[Music]
In fieldsports channel towers Roy is known as "the postman",.. he always delivers - this
morning he hasn't got a little red van but a six wheel beast which has been defying physics
in the highlands of scotland as he hunts blue hares with his eagles.
He's on his round on his ground in Sussex.
He has a little flash around for some foxes but the first stop is going to be fallow does.
I've not done any doe culling for quite a while so I've been away in Scotland flying
the birds so really have got to get cracked on with the doe cull because it is getting
on in the season so hopefully we can catch up with a few this morning.
We have got Dom with us this morning so we've got a second gun, so what we are going to
do is try and position Dom in some of the places as we stalk through if any deer break
through then Dom will have a chance for a shot or two as they come through from the
spinneys, so fingers crossed we will give it a go.
Although he's on parkland - the fences are no more and the herds here are transient.
He'd like to take about five out of the local population.
The only problem we have got this morning is where we are going into is very difficult
to get into by foot you've got to go across a stream so the distraction to the deer if
we do get one is always a problem, so that's why we have brought the argo this morning,
so if we do get a few then we will have the means of getting them out.
Dom is here as well - which could be interesting - If Roy is "the postman" Dom is postman pat.
You are going to be filming with Roy so which one of us is the jinx?
It will be an interesting scientific experiment to find out whether you are the reason or
I am the reason we never get anything.
My money is on you.
Roy has a good idea where the deer will be and positions Dom to cover the exit point
if we spook them.
As hoped the deer are in a spinney across the bridge but they don't hang about.
We crawl across the broken bridge - Roy lighting the way with his cheeks.
The plan has worked in reverse and Dom has pushed 2 does our way - Roy shoots and for
a change the young doe runs...
The group we initially spotted takes flight.
Time to do some fieldwork and follow the blood trail.
We find the doe under a fallen branch..
You normally find a good constant trail so where we are here we've got a fantastic out
shot a lot of blood where she stood for a while and then she has run.
On fallow you can lose the blood quite easily as they move around the muscle can cover up
the exit wound and then you can lose the blood as it pulls into their chest cavity, but as
I said she is not going to be far.
We find the doe under a fallen branch.
She's just laying down there so you can see that if we hadn't followed the blood we would
have really struggled to find her so especially the way she has laid if they have laid and
their white under belly is showing towards you the same as when you are rabbit shooting
at night they are easy to find, but if they are laid the other way from you like she is
there just tucked in it's incredibly difficult to see them sometimes.
There we go, absolutely nothing wrong with the shot there it was obviously just when
her adrenaline was up where she had been spooked by Dom and came onto the bank there.
She just had enough to stand there and then tottered away down here not more than 50 yards,
but when you've got the cover like the bracken and fallen trees it can be very difficult
to find them, they can be right under your nose but you still can't see them.
Again it's always a good idea if you have got one to bring a dog with you even with
perfect shots because it can take you a long time to find the carcasses in conditions like
this if you haven't got a back up.
Dom joins us - and looks a bit sheepish..
Humble pie anyone?
I don't want to talk about it.
Dom takes the strain and get to grips with the young doe.
Roy is keen for another so we head off to a different part of the estate.
We spot deer immediately but they're not on our ground - another 50 yards and for a change
the deer come to us...
The camera remains standing but Roy and Dom hit the deck - 3 animals are just yards away
in what appears to be a great shooting position but all the boys can see are rear ends.
We follow up slowly - and still they remain tricky to nail down... then they evaporate
and we soon find out why - a dog walker in woodland with no footpaths - Roy is firm but
fair.
Hello, hi there please could you refrain from walking your dog through here, it is not a
foot path and it's very dangerous as there is a lot stalking activity goes on in here.
Sorry, I didn't know.
This isn't a footpath here at all, so it's incredibly dangerous to walk through these
parts of the woods, because there is a lot of shooting going on.
Roy is firm but fair.
The other thing is could you keep the dogs on leads because we have had a lot deer killed
by dogs.
She can't catch the deer.
What they do is run them against fences and then kill them against the fences even stressing
them because they are pregnant now, so if they get chased about a lot it damages them.
Although she said her dog wouldn't kill deer that dog was perfectly capable of chasing
the deer and running them up against the fences and causing damage.
Obviously as the season progresses, the does are pregnant at the moment, another month
or two and they are going to be very heavily pregnant and if they start to get chased around
like that it's going to cause a lot of damage to the future generations of deer what we've
got in here, so yeah, you feel you are banging your head against a brick wall sometimes,
so you have just got to try and put your point across and hope that eventually it sinks in.
With our stalk spoiled and it's such a glorious morning Roy feels it's just right for a squeek.
He lets rip with the silva fox - 8 minutes later and bang we have a very close observer.
Dom takes his chance.
I heard you whispering the other side of the tree which was blocking my view and then when
he ran in he stopped obviously Roy trying to get him to stop on the call and yes, a
lot closer than I was expecting.
That fox just appeared to my right hand side here, he came up behind us and made us, I
didn't want to move until we got the camera on it and I was hoping he'd move off and we
would get a chance to squeeze the trigger and Dom did a super job as the fox just crossed
our line down the bottom here, I was trying to stop him but he was just moseying through,
he had slowed down a bit, but as this one appeared and the shot went off there was another
fox coming up from the bottom, just making its way through the thick bramble there so
obviously with that report going off it's unlikely he would have come anyway.
That was a fantastic call he really came in close on that one.
So it looks good.
Time to recover that deer with the Argo - to increase the stakes it's going to be a water
born extraction.
I've got to do me bungs up to get back across the river.
Why don't we use the bridge Roy?
Shut up!
[Laughter]
That's one for the Christmas ...
A successful and eventful morning - and even though there are bridges everywhere Roy and
Dom seem to enjoy making the most of it.
If you'd like to find out more about the argocat go to www.argocat.com