I have hunted roe deer but to date haven't scored on them.

When I was living in England I travelled up to Northumberland on the Scottish border to stalk and hunt a roe stag on a Grouse estate which had a pine plantation of it. Owned by some Viscount something or other.

I was to borrow the Gamekeeprs rifle which was a CZ Brno .243. Arriving by train at Newcastle I picked up a hire car and drove out to the estate. Met up while the gamekeeper and had a quick look around the estate and he also tested me if I could shoot and hit something. Driving to an old quarry on the estate he picked out a marked on the cliff opposite and asked me to hit it. I fired and hit the mark I was aiming at, which turned out to be a different mark. He asked me to hit the same mark again which I did.

Off to a quaint old B&B for dinner and the night.

Up before dawn the next morning I drove out to the estate and met the Gamekeeper. The plan was to hunt through some sections of the forest and then if I wished I could sit for a couple of hours at a highseat with the Gamekeeper did something he had to do. During the middle of the day he was off to a fox drive with other gamekeepers so I would be at a loose end and spend the time however I wanted. It takes some getting used to all these rules in Europe compared to the freedom we have at home. Each day would consist of two "stalks" with a break in the middle of the day.

We walked along various paths in the forest always being careful when crossing tracks to look up and down the dividing tracks to try to catch a stag crossing. Up and down a few hills as well.

The best chance we had was a large open clearing where the trees had been felled several months before. The ground was littered with stumps and freshly grown bushes. Stopping in the shadows at the edge and hidden by bushes we scanned the clearing and sighted several roe at the far side of the clearing, but we were "sprung" by them attempting to stalk across the clearing. None of these roe were good stags anyway - just does and fawns.

Lunchtime came too early and I sat in an open highseat for an hour. The Gamekeeper (I think his name was Phillip) had said there was a very good but smart stag in this area. I approached the highseat fromn the appropriate direction but was hampered by the noisy twigs, leaves etc underfoot. Climbed the highseat and sat still for a half hour. The stag did come but stayed fifty metres in the forest and barked at me repeatedly. He knew something was wrong. No luck.

Left the highseat, made my way back to the car and drove around the corner. What do I see? Fifty hikers marching along the path and road! Again Europe. The path was a public right of way and people walked along it all bloody day. Pity I didn't know before as I might have taken a shot in that direction. It was only 150 metres along from the highseat but couldn't easily be seen from there due to the growth.

Returned the rifle to the gamekeeper who needed it for the fox drive. Now what to do? Why not drive to Scotland, only 20 or so kilometres away so I did and had lunch in Scotland. Northumberland was once part of Scotland and looked like it. No difference in the terrain at all. A pleasant drive having a look at the countryside on the trip out and back again.

Back to the estate for the evening hunt sighting a few roe but no decent stags. The last animal spotted was a stag, probably not that big that we surprised in the middle of a track before running at top speed directly away along the tracks. Aimed at it just for practice but the low light and deep shadows of the evening made it a risky shot.

Back to the B&B for the night - I remember the meal was very nice and had a glass of Glayva afterwards - and back to Newcastle to catch a late morning train back to London.

Enjoyed the brief hunt and if I had time for a three day stalk would almost certainly have scored at least one stag. One problem if I had scored was they don't know about shoudler mounts. Roe stags are very nice trophies and I would have wanted a shoulder mount, but most taxidermied jobs there are just the neck and head. The chop off the head and sell the carcase to a game dealer who butchers the animal for human consumption. If the shoulder is skinned the carcase can not be sold. I would have bought the whole bloody thing rather than end up with just half a head-skin. Even own farm use of game carcases need to be processed by a butcher - ie for eating by the owners or staff on the property that harvests the game or farm animals. TOO MANY BLOODY RULES!

Roe deer and wild boar are my number one targets when I get back there again oneday.