Every serious US hunter have been heard about roe buck hunting in Europe. But let see the countries where you can hunt these beautiful animals.
I will focus on the quality of the trophies, prices and the experience overall.
Before I start, I want to explain a very important thing to US hunters. In Europe, the trophy fees are charged by the size following a sliding scale. That means you pay more money for a bigger trophy.
There are 2 ways of charging trophy fees:
First, is by the weight.
Second, is by the points of CIC system, non medal trophy is that much, a bronze medal is that much, a silver medal is that much and a gold medal is that much.
It sounds complicated, isn’t it?
If you offer me 3 minutes from your time to read next paragraph, I will explain everything and I will give you some tips of what you have to pay attention and what you have to ask your outfitter before booking a roe buck hunting.
Paying by the weight of the trophy. That mean the outfitter or guide will boil the skull. We weight the skull with the antlers but WITHOUT the lower jaw!
A very important question to ask your outfitter is:
THE TROPHY FEE IS FOR BRUTTO OR FOR NETTO WEIGHT OF THE TROPHY?????
What the hell is brutto and netto weight? you will ask…
It is easy. The brutto weight is the trophy weight without the lower jaw, 24 hours after boiling.
The netto weight is the brutto weight minus 90 grams.
So, if the brutto weight of the trophy will be 490 grams than the netto weight will be …400 grams.
Why they charge by weight? Because CIC measurement system is based on the weight primary. But the overall formula is very complicated. Plus is depending on the person who measure. The system have beauty points and penalty points.
Why this difference between brutto and netto. Because CIC requires and I quote: Roe Deer antlers must have a dry out period (after preparation) of at least 30 days before evaluation.
From the experience, the total loss of a trophy after at least 30 days is…yes …90 grams.
I hope is clear now for all US hunters but also for European hunters as well.
Coming back to the countries that have good hunt for roebucks in Europe.
- Poland
Without any doubts Poland is the most popular destination in Europe for roe buck hunting. And the cheapest! Number of roe deer in Poland is very high, almost 900000 animals with a surface of approximately 312,696 km2 (120,733 sq mi). To give you a general idea Spain is 1.6 times bigger than Poland.
What to be liked in Poland: prices and the abundance of game. As trophy size, they only have average trophies. I am talking about most of the Polish outfitters are offering 300 to 400 grams. Size of the hunting areas are very generous, like in Romania, starting with 7 000 hectares. They have fenced areas but most of the outfitters are offering free range animals. I am not seeing that they don’t have areas with medal trophies, but those areas are rare. If you are a strong trophy hunter, Poland should not be on top your list. How is the landscape of the hunting areas? Poland literally means “The Land of Fields” and it comes from the word “pole” meaning “a plain/a field”. So, it is a flat area with agriculture land and plenty of forests.
How good are the hunting guides? I only hunted one time in Poland as a normal client. Maybe 10 years ago or even more. 2 different areas and 2 local guides. Both of them looks very knowledgeable of the hunting grounds and the habit of the roebucks but they both smoke and drink during the hunt and I didn’t like that too much.
Roebuck season in Poland: 11.05. – 30.09
- UK
When you say big game hunting in UK, the first thing that pop up in my mind is roe buck. I hunted in England for chinese water deer and muntjack 8 years ago, maybe more, and I can tell the number of roe deer is quite good. If in Poland most outfitters have similar prices here in England you will find price from relatively cheap to very expensive. Especially for big trophies. If you search deep enough you will find outfitters charging from 50 to 100 pounds for an outgoing and something like 200 or 300 pounds for a 6 pointer, a representative buck
Now what is a 6 pointer?
A point is each tine on the antler, including the brow tine, which sticks straight up near the base of the antlers. So, a 6 pointer buck is a buck with 3 points on each antler. This is the most common size of a roe buck trophy.
Of course, the price can go up very high if the trophy is medal class. I guess a gold medal roebuck in England for foreign hunters will be around 2500 euro. Even more for reputable outfitters that have advertising costs that will reflect in the cost of the trophy fees.
Size of the trophies is good and shape of the bucks is very nice.
Landscape is very beautiful, everything is green, roads are very cozy and nice. I personally prefer savage and wild areas, I had the feeling that I was hunting in a botanical garden:-). But overall the experience is one of a kind. The guides are good and very knowledgeable.
Roebuck season In England: 01.04. – 31.10
- Spain
For many years, Spain was THE European destination for most US hunters. Excellent services, great variety of wild animals, professional outfitters, friendly people, great food, accessible terrain for old hunters. But those comes with a price: a high one!
Probably on of the highest trophy fee rates for big roe bucks but also for representative trophies. A gold medal can easily go to 4000 euro or even more.
Among the many regions that Spain have, Castilla y León, Castilla la Mancha and Aragón are the territories with better genetics and produce a much better quality. Every year they harvest some exceptional trophies in these areas and currently, Castilla la Mancha holds the biggest roe buck of all times with a total score of 250 CIC points and 925 gr.
Number of roe deer is very good and normally you have the opportunity to shoot at least one animal per outting. Of course if you are looking for big and very big ones is more difficult but outfitters for roe buck hunting are very good in Spain.
Spain is a big country and the landscape of the hunting areas can vary from arid ground in South to green areas in North of the country.
Also hunting season for roe buck hunting is different from one region to another.
Roughly the season start on 1 of April and ends on 31 October with a break in whole August.
- France
I must admit that I do not have experience with roe buck hunting in France. During my holiday vacation I have seen many roe deer is France and of course, I discuss this with outfitters and clients from France while they were here in Romania for hunting another species. Based on that I can say that France is an underrated destination for roe bucks hunters. Not only for the high numbers of bucks and quality of the trophies but also for affordable prices. Of course, top notch outfitters will have a high price for trophy fees but if you search enough, you will find plenty of very good offer over the internet. Landscape is very beautiful, and the food is absolutely delicious. If you combine all these, you will have a perfect family vacation. The only minus I see in France roebuck hunting is the late season. 1 June is the first hunting day.
- Sweden
If you google info about roebuck hunting in Sweden, you will find the very few information and most of them are very general and vague…
But one thing is for sure, Sweden have one of the best trophy quality population of roebuck in Europe and of course, the whole world.
As normal, the best hunting grounds are in South of Sweden in a soft agriculture areas. The hunting areas are ok as surface, somewhere between 1000 to 5000 hectares, decent for a good population management I will say. What I find very interesting in Swedish roebuck trophies is the beautiful and somehow different shape from east European roebuck trophies. Swedish bucks trophies have very long antlers and more pearling.
Prices for roebuck hunting in Sweden are high, similar with reputable outfitters prices from Spain. The problem is that you will not find many outfitters from Sweden that offers roebuck hunting. I guess this is because of the very strange and short hunting season for roebucks in Sweden. The Hunting Season starts 15th of August!!!!! |That means AFTER the rut, the worst time for hunting. The bucks are recovering from a long and exhausting efforts in the rut and they are not active during the day time.
- Hungary
Along with Spain, Hungary is probably the most renowned countries among US hunters. Even it is a relatively a small country, they have strong hunting tradition and a very prolific advertising system. A good management of big and small game population made Hungary famous.
Hunting areas are generous and hunting guides are very professionals. Trophy fees are higher that Romania and much higher than Poland. A good outfitter will ask probably as much as a good one in Spain or at least closer prices.
Hunting season start too early in my opinion, on 15th of April until 30th of September, therefore many buck have part of the velvet on the antlers and they have some of the winter coat, not good a shoulder mount.
Some of the best hunting grounds for roe bucks are in the Hungarian Puszta, in south-eastern part of Hungary, near Romania. The characteristic landscape is composed of treeless plains, saline steppes and salt lakes, and includes scattered sand dunes, low, wet forests and freshwater marshes along the floodplains of the rivers.
7 Romania
Last but definitely, not least, Romania, my country!
From the beginning I want to say that all info about roe buck hunting in Romania by no way a marketing tactic is just my personal view of things after 35 years of hunting here and spending time in the hunting grounds for all my life.
First of all, the hunting areas are the largest in Europe, with minimum 7500 hectares for each hunting area, but most of our hunting areas are bigger than 10000 hectares. In Romania, you will find roe deer from flat areas in the south to hilly and even sub-mountain areas in middle of the country. Trophy fees are little higher that Poland but smaller that Hungary, our main competitors when we talk about roebuck hunting in Europe. The hunting season start on 1 of May, when antlers are already clean and the cape is in decent condition for a shoulder mount and last until 15 of October.
Best time is the whole month of may and last week of July, first week of August when bucks are in rut time. The advantage of 2 more weeks, comparing with Poland and Hungary) is vital for US hunters in my opinion. This way you can have a trip with multiple species, like red stag, fallow buck and chamois.
The highest density of roe deer is in West of Romania, in county as Arad, Timis or Bihor. They also have good quality of the trophies but also some of the higher prices for trophy fees. You will find strong trophies in middle of the country also or in South.
For more interesting info about roebuck hunting please read also our article here:
https://www.romaniahuntingoutfitters.com/interesting-facts-about-roe-bucks-hunt-in-romania-when-where-and-how/
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