Being able to travel abroad to hunt is a first for me, as I predominately hunt mule deer and whitetails in Nebraska. I had the pleasure to hunt roe deer in the UK with Mike Robinson, an amazing chef and host of the show Farming the Wild, alongside his gamekeeper Warren Broad in June.

This opportunity was presented as my dad is the marketing director for Hornady and with that, he does a lot of work with Mike, who is sponsored by the company. Over the years they have become good friends. Mike was kind enough to let me stay in his home for a week and pursue a roebuck. The first night in we ate great food, socialized, and prepared for the hunt in the morning.

As morning came, it was raining as usual for Britain. We headed to where Warren saw a trophy buck recently. Raining still, we made our way to a small meadow which presented no signs of life and continued our route. I saw my first muntjac and fallow deer which was very interesting as they just stood and stared at Warren’s dog, which he later explained is useful in many situations. They use them as a distraction to keep attention off you making movement less crucial. He also stated that he will make a dog sit in a location and leave it there so he can make a stalk in a less than ideal situation. They are also useful for locating deer, and for tracking shot animals.

High canopies of trees and short undergrowth was a big help when locating roe deer hidden to us with a thermal monocular. Using a thermal to spot an animal is completely foreign to me, as they aren’t often used in the States, other than for hunting feral pigs and coyotes at night. Having this tool at their disposal is game changing. It makes stalking more time efficient, meaning covering an area is faster and makes spooking these animals less likely.

The first property didn’t produce as expected, so we drove to another location not too far away. We made our trek once again and glassed up a tall wheat field which had been used often by a good roebuck. As it happens, a mature roebuck was browsing through the field.

As we approached a cut-off point at a bottom of the field, which this buck was using to travel to the neighboring property, he suddenly decided to run in the opposite direction for no apparent reason, which Mike said was quite strange. However, the buck just made it easier for us to get closer to him.

We noticed he was feeding along a stone wall in the middle of the field, making him blind to the route we needed to use to get to him. We made a large loop along the field edge until we reached a point where the buck would be able to see us. We used a tractor trail scarred through the field as an easier way to get close, without making an obscene amount of noise and staying dry. We walked crouched over for about 20 to 30 yards, glassed, and continued this pattern until Warren noticed the buck had spotted us and was likely to spook if we went further. Unlike whitetails, roe deer have quite a hard time picking apart details in people, which gave me ample time to put the rifle on the sticks and take aim.

Warren mentioned earlier that most shots at this time of year are in the neck, due to high vegetation, this was no exception. He was slightly quartering, so I put the crosshairs where I thought was slightly inside the shoulder, squeezed the trigger and he fell where he once stood.

Using the new Hornady CX 110 grain bullet in 308, it provided itself, tearing a lung apart and a piece of the heart with it and didn’t give him much of a chance. Not having to track an animal is always a pleasure, although it wouldn’t be much work with a dog accoupling us. Going on my first stalk was quite a learning experience, they use many different tactics than we do in the States. Learning different tactics other countries use for a variety of game is a great experience, and could be carried over back home.

We all enjoyed a venison steak from the buck harvested only a few hours before. I will say, they are more tender than a whitetail, and as good a steak as any. Over the next several days we ate well, had a lot of fun, and I got to learn a lot about the area’s rich history.