[Music]
This week on Taylor's Travels I am stalking.
I have been stalking this ground for three years.
I am lucky in having a healthy population of fallow, muntjac and a few roe that I am
keeping safe.
There are basically two woods here, one on this side to the middle of the clearing and
generally what happens is that the deer will cross from one to the other.
So we will go up on this side and set up a high seat and wait for them to cross.
So we shall walk our way down there now very quietly.
We eventually reach the high seat and it is not long before I am down.
I have spotted a fallow deer in the flood plain behind us.
You can just see the fallow which has gone across there and that is the edge of the permission
so that is the next landowner through there.
So we will just walk up there and see if we can see where they have gone and see if there
are any more coming this way.
The white doe makes life a lot easier in spotting the herd.
Well the deer that are just on the other side of the boundary have just started to bed down
now so obviously are not moving anywhere for now.
So what we will do is go back up into the high seat and see what we can see.
There might be some muntjac or other deer around.
And with a bit of luck they will start to come back this way and we will catch up with
them later.
Another couple of visits up the high seat and the fallow move off and so do we.
The wood often offers up a muntjac or two and I have recently installed a trail camera
which has captured a few on the move.
I am hoping to bump into the original group of fallow, but instead we come across another
larger herd which we later discover has been spooked by some ploughing.
I am also pleased to see my roe about which are in their usual spot although I am a bit
worried I am missing a doe.
As the morning marches on it would seem that all we have done is spot the deer and not
shoot them.
But then our perseverance pays off and we find the herd with a buck.
They know something is up which is why we are taking it slowly.
I get myself up as high as I can on the sticks and wait for an opportunity.
I want an animal on its own, away from the rest of the herd.
We had the herd there.
There were lots of them they were all grouped together.
It is very hard to try and pick one out because they are all standing so close together.
We have also got so many eyes watching us so it is very difficult to see.
To try and get up and get into a position you can shoot safely, but also at the same
time shoot one and shoot the right one and shoot it cleanly.
So we have got one down.
The rest of the herd has gone.
We have reloaded.
It has gone down over there.
We should go and follow up on that now.
The shot is good.
The .308 has done its job.
Definitely dead, shot in the shoulder.
Came out a little bit far back there.
See it went in just there.
Drag it to the edge of the field and get some work done.
This is a youngish one.
She is in good condition.
It was a good one to take.
There is obviously plenty of them there.
So the whole point of being here and managing these deer is to keep their number down, or
numbers down.
As you can see we are surrounded by farmland and too many of them can cause lots of issues
for the farmer.
They can eat the crops.
Then they are actually lying in the crops.
They lie down in them and wreck them and this has not been a very good year for farming
because of the weather.
So it is all more important to keep these deer numbers down as much as possible.
Obviously you have to be control them and make sure the herds are properly managed to
make sure there is a good population of both males and females in there.
So today a good day to take a doe.
And you can see that everything is looking very healthy.
The liver just there.
B it of a fleck on there, but nothing that looks
too serious at all.
A very healthy animal, a very good one to take and that will actually go to the game
dealer and can go into the food chain and people can enjoy the venison that comes from
this so we are serving two purposes really.
We are looking after the deer herd and we are looking after the farmer as well but we
are also putting food into the food chain.
This is a free range deer and certainly not horse.
Of course I am using lead ammunition which is becoming a more pressing issue especially
in Europe with a big push towards alternatives.
Although there is some evidence from Europe and from America about lead getting into the
food chain and actually causing concern for both human health and for wildlife health.
It is very important to put things into perspective.
The Countryside Alliance along with FACE are monitoring the situation both in the UK and
in Europe to ensure that there isn't an overall lead ban and to make sure that any evidence
that is submitted is thoroughly scrutinised.
It might have taken a good few hours and miles, but I am really pleased we saw so many deer.
Altogether it has been a very enjoyable morning.