With the game bird season now over many stalkers will find that they are again at peace on their land. The demands of the game keeper not to disturb his birds and the increased activity created by both the game keeper hard at work and the shooting guests and shoot days are now over and the stalker can once again find himself alone in the woods and fields.
I am delighted to say that this is not a huge concern at County Deer Stalking as there is no other shooting save for the deer stalking. That said during February we will still benefit from the lack of disturbance on the neighbouring grounds and boundaries as the deer become a little more relaxed.
The Deer themselves, both Fallow, Roe and Muntjac, find as February progresses that the available browse in the woods is diminishing and as such the allure of grazing in the open fields increases.
As a result during February the number of deer that we are able to take usually goes up a touch in no small part also due to the fact that the lack of cover means that the deer are just a little easier to spot. The Fallow will continue to be a priority at the main Fallow Stalking Estate and we will be taking a firm hand especially with the Does.
The Roe will be more visible on both estates as they return to feeding in the fields, Roe are a precious quarry however and so we will be adopting a careful and selective approach to the culling where possible. The older Roe buck will now be well advanced in Velvet which will of course make them more easily identifiable however the Roe Buck kids will have cast their button antlers ready for re growth of their first simple antlers during the next couple of months. Monitoring of the Does anal tush therefore continues to be important.
It is an anomaly I think that during the last couple of months we have not been shooting as many Muntjac as in previous years. Why that is so is as yet a mystery to me. We have been spotting a few however they do not appear to be in such abundance. I suspect that it will over the course of the next couple of months right itself however I will continue to monitor their presence with interest.
IN Season in England & Wales: Roe Does, Fallow Does & Fallow Buck, Sika Stags & Sika Hinds, Red Stags & Red Hinds, CWD Bucks & CWD Does, Muntjac Buck & Muntjac Does.
Off Season in England & Wales: Roe Buck.
