Life on the range
“I sat in the shelter of a tall blackthorn hedge and let my surroundings swallow me up”
I’ve been noticing roe deer in all kinds of unexpected places. As we approach midsummer, the does have moved away from their normal haunts to drop their kids and the bucks are suddenly obvious in their red summer coats. It’s a sign of the changing year, just as larger gangs of five or six winter-coated deer often seem like a symbol of January or February.
Most bucks in Galloway were clean by the first week of May and several have turned out with excellent heads after a mild winter. I have my eye on one or two of these boys that I’ll aim to catch after the rut, but there’s also a fair measure of tidying up the young, the old and unexceptional before the end of July.
