This morning I mucked up by getting restless and moving just as the sun started to come up. Sure enough 10 steps into my walk a roe doe poked her head through the hedge I had been watching. Despite mine and Poppies best Madame Tussaud's impression and not being skylined, after 3 minutes and a couple of pretend 5 second grazes (you know the "I'm going to lower my head to graze but raise it 5 seconds later to catch you moving") that we declined to rise to she eventualy decided all was not to her liking and pottered back whence she had come.

I waited for a few minutes and then decided to try a stalk into that field. It quickly became apparent that the wind was going to be wrong. Time was now short so I decided to continue in the hope that when it all went pear shaped and they ran they might stop just within range.

I could see the doe through the hedge and could see that she could see me. Dropping to my knees I slowly crawled towards the gap from which I could shoot. She was unsure so moved to wind me. I continued to move forward slowly just out of sight and saw her stop, wind and turn to run. I covered the last 10yards as quickly as I could, got in the ditch, took a field position all the while seeing about 5 roe pronking off. One big doe stopped and turned broadside at around 200yards, the crosshairs steadied and at the crack of the 06 down she went.

By the law of averages that exercise would fail more often than not, certainly the other 4 were off into the sunrise with no sign of stopping but if you apply the law of averages you get lucky every now and again.

The other last ditch methods I have used with some success are:-

Shooting into the ground to raise a deer that has bedded.

Walking directly towards deer at last light on stubble

Any others poeple have used with any success?

I've found on a couple of occasions that walking past Roe in open view will not spook them if I didn't look at them directly, and they are sufficiently far away. The moment Eye contact is made, they seem to want to be somewhere else!!

This allowed me to get to a peice of cover that I could use to stalk into a shooting position.

FB

A parked vehicle can make a v. good hide; deer and foxes alike have little fear of a parked vehicle.
A quad bike is a very effective means of covering ground and approaching deer where they are used to seeing them daily for feeding pheasants or looking at livestock.
My last roebuck was shot after I'd given up the idea of a sucessful stalk end of Oct. First 2 hours foot stalking and I'd not seen a buck. A last drive across some stubbles and as I entered a field a buck, a doe and a youngster caught me with my trousers down. Rifle cased and de- bolted behind the seat.
I reversed back out some 60 m. whistling innocently. Once out of sight I took the rifle out loaded up and crept back to gate expecting them to be long gone.... they were still there puzzling whether or not I had been a threat. They reached the wrong conclusion and I had the buck.
I was particularly pleased because the same buck had eluded me a month before after my 6 year old daughter had got in a strop and put him to fright when I had him in the crosshairs!! On that occasion we had stalked him with only a muck heap for cover but he had walked away across the stubble, showing us only his retreating bottom. He went through the far hedge and we set off the 300 yards after him; she was tired and complaining, I said he just might but probably wasn't grazing the next field. She sat down, we quietly argued; I left her and went on alone, peered through the next hedge.... he was there.. she chose that moment to get loud...and the buck took off!!