Roe-ing Europe

Larry Weishuhn

Stefan Bengtsson and I were sitting in his DSC Atlanta booth looking at photos of the roe deer his clients had taken during the last couple of years. “We’ve had a couple of really good years when it comes to roe bucks.” Commented my friend who with his gracious and beautiful wife, Sofia owns Scandinavian Prohunters. “Stefan, from what I remember and what I’ve seen y’all have great years every year when it comes to roe deer, but also the myriad of other European big game, game birds, waterfowl and fishing.”  He rightfully smiled. “Tell me about our upcoming three-nations roe deer hunt.” I hesitated then said, “On second thought hold off on doing that until I can get Mark and Carol Little over here.”  With that I excused myself and called Mark and Carol who had bought Scandinavian Prohunter’s gracious donation to our 2025 DSC Foundation Gala, a three nations roe deer hunt, hunting in Sweden, Poland and Scotland.

Mark suggested he, Carol and I meet with Stefan and hopefully Sofia right after lunch the next day.  Shortly thereafter I walked back to the Scandinavian Prohunters booth (www.scandinavianprohunters.com) and set up an appointment for us to go over details of the hunt, travel and even guns.

I was most interested in the guns we would be using, “Stefan, as you know in the past I have always brought my personal guns on hunts I’ve done with you. The exception will be the English Chinese water deer and muntjac John Landgraf will be doing with you in a month or so.” He nodded, “With us hunting three different nations on the roe deer hunt, and initially flying into Copenhagen, I think it would be a very smart move for us to use the guns you can provide. To do otherwise I suspect would take a lot of paperwork, red tape resulting in many headaches.”

Stefan agreed. “We’ll most likely have y’all shooting Blasers and possibly a Mauser or Sako.” He replied. “In Sweden you’ll use my rifle, I’ll have both a Blaser K95 single-shot and a R8 bolt action available.”

“I definitely want to hunt with the single-shot, where possible, and hopefully shoot a nice roe buck with it.  I don’t really care what caliber or round.” I quickly responded.  I dearly love hunting with single-shot rifles whenever I can.  If we were only to hunt in one nation I would thought about bringing one of my pretty-wood stocked Ruger Number 1’s, likely a .275 Rigby, the same I had previously taken to Spain a few years ago and used to take both a Beceite and southwestern ibex. In the past I had shot roe deer with bolt-actions in England with a custom-make .25-06 Remington, with a .375 Ruger in Sweden, and a custom-made .275 Rigby stamped 7×57 in Spain.

It is amazing how slowly time passes when you’re anticipating going on a trip you have longed to do for many years, in this instance hunting roe deer in Sweden, Poland and Scotland.  I had previously taken a really nice roe buck in Sweden while hunting with Stefan.  On that hunt I had brought a .375 Ruger.  I know, quite a large caliber/round to use on a deer that intact seldom weighs more than 50-pounds. But in that instance, I was on a mission to hunt many different species with that round using Hornady ammo. Once we completed my roe deer hunt In Sweden I was hunting reindeer in Norway.  Besides I had often made the statement if I could only hunt with one caliber/round rifle throughout the world it would be a .375 Ruger.  I was making a point!

My three nation roe deer hunt, I was going to rely on Stefan to provide me (as well as Mark and Carol) with rifles, with one caveat, I only wanted to use Hornady ammo.

Our three nation roe deer hunt could not come to soon as far as I was concerned. And then it was there.

I flew from Austin to London on to Copenhagen where I was met at the airport by Stefan and Sofia, and Mark and Carol Little.  Mark and Carol had arrived the day before to do some sight-seeing in Denmark.

A relatively short road trip later we were in the very southern tip of Sweden where Scandinavian Prohunters had access to some fabulous hunting land. They always do.

To learn more about most of the three nation roe deer hunts, watch for a feature article in an upcoming issue of DSC’s GAME TRAILS (www.biggame.org for more information).

First morning Carol used a Blaser K95 single-shot 6.5 Creedmoor to take a gold medal buck. That afternoon I had a chance to use the K95, loaded with Hornady’s Precision Hunter 143-grain ELD-X.  The night before Stefan had assured me his rifles were sighted in dead-on at 100-yards. Carol, after shooting her Gold Medal buck at 150 or so yards the bullet had hit exactly where she had held.

Late that first afternoon of hunting I had my opportunity and dropped a really nice, though somewhat unique buck at about the same distance as Carol. Our initial goal was to shoot one roe deer in each of the three nations.  However, Stefan also said there would be opportunities to take a second buck should we so with.  Having taken a really nice buck on a previous hunt, mentioned early with my .375 Ruger, I hunted the following day, but more to watch and learn than trying to seriously take a second buck.  I planned on doing so on the second leg of our trip.

Poland was next, and, I have to say I was tremendously impressed with Poland, the people, the country-side but also the roe deer.  There, hunting spot and stalk I took my first buck with a .243 Winchester R8 Blaser using Hornady ammo and my second with another Blaser R8, this one chambered in 8×57 JS.

Throughout our trip Stefan and I talked guns, calibers/rounds and ammo appropriate for European game, which can vary from muntjac and Chinese water deer to roe deer, to chamois and ibex, to fallow and whitetail deer, to red stags, to monstrous wild boar, to moose and even European brown bear. These represent quite a range in size.  Of those mentioned I have not taken either a European moose or brown bear, but I was there when two moose were taken and I have talked to several who have taken brown bear.  I asked Stefan if he had a favorite caliber/round he personally preferred.  He responded, if he had but one caliber/round with which to hunt all of Europe’s big game species it would more than likely be an 8×57 JS (the JS indicating a pointed spire point bullet).  He said it was not necessarily a long-range load, but in most instance all European game could be stalked to with 200-yards or less.

I have long been a fan of the 7×57 or .275 Rigby and own at least one in both single-shot and bolt-action configurations.  I have used them on hunts on at least three or so continents. It was that round I successfully hunted both ibex and roe deer with in Spain.

I knew about 8mm rounds, being .3150-inches, in diameter and I had heard of several 8mm rounds.  I had owned an 8mm Remington Magnum in a Remington Model 700 BDL, which I sold to my dear friend with the Choctaw Hunting Lodge, Dusty Vickrey.  But essentially the 8×57 JS was new to me.  The more Stefan extolled the virtues of the round the more I wanted to learn.

My chance to shoot a 8×57 JS at a Polish roe deer came the second afternoon of our Poland hunt. As previously mentioned the first afternoon in Poland I had taken a really nice buck with R8 Blaser in .243 Win, using Hornady Custom loads.

The buck I took after a long stalk was shot at 150 or so yards, using Hornady’s 180-grain ECX Hornady International.  The buck dropped in his tracks.  Seemed Stefan knew whereof he spoke.  I am now trying to find a 8×57 JS here in the States, while saving for a Blaser K95, with a beautiful wood stock.

My Scotland roe deer was taken the first morning with 6.5×55 Swedish Mauser using Hornady 140-grain ECX Hornady Interntional.

Over the past several years I have taken roe deer with numerous calibers and rounds.  Hopefully in the future I’ll have an opportunity to take more roe deer with other rounds. Which is the perfect or ideal round for hunting roe deer in Europe?  I am going to say I really need a bunch more research…