It was at a sportsman’s convention in 2026 when I stopped by Stefan and Sofia Bengtsson’s Scandinavian Prohunter’s booth to confirm my roe deer hunt in Sweden. I drooled over the photos Stefan showed me of bucks his hunters had harvested since I had last hunted roe deer with him.
On my initial Swedish roe deer hunt, Stefan and I stalked a gold medal buck in an open field. Before we could get close enough for a shot, the buck bedded in grass next to an electrical transmission tower. We quickly cut the distance to 200 yards.
The “hochsitz” I hunted from.
The tall grass prevented a clear shot, so for ten minutes we tried to get the buck to stand up by calling, mimicking both seductive and distress sounds. But the buck paid us no attention. Finally, we decided that Stefan would circle the buck in hopes he would stand up long enough for me to get a shot.
Our plan almost worked. When the buck finally spotted Stefan, he did stand up, but then immediately bolted. I tracked him with my scoped .375 Ruger, then pulled the trigger on a Hornady 300-grain DGX. Years of shooting running jackrabbits paid a handsome dividend. The big bullet dropped the buck.
Some will undoubtedly say the .375 Ruger is a “bit much gun” for roe deer, which usually weigh less than 60 pounds intact. But, at that time, it was the rifle I hunted with, no matter the place or the species. In Africa, I had used it for everything from elephant to diminutive blue duiker.
The buck I took photographed a few weeks before I arrived.
I could not have been happier with my first Swedish roe buck. The experience made me want to return to Sweden to again hunt the iconic European deer. That opportunity occurred when Scandinavian Prohunters (www.scandivavianprohunters.com) donated a three-nation roe deer hunt to the 2025 DSC Foundation Gala and Fundraiser (www.DSCF.org), which I agreed to host for DSCF. Hunts would take place in Sweden, Poland and Scotland.
In mid-May, 2026, I boarded a British Airways plane in Austin, Texas, flew to London, and then on to Copenhagen, Denmark where I was met by Stefan and Sofia, as well as Mark and Carol Little who had bought the donated hunt. We drove to the very southernmost point of Sweden where we checked into Smygehuis Hasbad, our hotel. That night we had a most delicious meal and planned the morrow’s hunt.
Stefan picked up Mark, Carol and me at our hotel at 4:00 am and we drove to the property we would be hunting after enjoying fresh fruit and Sofia’s fabulous pastries. Shortly thereafter, Sofia and I drove to where we would leave her vehicle to hunt our way back toward their apartment at the estate. Mark, Carol and Stefan walked from the headquarters toward their hunting area.
Sofia and I walked the edge of a meandering creek, which a few years earlier had been a straight channel. The landowner, supported by the Swedish government, had turned the creek into a wildlife haven, complete with spawning areas for sea-run trout, as well as a wealth of vegetation to provide food and cover for a wide variety of wildlife including roe deer, hares and pheasants.
We walked slowly and stopped frequently to glass both the expansive grainfields on either side of the creek and the creek bottom. We were nearing the end of our stalk when we spotted a pregnant doe. No doubt, she would soon be giving birth. Moments later, a most interesting buck walked out of the brushy creek bottom.
His main beams were long, and his antler tips were polished to a shiny ivory. He had short brow tines and lacked secondary points. Typically, roe deer antlers have a main beam and two points per side.
I was most interested in the buck, for he was truly truly unique. He looked to be mature, at least five years of age.
He walked toward us for several steps, but there was no way to take a shot because just beyond him was the property’s headquarters. I never raised my rifle. Moments later, the buck stepped into the brushy creek bottom and was gone.
Sofia was smiling as she turned to look my way. “The tips of his beams were really polished! But there was no shot!”
“Had the houses not been behind him I would have set up the Steady Sticks and taken a shot. I like those ivory tips and his long beams . . . truly unique!”
Earlier, we had heard a shot in the direction where Stefan, Carol and Mark were hunting. I had hoped it was Carol.
As we finished our morning’s stalk, Stefan, Mark and Carol arrived in an ATV. Carol was all smiles. “I Shot my first roe deer,” she exclaimed. “I’m hooked!”
On the back of the vehicle was a mature buck with extremely massive 3×3 antlers. “We spotted him a long way off, but I was able to stalk to within about 200 yards,” said Carol. “I had to shoot from there. No way to get closer without spooking him.”
We unloaded her buck and took photos, in addition to those Stefan had already taken. Because of the rack’s mass and overall beauty, it would certainly be ranked as Gold Medal.
Before Sofia drove us back to the hotel, Stefan he told us we would be enjoying Carol’s deer that evening before we went hunting.
Throughout much of the next midday, I sat in my comfortable and dry hotel room watching it rain, remembering camps I had “experienced” where I had no way of keeping dry or warm. Rain or not, I intended to hunt that evening from an open hochsitz, what we in Texas called a deer blind, close by where we had seen the polished main-beam buck.
Sofia picked us up at three o’clock. In their apartment, Stefan had laid out a feast: grilled roe deer backstrap, a uniquely delicious combination of heart and liver, as well as other lip-smacking dishes.
Hunger satiated, it was time to hunt. Sofia dropped me near my hochsitz, where I donned my rain gear, then crawled onto the open platform. I loaded my 6.5 Creedmoor Blaser K95 single-shot rifle with a Hornady 143-grain ELD-X Precision Hunter. I dearly love hunting with single-shots, and regularly hunt with various Ruger No. 1s. The K95 Blaser was one I had long wanted to hunt with, but previously had never had the opportunity.
The first four-legged critter I saw beyond numerous pheasants several species of waterfowl were European hares. They reminded me of Texas jackrabbits on steroids. Their antics kept me entertained throughout the afternoon, until a pregnant roe deer walked into the field. She fed for a while, then bedded less than a hundred yards away.
Heavily overcast skies brought darkness long before the afternoon would be over.
I glanced into the brush and scattered trees behind me. A deer! I raised my Stealth Vision 10X40 binoculars to confirm it was a buck. I was pretty sure I had seen antler tips that appeared almost white in the fading light. One glance and I knew it was the buck I had seen that morning. I grabbed my rifle and rested it on the blind. Just then, I spotted Stefan approaching in an ATV. I quickly found the buck in my scope, pushed the safety to fire, then waited for him to give me a better shooting angle. Thankfully, Stefan stopped.
The buck turned. I squeezed the trigger, then watched him pitch forward. I quickly reloaded and got back on target in case he moved.
As I lowered my rifle, Stefan pulled up and crawled into the hochsitz with me. I pointed to where my buck laid 150 yards away. We marked the spot, then drove a slow, circuitous route toward him so I would be ready in case he jumped up. He did not.
Moments later, Stefan and I stood next to my Swedish roe buck. It was indeed the same buck I had seen earlier that morning, long main beams with polished ivory tips and short brows. I accepted Stefan’s congratulatory hand. I could not have been more pleased. The buck was all I had hoped for, with different antlers than other roe deer I had previously taken.
That night we raised high a wee dram in honor both Carol’s and my Swedish roe deer. Another short night. The next day, we passed several lesser bucks. That evening, we readied our gear for the next leg of our three-nation roe deer hunt.