From Boise to Britain- In Pursuit of Roe Buck

[Sawtooth]

Today was our last day in Devon. And what a day it was. Trout and sea trout fishing, a fantastic roe buck dinner with Richard and his lovely wife, and a roe buck hunt of epic proportions. I will have to share the details tomorrow night as my phone battery is running out and we leave for Knock, Ireland early in the morning. If Richard would like to tell the story or share pictures before then that would be great. But don't hold your breath because he will be busy boiling a skull tomorrow.

 

[LandDiver]

You tease! Ha ha!

 

[devon deer]

I waved goodbye to Steve last night, it has been a great week, making a new friend and meeting his family, lovely people.
I had already suggested to Steve that yesterday would be a non hunting day, i had so much to do, prep his deer for dinner, prep the head, cook the dinner (the wife did offer!) and in between take him fishing during the day and at night.
But, i really wanted him to get a decent Roe Buck, so as a surprise i offered a last chance hunt.
The fishing was very poor, so i'm glad we did go hunting.

When we arrived at the farm we set up the spotting scope and settled down to wait, we kept being bothered by the very affectionate farm cat, it just wouldn't leave us alone.
It was within 2 minutes i had spotted a roe, but she went behind some tree's, but that wasn't a worry, she came back out, things went a little crazy!
She was being chased by a roe buck, he had things on his mind, but i don't think she shared the same thoughts!
However, that buck was being chased by a big bodied buck, it was frantic, the doe disappeared, but the dominant buck was really pissed, no way was he going to let up, round and round they went, occasionally stopping to lie down then up again, i was using the roe call which just didn't work on them, but then they had a good rest, lay down in the grass looking at each other, Steve dropped down onto the bipod, i said its a safe shot, in the next breath i was going to say the gun is set at 2'' high, but all i heard was a ringing in my ears and the buck was down, a old buck 'going back' but a great buck to get.
Strangely we never did see the cat again after the 30-06 barked!

 

[devon deer]

p.s i have total respect for the camerman who films Randy's hunts, i only have a bridge camera, but the video quality is awesome, its the guy behind the camera, and by that i mean me that cocks things up, i managed a very short video of the bucks chasing each other (i mean about 3 seconds!) and at the critical time it wasn't filmed!
I will stick to what i know!
Cheers
Richard

 

[Dave N]

Congrats to you both! Sounds like a good time was had by all! I'm a bit envious that Steve got to taste Roe, but that breakfast sandwich Richard whipped up after my hunt was plenty good. I don't regret turning down Richard's offer to go out one more time to try for another deer. I needed to spend some time with my wife on our last night there. I had left her alone in Exeter all the time we were out hunting! Richard and his wife were extremely kind, and our memories of our short visit will remain for a long time. I'm sure Steve feels the same way. If Richard continues his hunt offer there will be more happy folks in the future! Maybe once Steve gets his phone charged and isn't traveling so much he can post more pictures and stories of their travels.

 

[TheNorthStar]

Way to go, fellas, that's fantastic.

How do they taste, Steve?

 

[Sawtooth]

Congrats to you both! Sounds like a good time was had by all! Maybe once Steve gets his phone charged and isn't traveling so much he can post more pictures and stories of their travels.

Made it into Galway, Ireland tonight. Dave, I promise to give you a more detailed account of the rest of my trip, hopefully with pictures as soon as I figure out how to post pictures from my phone onto the thread. If I can't I will have to wait until I get home where I have my laptop. For now it will have to be short and sweet as it takes forever for me to type anything on this phone.
For the next few days my wife, daughter, and I will be exploring the area in and around Galway and Doolin. We will then head down the west coast of Ireland to Blarney, where I plan on NOT kissing the Blarney Stone. Then to Cashel and finally to Dublin again to fly home.

 

[Sawtooth]

Way to go, fellas, that's fantastic.

How do they taste, Steve?

With a diet of grass, clover and other crops from the farmers fields, how could roe deer not taste fantastic. Add some of Chief Richard's secret black currant sauce on top and you have the makings of a five star meal. Seriously, the meat is mild and tender. It ranks right up there with any elk or alfalfa fed antelope I have eaten.

 

[Nutria]

That sounds like a plan!

Congratulations to the bucks! The second one is a real good one! For a buck like this, you have to search a long time or have a guide like Richard!
A few good trouts would have been the coronation. Too bad it did not work.
Have a good time in Ireland! I would also like to see a few pictures from your trip. Please continue your updates.

 

[Sawtooth]

Here are some pictures from my hunt with Richard. First pic is of another red deer making us wish I would be in England next month when they will be in season.



Richard using the binoculars to pick apart yet another field.


This is the field where I shot my first buck. I shot from the top right corner of the photo at the top of the hill and the buck was feeding in the lower left corner of the photo.

 

[Sawtooth]

Hey it looks like my phone is letting me post pics. I will continue to post as the trip allows.
Nutria, I did get one very small brown trout and had a few others on. The real fun happened last night as we fished for searun brown trout. Even though we were unable to get any to hit our flies, it was fun to hear them jump and splash in the water right in front of you. Some made such a racket that they would scare you half to death.
Here is a picture of the river we fished for both trout and further downstream sea trout.

 

[Dave N]

It may be the angle of the picture, but the field you got your first one looks like the one where we had some reds pass through behind us across the fence.

 

[devon deer]

It may be the angle of the picture, but the field you got your first one looks like the one where we had some reds pass through behind us across the fence.

Your observation Dave is spot on!

Here is a very short video, a nice little roe doe, which messed up our first stalk!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxwZPQ6hQcw

Cheers

Richard

 

[MikeMaland]

Wow what an adventure. Good job guys..

 

[devon deer]

Got the trophies all cleaned up.


Cheers
Richard

 

[Dave N]

Very nice!

 

[Sawtooth]

Richard, The second buck came out great. Thanks for all the hard work in getting these trophies cleaned up. Did you send the meat from the second buck over to the older couple in your village or did you just decide to burger the whole deer?

For those of you who might be interested in what my wife, daughter and I have been doing on this trip besides hunting and fly fishing, here are some pictures with a brief explanation of each.

While we were in southwest England with Richard we spent each day between hunts exploring a different place near his village. Exeter is only about fifteen minutes away and has a history that dates back to the Romans. Due to much of it being destroyed by bombing during WWII it is not uncommon to see the old Roman city walls right next to modern day shopping malls. A popular tourist attraction in the center of the city is their beautiful Cathedral.


On another day we took a trip down to the Jurassic Coast to a small village called Lyme Regis. The region is famous for the fossils which are found in the limestone along it's beaches.

 

[Sawtooth]

After saying goodbye to Richard and his lovely wife, we flew to Knock, Ireland and then spent two days exploring the city of Galway. And by exploring, I meant my wife and daughter shopped and I wished I was fishing for salmon with the guys in the picture below.


I was able to find one fishing and hunting shop in town and talked with the owner about the hunting and fishing in the area. It didn't help me when he said the salmon fishing had been great recently and with the rain they got the day before that it should be "stellar" in town for a few days.


Today we left Galway and followed their West Coast Highway which for most of the time is one and three quarters lanes wide. This makes for some interesting driving situations, especially when a tour bus is coming at you from the opposite direction. We saw some amazing country with castle ruins around every corner.

 

[LandDiver]

Looks like a very fun trip with the family. Congrats on the 2 bucks! Looks like some William Wallace stomping grounds in the last couple pics ha ha.

 

[Sawtooth]

When we weren't seeing castles, we were seeing 6000 year old tombs like the one below.


We finished the day at the Cliffs of Moher, near the town of Doolin.



Before going to a pub in the village for dinner and some Trad or traditional Irish Music.


Sorry about some of the flipped photos in this thread. I don't know how to turn them upright.