Raising the bar

James Sutcliffe hails quality over quantity as the only August specimen is a new roe record

August has somewhat defied my expectations in terms of the measuring. What I thought would be a bumper month, brimming with wonderful specimens, instead yielded only one head.

However, don’t be put off, as it’s very much a case of quality over quantity. The simple reason for this is that the lone head submitted to us turned out to be the largest roe head we have measured — topping out at a massive 260.3 points.

This platinum-medal head smashes the previous largest I have on record by a staggering 58 points.

Weight and volume

Taken on a private estate in Hampshire by a deer manager who would prefer not to be named (hence the A Stalker listing), this head showcases the features that make a roe head score so highly, with enormous weight and volume.

This got me looking into the records to check how often these monsters appear. Rather predictably, there were a lot more being measured in the early years of the measuring service, possibly because people didn’t know where to get them assessed before this.

More interesting to me was looking at the locations of some of the larger roe deer that have come through our doors. The strongholds of Wiltshire, Hampshire and Somerset have always been known to produce goodquality heads, but over the past few years there have been a number of seriously impressive roe deer coming from unexpected locations.

Some of the northern counties, such as Lancashire and even Northumberland, have begun yielding some stunning heads. Likewise, north of the border, some of the lesser-known Scottish areas are starting to routinely produce good-quality heads.

So, what is the secret to having quality roe deer on your ground? Number one is fairly simple — careful and proper deer management. Some would argue that all we do as stalkers is set out to shoot everything in sight, but this is far from the truth.

Taking the deer that need to be taken to ensure the continued health of the population is the foundation of managing any deer species. Add to that some fantastic habitat, plentiful food and shelter, a healthy dose of patience and more than a little good fortune, and

“This platinum head smashes the record by a staggering 58 points”

you may find that there are still some monsters out there.

Many thanks to the stalker for letting us get hands-on with an amazing example of a roe head. We hope to see more of late summer’s fine medal beasts very soon.

If you have a head you would like to submit for measurement, or require more information, email BASC’S deer team at deer@basc.org.uk

The head’s hugely impressive weight and volume earned it a platinum medal and a record score