A bit of a drag - A Roe Buck Stalk 3 8 24

Another still, balmy and midgey night. I'd already been around the outside of the shoot and seen a doe and what appeared to be a doe and kid over the boundary, but no immediate sign of rutting activity. Headed to the lower side of the shoot where there are a series of steep gulleys. Spotted this lad after doing a bit of calling with the buttalo. He wasnt so much excited by the call, more inquisitive. He stood looking at me for a good while without making any effort to break cover. A low neck shot followed by a long drag uphill back to the vehicle. The undergrowth is serious just now, not offering much opportunity for spying or shot placement. The camera doesn't really tell the full story, the brambles and bracken more often waist to head height, and the heather in most places is a couple of feet deep with hidden traps like turned over tree root plates. Most of my enjoyment is being able to take my little black lab Molly with me, but unfortunately she is starting to struggle a little bit now as she's nearly ten years old, and with the disadvantage of short legs for a lab :(