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Writer's pictureOwen Beardsmore

Deer Talk: April

Updated: May 16

Hello all! It’s been a real wet and windy start to April, but one that has brought about early bluebells and primroses in our own woodlands. Our attention now switches from cull stalking to assessing our Roebucks as they clean off and establish their territories. It's always an exciting time of year, with new life springing into action everywhere you look! Here's some things we often consider this month...

 

Deer Talk / Things To Consider In April:

  1. In areas where you are managing a strong population of Roe, you may want to consider leaving some mature bucks that hold a larger territory and keep the infill of yearling bucks at bay. Remember to look for scrapes and fraying along woodland and compartment edges to help identify these territories.

  2. We’ve found being proactive at this time of the year helps for better success come late Spring/Summer. So, perhaps consider moving highseats out from thicker woodland and onto the field edges to take advantage of deer browsing stewardship.

  3. Be on the look out for any young bucks that are suitable cull animals as they are driven away by mature bucks.

  4. Watch out for any potential early Roe kids, and if you find any newborn do not touch them (even when they look as cute as they do). If they are in an area which will be cut for silage, pull up some handfuls of grass to cover your hands when you lift and move them to a safe position, only if essential.

  5. Red Stags and mature Fallow bucks will now be starting to shed their antlers, so don’t forget to check your mineral lick sites that there is a mineral block out for the Summer. If you want to continue on your cull, there’s always opportunities on Fallow prickets and buck fawns. 

Clear indications of fraying
 

Gear Talk: HQS Slim Suppressor

Since the start of the year we've been testing out a new moderator on our Merkel K5 (kipplauf), what with it being such a slender, compact rifle (weighing a mere 2.3kg) it was only fitting we paired it with a slimline silencer - in comes the HQS Slim suppressor! This mod weighs in at an impressive 293g with a noise reduction of 30+ dB and an overall length of 250mm (but only 154mm over barrel). It fits beautifully over the barrel and adds just the right length to be able to hold as you stalk, with gun front shoulder mounted facing up and forwards. At around £300 it’s lightweight, quality at a fair price and we have already put a few hundred rounds through it. We will keep you updated of it's use throughout the buck season of course!


The HQS Slim mod fits ideally over the barrel of the Merkel K5

 

What's New: Exciting Opportunity to join us Roebuck stalking!

Firstly, due to cancellation we have an opportunity for 2 clients for trophy Roebucks/Muntjac in the beautiful bluebell woods at end of this month! The dates are 29/04-02/05 with 6 outings (AM/PM) included, fully accompanied in Oxfordshire. Email me at owen@cervus-uk.co.uk for further details.

 

Who's heading to the The Stalking Show this weekend?! It looks set to be even bigger and better this year with a huge line-up of your favourite brands exhibiting! We've been over to the Staffordshire showground today and everything is certainly taking shape. Here's your REMINDER to save £5 and get your online tickets for only £15 before 6PM tonight. We'll be attending the show on the Saturday, so if you see us walking past say hello!

 

Below is a film we recently uploaded to our channel. In December last year (2023) we were kindly invited out to Sweden to join the Aimpoint Media Hunt to help launch the new Aimpoint Acro-C2 Orange red dot-sight, as well as testing other new brand partner products. Before we set out on the driven hunts, we were given a day of expert training from Erik Ås, Senior Training Manager at Aimpoint AB. This video documents (briefly) the incredible in-depth training we were given and hopefully you, the viewer, can perhaps pick up a few tips - if you're planning a driven hunt in the future!? Although we have experience driven shooting for many years, it was all self-taught. So to learn how to properly use a red dot sight was invaluable.. Remember to keep BOTH eyes open! ;-)



We hope you've enjoyed this April instalment of our monthly bitesize newsletter... see you in May and happy deer stalking!

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Guest
Apr 15

Great article! Appreciate the tip on holding off shooting the bigger bucks on your ground. All too often stalker's forget that these bucks actually do a lot of benefit in reducing deer numbers, due to holding larger territories, thus keeping the younger lads away.

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