The choice of canine tracking companion is all yours
By Graham Brockhouse.
AS I write, the weather is not improving and on our estate the tracks and grass margins are becoming so waterlogged and churned up it makes it very difficult to get about. The fallow deer are starting to split into smaller bunches and the big bucks are away on their own recovering from their exertions during the rut.
I did see something interesting the previous day, though – a pricket serving a doe twice. We always have a few small fawns about and I often wonder if they are the result of a doe coming into season late and being served by an eager youngster.
We’ve been out after the does quite often as we need to get our cull target this year and the bad weather (theoretically) will be with us in the early part of next year. It’s getting harder to approach the deer in our area now as they are becoming very wary with all the game shooting in the vicinity and are constantly on the move, particularly in the open.
The past few days have been very difficult, and long awkward stalks have resulted in the deer just suddenly deciding to head for pastures new through no fault of the stalker. On the odd occasion we’ve been lucky enough to larder a beast but the one I’ve been after for a couple of weeks still manages to cross the boundary before I can shoot.
