A roe buck!

Our roe deer have got quite hard life, almost every day he hears that he is a deer’s wives. I wonder what he thinks about it, which according to the definition is supposed to be a doe husband and a father of fawn.

There is no problem with recognition of species and sex for hunters. Both domestic and foreign who visit our hunting ground for paid hunting knows exactly what is what. But not only the foreign hunters are paying for hunting. It can also be a local hunter, who, due to the lack of a given game, are moving around country, or going to other country in search of hunting experiences and trophies. All you need to do is open a web browser and find out where and what we can hunt for: Poland, Africa, Russia, Finland, New Zealand, Canada, Greenland and other countries that are open to everyone with the specific budget and hunting license. Of course, it may turn out that we will return with such a lot more expenses than we planned, because the trophy turned out to be stronger than we anticipated before leaving. It may also be that we will be in a panic, in an atmosphere of scandal.

There is a post on one of Facebook’s groups, written by a very well-known Polish photographer, describing the situation from a Polish hunting ground. In a nutshell – a medalist, 10-year-old roe buck, inspiring to the record, had been shot from the hands of a foreign hunter. The trophy leaves the fishery the following day. After a few days almost, everyone in Poland known about this hunt. There is no trophy evaluation system (CIC), and Polish Hunting Association is taking action to clarify and bring to justice those who violated the regulations on the valuation of hunting trophies. There are no objections to this issue – the valuation should take place. However, it is not the lack of CIC valuation that hurts the most.

Apparently, the roe buck was shot without proper recognition, in a hurry and without the consent of the leader. Comments from the Facebook under the photo confirm in the belief that it could be an outstanding roe buck: „super strong one”, „a miracle”, or ” a national heritage”. Some wrote: „scandal”, „sadness”, „regret” and can’t believe how it happened, that someone from outside the country could pull the trigger.

What if we put emotions aside and look at this matter from a different point of view.

Foreign hunter sits in front of his computer. Searching offers of hunting adventures in Poland, where most of them write about „attractive hunting grounds and record trophies”, places for „connoisseurs looking for old deer with strong antlers”, „lux category roe bucks” Hunting grounds or trophies which „Meets the requirements of even the most demanding hunters”.

From his friends he heard, that these offers are not a joke, and recommend him to be convinced with his own eyes. So, he Send a question through the contact form. The feedback comes soon, with price and contract attached. The cost is big, so he believes on what he read will turn out to be true. It is a demanding, fastidious hunter, looking for a buck from the lux category, such a truly record-breaking one.

He comes to a country, and from the day zero he hears that he could not find a better place, and that the bucks are beautiful and strong. The first day passes, the second one passes, and the roe bucks are quite usual.

They are as it was written, but he did not pay for such bucks. He has similar at home, and this is not the trophy of his dreams. He is a premium customer, he paid and want to have special one. Local hunter promise, that he will shot the really strong one.

They are trying to use different methods – hunter’s box, stalking, even driving. They change the areas and the client gets impatient. He shows on the calendar and complains that there is no promised roe deer.

Finally, there is a really perfect roe buck. He read about him on the website, he heard about it from the first minutes of hunt. He knows that he dreamed about that and paid for it. Local hunter turns off the engine, and the foreigner jumps out of the car and shoots, not expecting that it could be wrong. It’s the roe buck! He dreams about him! He waited for him since he booked the date.

Happy expects congratulations, knowing that he has what he came for, what he was promised, what he paid for.

While admiring the record, he sees that something is wrong, someone with a camera and a big lens runs up. The atmosphere gets uncomfortable, they speak quickly in a foreign language. He did not even send photos to friends. Should he expect police?  

In the evening he returns to hunter’s club place, but something is still wrong. He calls his friends, and they suggest a quick return saying that there might be something wrong with Poles. He decides to leave before something bad happens to him. He takes the trophy and returns to his country. He does not trust these people. He does not know what’s going on, and he does not want to risk staying here any longer. Passing the border, he feels lucky. He will remember this trip as strange, but fortunately successful. He returned with the promised outstanding roe buck, it’s a pity he did not manage to valuate him.

Well, I really do not know how it was, and I made up the perspective of the foreigner. I am probably too idealist, but it really could look that way! From the point of view of the client, the local hunter did a beautiful job, and thanx to him he hunted a magnificent roe deer just as he read on the web pages. The different issue is how it happened.

We are very surprised on the way of hunting, the fact that the local hunter did not do anything and that he did not predict the shot, but seriously – no one predict such situation? Local guy really doesn’t know about such strong roe buck? It was not foreseen that the foreign will want to shoot for such a trophy? We know why hunters come to foreign hunting. They shoot a lot, very strong game, often not afraid of costs, because they can afford it.

I know, it hurts when someone else pulls the trigger, it hurts that it is not me but someone from abroad hunt for it. It hurts that such a trophy left the country. It hurts that he was not immortalized in the pictures, but this man came here exactly for such trophy. At the very beginning, he read about medal roe buck and he hunted exactly what he wants. He paid for it, bought it, so he has it.

The fact that there is no valuation is a completely different problem and this should be solved, so that such situations never happen again.

The author writes that it is not such a form, not such content. Unfortunately, exactly this form and this content – content from the site, offers, announcements and promises. Do not be surprised that this happened, because there was no other way for this roe buck. It did not have to be Poland, it did not have to be a hunter from abroad. It could have been a hunter’s case from Poland on African soil. After all he paid so he required.

Happy Hunting!