Nice ones!

But that's not your Sako in those pictures. What are you shooting these days?

Stonecreek,

Last year I purchased a little Blaser K95 single shot break open in 6.5x57R for my trophy hunting. Weighing a tad under 7lbs all up it is a joy to carry and is very accurate. The light weight and single shot mean I get a bit closer and take a little more care. Above all it is great fun! With a pair of 8x32 binos I am able to cover a lot of ground in lightweight style.

1894 - congratulations - those bucks are fantastic. The first one is the stuff dreams are made of. You must be logging this rut as one of the all time best!

Keep well.

Ian

1894,



Been having a discussion with Pete about maybe hunting these little guys. I don't know much about them. That first one at the top/middle appears to be an above-average buck, no? -TONY

Tony,

Both those bucks are very nice and I certainly like the first one of the two better.

Roe are odd creatures as far as antlers go in that their heads are not always "progressive" from year to year. For instance a buck like that top one could have a bad year next year through injury, loss of territory, illness or perhaps even stress and a result throw smaller antlers; it might even revert back to a four pointer. Conversly, studies abroad have shown roe backs growing gold medal heads on their first set of proper antlers. Part of this variation is due to the fact the antlers are grown during the winter hence the availability of food is a critical factor..

As far as scoring roe, the CCI method basically favours mass above everything else...heavy bulky antlers will score more than longer thin antlers. There are other factors considered, but mass is the most important.

Regards,

Pete

Pete,

Interesting. Actually, proper nourishment has a lot to do with antler growth for our elk and deer, as well.

I would be happy with either of those two bucks above. For me, scores are meaningless; my goals are always decent representative trophies of a species. Often, I go for the looks rather than actual inches. -TONY

Tony
Most hunters would be happy with those bucks! They're good! After having lived the whole of my life (and hunted them for 17 years) in a very roedeer infested part of Sweden I've yet to even see one of this size and shape alive...

1894
Nice bucks indeed! Seems you have a pretty good piece of land to stalk!

//K9

Tony,

Why I mentioned about the food factor being so critical is that the antlers are grown in winter when food is naturally at a minimum...The does are also unusal in that after the rut the fertilised egg goes a kind of "suspended animation" for about 3 or 4 months ...the whole process is called "delayed implantation"...

K9-75,

I think that its fairly common that as roe population density increases, the trogphy quality goes down. I have often heard it said that in the UK, the very best heads often turn up in areas which are just being colonised by roe...

Regards,

Pete

K9,

Yeah, perhaps I understated what I really meant. I haven't seen too many of the roes, but that first one sure looked a LOT better than most have seen.

Pete,

Right, and I didn't miss the winter part. Now out of curiosity, just what is the antler cycle by month, i.e. when do they drop, how long in velvet, when are they hard, etc.? -TONY

Tony,

A buck fawn will generally start to develop pedicules around August on wards...Front late December/January it will start to grow its "fawn buttons" but these will be cast around the end February maybe early March.

A yearling will grow his first true antlers in the spring and they should be clean of velvet by early June. As the buck gets older this process get "ealier" so generally the older bucks clean first, and this is usually around April. There is much variation in this and a friend reported seeing a buck "clean" at the end of February this year, but that is exceptonal...

The antlers are generally start being cast around October again with the older bucks being first...Younger bucks and yearlings may not cast untill mid December although usually most bucks have cast by the end of November.

Each time the antler is cast,part of the pedicule is also lost through declassification. The implication for stalkers is that older bucks tend to have shorter "thicker" pedicules that often slope "outwards"...this is a good clue when it comes to trying to age a beast you have just taken.

Regards,

Pete

Pete,

So if a guy wants to hunt in the fall, he'd better do it before the end of Sept. or so to get a crack at the older, larger bucks, huh?

And lastly, is the hunting better in late spring, early fall or...? -TONY

Tony,

Personally I like late spring early summer time especially May...Then you have the rut which is generally around now, but can vary quite a bit from year to year and location to location... Once through the rut there can be a quiet period for a few weeks while the bucks get their strength back, but I have always found September to be quite good.

If you want to hunt another deer species, that also needs factoring in...if you wanted fallow and sika September / early to mid October might be better, while for Muntjac I would prefer as early in spring as possible as the little bugggers can be difficult to see once the vegitation gets up...

Regards,

Pete

Pete,

Geez, I hate it when there are too many choices.

With time so short, I doubt I can put anyhting together for Sept./Oct. at this point. That's why I asked about the spring. But then sika and fallow come into play. Duh!! -TONY

I think for the visitor wanting a mixed non trophy bag of roe, fallow and muntjac, April is the best choice. If you are willing to specialise for roe and muntjac then the rut is best.

April, huh? How's the weather then -- lots of rain? Sika also available? -TONY