Morning Pursuit Of A Woodland Bounty

Tom Sykes ventures out at dawn for a winter stalk with a friend in search of a suitable roe doe that will grace the table in the New Year

I stood in the lay-by, staring up at the stars in the predawn sky, sub-zero temperatures catching my breath as I awaited the arrival of my friend James. Grasping my morning coffee tight to keep the biting cold of the sharp northerly wind at bay, I wondered why I had left the comfort of my warm bed. The job in hand was a morning stalk on the local roe doe population, as James had been tasked with controlling the numbers on this piece of ground.

We geared up under the illumination of head torches as the dawn light began to creep over the nearby easterly hills. James harnessed his binoculars, swung his rifle on to his back and grabbed his stalking sticks as we climbed the first gate stealthily to begin the stalk.

This particular ground is a large plantation that is surrounded by a largely ineffective deer fence. We knew there would be deer in there, but we needed to spot them before they were alerted to our presence. We stalked around the perimeter to keep the wind in our favour and headed to a clearing that would receive the early morning sun, which we believed would provide the best chance of finding a suitable doe.

En route to the clearing, James caught a glimpse of some likely silhouettes in the frosty undergrowth. We used the dusky light levels and contours of the land to outflank the deer by heading around the back of the hill to keep our approach out of sight of the unsuspecting quarry.