Torstis Corner

The spring buck... not the Springbuck, that is something different

When the days get longer in the spring the roe deer must graze in daylight also, not only in twilight and during the night. At this time of the year we already have some 14 hours of daylight and it will, at our 60N latitude, increase to around 20 hours in the last part of June.

In some parts of Sweden the roe buck is since some years back permitted for hunting in May, but only by stalking or watching. Not too many hunters utilize this opportunity, partly because it has not become a tradition yet and partly because it often is rather warm in May giving trouble to take care of the meat.

However you can shoot the animal with a camera, it takes about the same effort as to shoot it with the rifle but the flies and wasp's could not care less about your film or memory card. When a deer is grazing alone on the field you can sneak towards it when it has its head down and when it lifts its head to scout around you have to stand still, very still.

Watch the wind also so that the deer does not get scent of you. This way I have on an open field sneaked up to a roe deer as close as 25 meters. This will work with 2, perhaps 3 deer on the field but if there is more than that there will most likely all the time be one of them scouting, and sneaking up to them without any cover will be impossible.

This particular day we were actually driving to our private clay shooting range to train a little, when we from the car saw the buck grazing on a field beside the road leading to our piece of land.

I stopped the car but left the engine running on idle, a change of the background sound might have alerted the buck. Maud took her camera bag and cautiously left the car.

Just like when you carry a rifle it is best to make everything ready for the shot before you start sneaking.

Check everything, make sure the safety is on, take a deep breath and concentrate on the animal's movements, the wind and where you put your feet and start sneaking.

There is one advantage in carrying a camera instead of a rifle, you do not get that excited with the camera in your hands and hence you can do better with it than with the rifle.

There is no risk of wounding the animal because your hands are shaking from excitement and you will not notice your heartbeats in the viewfinder, as you will in the riflescope.

With a little patience shown in your sneaking the result will be the same either if you carry a camera or a rifle. You get a chance to a perfect broadside shot and that's what it all is about.

Now, such a stylish gentleman is of course expected to have company by a fair, pretty maiden. I do not think that this female is very much of a maiden but rather a middle age beauty with earlier experience of reproduction, in fact it could have a baby in the belly and would give birth at the end of May or beginning of June.

They can regulate the date of birth until the weather and other conditions are good enough, giving a fair chance for the kid to survive the first critical days after birth.

Now, if you do not shoot when given the chance the animal will eventually notice your presence, decide that you are a threat and take of with a few dignified leaps.

Quite often it will stop at the forest line to have a last, fast check of you. If you missed the first chance to pull the trigger, and have a good steady rest you can now finish it with a fast shot or just let it go.

Now to something entirely different.

Happy Eastern! - To start with.

There is a saying in Swedish, roughly translated it goes like this: "to have something on ones brain" when you are really excited by something, have a mania, like when a birddog gets excited by birds.

The expression has a touch of humour and can be a little degrading for the one who is concerned by it.

So here Briz is asking: "What you mean, do I have the birdie on my brain?", without knowing that Maud timed the photo-graphy with the movement of the cocks.