Going for Roe - Larry Weishuhn

“Shame the roe deer season is not open, will be another three weeks. That is a really good

buck!” said Pedro Alarcon as we glassed a hillside while hunting ibex. “His tines are long, as is

his main beam, and he is very massive. Notice how the coronas are big and look like they’re

grown together.” I sat enthralled watching the buck as he fed. I knew his velvet covered antlers

appeared bigger than they would be once the velvet came off, but still I could see he was a

monster, to say the least. It was at that moment I started planning a return to Spain after May 1

when the roe deer season opened.

I had first heard about roe deer as a mere youngster growing up in the Zimmerscheidt

Community just north of the Texas Gulf Coast. During World War II my dad’s twin brother had

been stationed in England where he learned about roe deer. He told a story about shooting a

little three-point per side buck, smaller in body than our local four-month old whitetail fawns to

feed their squad. In our school library I found photos of roe deer. There I read several stories

about hunting roe deer in Europe. Back then school libraries subscribed to guns, hunting and

fishing magazines for their students to read.

Those early stories and photos created within me a desire to someday travel to Europe to hunt

roe deer. At the time, I knew those were merely dreams, and likely something that would never

happen. But I could and did dream!

Fast forward to the last twenty years of the twentieth century. At the time I served on staff with

several shooting and hunting publications and freelanced to many others, as well as being

involved in numerous outdoor television shows, where Dallas Safari Club (www.biggame.org)

was always a sponsor. Through Swarovski Optiks I received an invitation to hunt roe deer in

England with Merwyn Manningham Buller, the Swarovski and Realtree Camo rep for much of

Europe. The hunt was fabulous. I shot two roe bucks, one was an ancient three by three, the

other had long beams and points. He was one of the best roe deer taken in England that year.

My hunt was filmed for an European outdoor television shows, “Seasons”. A dream was

realized, but it also hooked me on hunting the small European deer.

My next hunt of roe deer occurred in Sweden with Scandinavian Prohunters

(www.scandinavianprohunters.com) owned by Stefan and Sofia Bengtssen, with whom I have

hunted for a variety of European big game; reindeer in Norway, red stag in Sweden and

Scotland, fallow deer in Denmark, roe deer and waterfowl in Sweden and recently muntjac and

Chinese water deer in England. As this is being written I have a 3-nation roe deer hunt hunt

planned for May, 2026 in Sweden, Poland and Scotland with Scandinavian Prohunters.

Back in Spain with La Pedriza (www.cazagestion.com), before returning to Texas after a

successful Beceite and Southeastern ibex hunt, I made arrangements to return for roe deer.

Three weeks later I was in route to the Madrid airport. Upon arrival I cleared customs then met

Pedro. Unlike my recent ibex hunt where I brought my Ruger No. 1 chambered appropriately in

.275 Rigby, this time I chose to use one of Pedro’s rifles, a 7x57 Mauser, aka .275 Rigby. In route

to the hunting area, we stopped at a gun store where I was able to buy a box of Hornady’s

Custom 140-grain Interlock ammo.

A couple of hour’s drive later, Pedro and I checked in at a most comfortable bed and breakfast

home. Minutes later we headed to a nearby field where we set up a target at 100 meters.

Thankfully the older Mauser 98 was dead on with the Hornady ammo.

Pedro suggested we take a tour of the nearby hunting area; greenfield and stands of adjacent

forests. We took the rifle, just in case we found a buck of interest. Pedro commented, “Being

middle of the day, I really do not expect to see much in the way of roe deer. Mostly they move

early in the morning and late in the afternoon.” I reminded Pedro the full moon would be

shining all night long, and, if roe deer were anything like whitetails back home, it would not

surprise we if we indeed did see several deer during the middle of the day.

After a quick bit of lunch and twenty minutes later we were driving a two-track road adjacent to

a field 200-yards wide, bordered by a stand of trees and thick underbrush. Our road was

alongside the field which seemed to continue on for a couple of miles.

“Three deer up ahead not far off the brush line. I think two may be bucks.” I said to Pedro as we

came around a curve so we could see several hundred yards ahead. Pedro stopped the car.

While I looked through binoculars, Pedro set up his spotting scope.

After a few moments he said, “Two bucks, one is a good mature deer, three points per side,

decent length and mass, certainly worth trying to take.” He backed up and suggested we try to

stalk within reasonable shooting distance.

I stepped out of the vehicle and loaded four rounds into the Mauser, grabbed my shooting

sticks and fell in behind Pedro as we walked toward the feeding deer.

Taking advantage of trees and brush along the side of the road, we soon cut the distance to a

hundred and twenty-five yards. I sat down, adjusted shooting sticks to the proper height, then

got behind the .275 Rigby. “Better buck is on the left, standing mostly broadside, facing toward

our left.”

My crosshairs started settling on the buck’s vitals. I pushed the safety to fire, took a couple of

deep breaths, then let out all the air in my lungs. The crosshairs were solidly on target when I

gently pulled the trigger. I saw my buck fall, but quickly cycled the the bolt and got right back on

the now fallen buck. If he tired to rise, I was going to shoot him again. He did not so much as

even twitch. Hornady had again fulfilled its promise of accurate, deadly, dependable.

At my buck’s side, I could not have been more pleased. He indeed had three points per side,

with decent tine length and mass. And, his cape was a beautiful gray, different in color from the

roe deer I had taken in England and Sweden, or seen in Austria. We took photos, then Pedro

walked back to the vehicle to.

We took my buck back to “camp”. Part of our agreement with the bed and

breakfast/landowner was once the deer was taken it belonged to him, other than antlers/skull

and headskin.

All properly taken care of Pedro and I continued hunting. My goal was to possibly take three roe

deer bucks. We spent the rest of the afternoon looking for a bigger buck. So doing we saw a lot

of does and bucks of equal and lesser size than the one I had taken. Visiting with Pedro I knew

Spain, particularly the area we hunted, produced some extremely big antlered roe deer.

Just before dark, a long way away, we saw a huge, massive buck. We started our stalk, but

before we could get within 400-yards of him he disappeared into the trees. We waited until it

was too dark to see. “Tomorrow morning, we’ll start in this area.” Suggested Pedro.

That night we enjoyed a true feast of foods, including numerous area delicacies and a sampling

of the region’s excellent red wines. Before heading to bed that evening we checked the local

weather forecast. Earlier we had heard there was a severe winter storm heading our direction.

Although I did not understand the weather forecaster’s words in Spanish, I did see the radar

map of the approaching storm bringing with it a dire forecast of heavy snows and ice

throughout the region. The storm should arrive in our area the following noon.

“If the storm is as bad as they predict, we only have the morning to hunt. Once it gets here the

roads will be impassable for several days. I suggest we hunt for a couple of hours in the

morning, then get you back to Madrid to a hotel near the airport. Otherwise you’ll likely not

able to get back to the airport in time for your plane two days from now.” Not what I wanted to

hear, but certainly appreciated and understood.

After a restless night, I was ready to go, suitcase packed, when Pedro knocked on my door at

five. Fresh fruit, delicious homemade bread, and a couple extremely strong cups of coffee and

we headed to the hunting grounds.

Because of heavy cloud cover first light came grudgingly. Soon as we could see any distance we

spotted five roe deer including two bucks. “The biggest is on the far right. He’s old, has three

points on his left and two on his right. I know you were hoping to see the buck we saw at dark

last night, but if you pass this one we may not be able to find one better. As you can see the

weather is quickly getting worse, earlier than predicted.” By then it had started raining and the

temperature was quickly dropping.

“He’s perfect!” I replied. We started walking fast, using the tree-line for cover and soon cut the

distance to 150-yards. I sat down, adjusted my shooting sticks, rested the 7x57 in their crux,

pushed safety to fire, then started settling down for the shot. After a couple of deep breaths,

the crosshairs locked on the buck’s vitals. I pulled the trigger. The buck dropped. I cycled the

bolt, fresh round ready to go if the buck moved. He did not.

The rain quit momentarily as the wind increased. We took advantage of the rain lull taking

photos of my buck. The rain started falling again heavier than before. We loaded my buck, then

headed to the property’s headquarters. There we quickly caped, skinned and garroted my buck.

Rain, by then had been replaced by sleet. A few miles down the road we drove into a blizzard.

Snow fall was so heavy we could scarcely see the road heading to a hotel near the Madrid

airport. According to Pedro who was listening to the car radio, roads were being closed behind

us.

We arrived in Madrid as the storm was hitting there. Pedro dropped me off at a hotel then

quickly left in hopes of getting home to his family before the storm caused more roads to be

closed.

I had a warm dry and comfortable place to stay. There was an excellent restaurant in the hotel

and two days before my flight back to Texas. I hoped by the time I was scheduled to leave

Madrid planes would once again be flying. Thankfully they were.

My roe deer trip to Spain had been a quick one. I had hoped to take three bucks, ended up with

two, but could not have been more pleased. Pedro had done an admirable job in every way.

One of these days I hope to return to hunt roe deer with him once again.