it really is fantastic. However you much time it right; calling before the Rut is on simply educates the beasts. And be prepared for a shot from any direction; they will often come in down wind of you ignoring your scent and burst out of cover two or three yards away...If you live somewhere where Roe are common, but have no stalking, I would still recommend going out with a call and a camera it really is great.

With regards the leaf, I think the traditional way was with a beech leaf, but i have never seen it done..Most people i know use either the rubber Buttalo (sp?) call or the Hubertus cherry wood call...

Regards,

Pete

Calling is great but no magic. If you have bucks and they are rutting or in the mood then it is the most fun you can have standing up.

Sometimes they will spring or charge straight in so from calling to get them closer you are suddenly faced with stopping them before they run you over!

Sometimes you call a doe and in so doing bring her to the attention of a randy buck who procedes to chase her for miles.

I would put the effectiveness of calling on my ground as enough to make up for the month before the rut when you don't even see a buck but not enough to make success a foregone conclusion.

As well as roe you often attract muntjac, sometimes fallow does, often buzzards and even occasionaly a walker!

You can call roe deer with a grass straw that you put between your thumbs and then you "whistle" through it.

I have failed miserably every time I've tried, and those who suceed are - by definition - not holding their rifles in their hands

[ 08-10-2003, 00:00: Message edited by: HerrBerg ]

I've only once had a buck (?) come in when calling, it came up behind me, in cover, can't have been more than a few yards away. Now, my cousin has those bucks always come racing onto the clearing or path. I never have been so lucky. And I'm sure I do (did) better impersonations on the "Blatter", we checked with a tape. His sounded like a cow with a cold, mine were just amazing (sort of). And I hear you on the frustration during the stalks...always high grass, low branches or both in the way.

Frans

Yesterday I was out looking for foxes, the roe buck season #2 doesn't start until the 16:th of august. I sat still and I saw a little buck at 300 meters, he was walking right towards me and he got a little bit cautios wjhen he was 12 meters from me, retreated, barked, and CAME BACK! This time 20 meters from me, he turned and walked back without even barking.

I had a Zeiss 3-12x56 on my rifle that I had resteed on a shooting stick, so I could see the ticks on the roebuck's face, in its fur. I had it within 50 meters for about 20 minutes, could have taken a clean shot at 60% of that time.

This really p*sses me off , I've been bragging about these forest roe deers (in order to diminish my friend's successes with the garden deers as I usually call them), the forest roe deers are much moore cautious and overall more a feat to catch.

This one behaves just like them garden roe deers and he's making a poor role model for the younger roe deers in his vincinity. I'm quite determined now, this buck shall be gone soon. Can't let this roebuck set a bad example.

Pay no attention to Mr Berg, this is his "thing"..

Not only is he trying to as se said diminish our success he is trying to give us the impression that the hunting grown he use has very little roedeers to.

The myth is one killed roedeer at Mr Bergs place is geater than 10 roedeers at other places.
We all know that this is�nt the truth but we like him anyway so we dont make a big deal out of it.

Take Care!

Welcome to the forum Hipshot, I think we have met before...

So for those of you who wonder, I can inform you that he shoots from the hip: it is not his hips that are hot... Or does HerrBerg think they are...!?