Tom Bevins gives an account of the early days of the Roe rut in Central Scotland.
It’s that time of year again, the Roe rut is upon us and what a fantastic start to the rut it has been for us in central Scotland.
The start of this week has been busy to say the least, with pheasants going to wood and several Danish clients booked in for stalking. The first morning of the rut was a great success, even if the mist was making it hard to spot the beasts. We managed to take a nice 4 pointer and 5 point Roe Buck that had broken his antler, the clients were in for some tough stalking though as the conditions made visibility nearly impossible to see more than 60 yards in the thick mist.
The evening had its own excitements, with one of our clients taking two young stags causing crop damage, and the other client making do with the consolation of seeing plenty of Red hinds and Roe doe’s. After a further long walk we were rewarded when we stumbled across a young Roe buck who seemed oblivious to us in his pursuit of a prospective mate, it was his lucky day however as he did not meet the cull criteria and was given a free pass till next year.
(Left: Buck in the heather)
The following evening was just as fruitful with both clients taking bucks within minutes of starting their stalks. The first was spied at the bottom of a meadow couched up, after a 100 yard crawl into a suitable position we watched the buck for some 20minutes, it was clear the buck was in no hurry to stand so we slowly approached on sticks to 50yards where a clean shot could be taken.
The other client had a much more heart racing experience having stalked into a clear fell and bumping two large stags, we spotted a doe and kid and decided to give the buttaloo a go, 3 small 'fleeps' and a buck was charging straight towards us, another 'fleep' brought him to a stand at 100 yards before a perfect shot to the heart dropped the beast on the spot, on approach another larger buck came out from behind some scrub and barked at us, he turned and ran, however with a further 'fleep' on the buttaloo he turned on a coin and ran straight back at us where he stood at 80 yards, another shot rang out and the beast fell. Two six point bucks less than 50 yards apart, with one being a trophy to treasure for a lifetime and a stalk that will not be forgotten by either client or stalker.
It is clear that we are starting to see bucks responding well to calls and travelling all across the estate in search of doe’s, it is exciting to see evidence that the peak of the rut in Scotland is now just around the corner.
For more about deer stalking in Scotland follow this link: outings-scotland If you'd like to watch one of our short films about how to call a Roe Buck take a look at our short films page: short-films (July 2014)
Alternatively if you’d like to try Stalking with Tom his estate can be found just 15miles outside of Stirling. The estate offers stunning stalking with spectacular views of the trossacs. Tom is able to offer Roe stalking, Red stalking and the chance of wild boar, the estate also boasts driven pheasant, walked up woodcock, snipe shooting, and duck and goose flighting. For more details contact Tom Bevins: 07772076401
