Session 3
We set out again that evening to another area which consisted of a series of meadows interspersed among the forested hills. The daily rains had made walking a bit slick, and there were a couple of steep spots where one person would hold out the shooting sticks in order to pull the next person up. But after a bit of slipping and sliding we made it to more solid ground and continued to walk and look for signs of deer. Eventually, we ended up on the edge of a wooded area with the three of us standing underneath a
Hochsizt or elevated shooting blind which overlooked a hayfield.
Have you ever had the feeling that you are being watched from behind?
Marius was the first to turn his head ever-so-slightly and noticed the buck. I also caught it out of the corner of one eye – it was a roe buck, it was bright red, it was absolutely
huge, and it was standing broadside while looking directly at us from no more than 30 meters away. The three of us stood stock-still, hardly daring to breathe let alone move. With Marius at my side and Stefan behind me, it was not possible to bring the rifle to bear without spooking the deer, so instead we just enjoyed the moment. Perhaps a minute or so later the buck must have decided that we were not to his liking and rushed back downhill through the woods, sounding the alarm as he fled. It was too slippery to follow without looking like the Keystone Cops, so we just let it go.
We resumed breathing. A fox worked its way through the meadow searching for its next meal, but we saw no more deer. Storm clouds were moving into the area though, and so we walked back down the hill towards the Patrol. We had driven perhaps halfway back to the cabin when eagle-eyed Stefan spotted a roe deer in a field on our right. We parked along the side of a modest paved road near a couple of old houses while Marius checked through the binoculars. It was a good buck. We grabbed the rifle and sticks and hurried along, screened by some shrubs.
The buck was feeding along the far edge of the field, with tall grass hiding all but the very top of its back. The vegetation was too high to attempt a spine shot, and at times it was difficult even to determine which direction the buck was facing. But from time to time the buck would raise its head to look around, and I suggested to Marius that a neck shot might be possible. A distinct squall line was now coming over the hills accompanied by frequent claps of thunder and bursts of lightning. Since I was holding what essentially amounted to a .300 caliber lightning rod, whatever we did would need to be done soon. Marius gave the go-ahead and as soon as the buck looked up again, I centered the crosshairs and squeezed the trigger. I lost sight of the buck while chambering a fresh cartridge, but both Marius and Stefan informed me that it had gone straight down.
The thunderstorm now being nearly upon us, Marius suggested that we wait at the road while he retrieved the buck. Presently a car approached but they did not seem to be concerned by the rifle-toting hunters waving them past on the narrow road. It is nice to hunt in a region where the locals look upon such chance encounters as just a normal part of everyday life!
Marius soon rejoined us holding the buck and although I didn’t get a good photo of the results, I can tell you that the .300 Win Mag had a devastating effect; fully half of the neck had been shot away. It’s no wonder that the buck had immediately dropped from view. We loaded it into the back of the vehicle and climbed aboard. There had been some periodic drizzle, but now it began raining in earnest. Back at the cabin, we completed the required paperwork and switched to the pickup truck for the drive back to our hotel. The rain was coming down in sheets now, accompanied by a hailstorm.
At the hotel we knocked (most of) the mud off us and cleaned up a bit prior to enjoying a late supper and a good night’s sleep. We would meet again on Sunday morning for our return to Cluj. It had been a successful hunt (excepting the loss of the second roe deer) but everything we experienced from HuntRomania had been First Class.