“What was that?” I questioned Merwyn Manningham Buller, host for our roe deer hunt near the Castle Corfe, built in the 11th century by William the Conquerer.
“Couldn’t have been an apparition or ghost, and I don’t think it was a fox . . .wrong color and too big and heavy. It looked somewhat like a miniature deer, but smaller than a roe. Just caught a glimpse as it ran across the trail up ahead.”
Merwyn smiled. “I do believe you just saw a muntjac, a unique little deer now found over much of our part of England. Reeves muntjac to be proper. Brought here from Korea and China back in the late 1800s. Did it have antlers?”
I wagged my head in a negative manner.
“Must have been a doe. If we do see a buck and you are interested, you’re welcome to take it. They are considered invasive here in England.”
I had first heard of Reeve’s muntjac (Muntiacus reevesi) back in the mid-1970s while sitting around a campfire listening to stories told by Bert Kleinberger, who with his brother Chris hunted throughout the world starting back in the late 1950s. They opened numerous countries to hunting after the close of World War II.
A young muntjac, aka “barking deer”, aka Vampire deer buck.
“Muntjac are a little bigger than a Beagle hound,” Bert said. “Bucks have antlers, upwards of three inches long and some have short brow tines beyond a spike main beam. The bucks have fangs, long upper canines about two inches in length, truly unique! One of our guides in southern Asia back then called them “vampire deer.”
Ever since hearing Kleinberger’s stories about the muntjac, I longed to hunt their kind.
Sometimes called “barking deer” because of their dog-like bark, muntjac supposedly can still be hunted in some of their native lands. But England has become home to substantial wild populations. There are also Reeves muntjac on a few exotic hunting ranches in Texas. I could have taken one in Texas, but I longed to hunt them in a “true” free-range area. England was my best option.
Profile of Larry’s “vampire deer”, complete with ripped ear, antlers and upper canine.
Fast forward several years. John Landgraf and I were visiting with Stefan and Sofia Bengtssen with Scandinavian Prohunters at a DSC Annual Convention and Outdoor Expo about our upcoming moose hunt with well-trained dogs in Sweden followed by a whitetail deer hunt in Finland.
“You should come to England with us and hunt Chinese water deer and muntjac. Fun hunt!” said Stefan.
I had previously hunted several times with Stefan and Sofia for red stag in Scotland and Sweden, fallow deer in Denmark, reindeer in Norway, as well as roe deer and shooting waterfowl in Sweden. All hunts my hunt with Scandinavian Prohunters had been perfectly orchestrated and executed, and I truly enjoyed their company and loved hunting with my two friends. A moose hunt did with John and Bruce Keller in Sweden and whitetail hunt in Finland could not have been more fun and enjoyable, or successful.
“Okay!” said John “We’ll hunt fanged, vampire deer in England in 2026. Can we do it in early March? Our Texas deer hunting season ends the last day of February. That suit you, Larry?”
Stefan and John both knew my answer without my uttering a word. Moments later we had booked our hunt.
Back in England, with Chinese water deer “in the salt and the larder,” Stefan and I headed to his property where he’d seen a rather long-antlered muntjac buck Our stalk produced one muntjac doe, but not the buck we hoped to find.
Later that day, John and I hunted with our previous guide, Adam Gage. After walking a considerable distance and having seen numerous Chinese water deer, we sat to watch an area near tall trees and dense underbrush. As we waited, I asked Adam about the munjtac.
He responded, “As you know, they have both antlers and fangs and are highly reproductive to the point that we have to control their numbers to prevent habitat destruction for other species. They are a very primitive deer, dating back to the Miocene more than twenty million years ago. Interestingly, they have changed very little since they first appeared.
“Sometimes they respond to a butalo call, a sort of short, high pitched whistle. And, they do bark when startled or concerned.”
Just then, we heard a rather gruff, short bark-like sound. “Ah, there’s one barking now back in the woods!” I hoped whatever was barking would put in an appearance, but it did not show.
Back at the Waveney House Hotel’s restaurant that evening, Stefan suggested that on the morrow, John and I would go with Sofia to another property an hour’s drive away. “The estate has a lot of muntjac, but also English red stag. John, I know you would like to hunt for a proper stag as well.” John nodded affirmatively.
Stefan continued: “I spoke with James, the gamekeeper, a few moments ago. He has managed that property for over 35 years and he knows the land and its wildlife. He said no need to get there early. Because of our full moon, muntjac and red stags are feeding mostly during midday. Plan on leaving here at nine o’clock.”
The morning’s drive was quite pleasant, I enjoyed seeing the English countryside and its many old and stunningly beautiful homes that lined the narrow road. Upon arriving, we met James and after introductions we crawled into his vehicle for a quick tour of the property. We enjoyed seeing herds of red stag, fallow and sika deer, and also several muntjac does and young bucks.
Finishing our tour, James said: “Sofia, I will drop you and Larry in the forest where I have seen numerous muntjac, then take John to hunt stag.”
Minutes later, James stopped the vehicle, handed me a rifle and a clip containing four rounds. I noticed they were Hornady. Perfect. I nodded an approval.
James told Sofia to walk us in a northerly direction. He assumed she heard him tell her about a high seat, behind a screening of laurel. Fortunately, because she had not heard him explain where the high seat, what we in the States would call a “ladder blind”, we did not walk quite that far.
Sofia and I had only walked about steps when we found a large tree to sit against and where I could see a decent amount of forest floor between the trees and underbrush. I sat down and got comfortable. Sofia sat to my right watching in another direction.
Twenty minutes later, I spotted movement back the shadows, then watched a muntjac buck step into a spot of sunshine. I noted what looked like three-inch long antlers, essentially spikes. Before I could bring the rifle into position for a shot, he was gone. I assumed he had disappeared behind a laurel thicket.
Sofia had seen the buck just as he stepped out of sight. I readied my rifle in case he reappeared to the left of the thicket.
Seconds later, Sofia touched my right elbow and pointed in front of her. Obviously, she had seen the buck, but a couple of tree trunks blocked my seeing it. I quickly, though silently, squirmed to my right, spotted the buck walking angling toward us and settled my scope on the buck’s shoulder. I squeezed the trigger and the buck dropped. Even so, I bolted in a fresh round and again got the scope on downed deer, Thankfully, he was down for good. Hornady had fulfilled its promise of accurate, deadly and dependable ammunition.
Larry Weishuhn with his excellent muntjac in typical English habitat.
Moments later, we were at my buck’s side. I was thrilled beyond words, not only were his antlers relatively long, the right one had a short browtine as well. He also had a split right ear from a recent fight. A 40-year old dream had finally been realized.
After photos, Sofia called James who replied: “Congratulations! I’ll be there as soon as we photograph John’s stag! After we finish that, I’ll leave him in a high seat to look for muntjac then pick up you and your deer. I’ll then retrieve John’s stag and take both to the larder.”
A few minutes later, James arrived and we loaded my muntjac, then drove to the larder where it would be caped for a shoulder mount to be done by Double Nickle Taxidermy back in Texas.
John’s stag was a perfect tenxten, one of the most beautiful red stag racks I had ever seen. The stag taken care of, we went to retrieve John to continue his hunt for muntjac.
Short time later, I watched John crawl from his high seat and walk over to our vehicle. We told him we had just seen a really nice muntjac buck in route to get him. James suggested we return to where the buck had been seen.
We drove toward what in Texas would be a motte of hardwood trees, where I spotted the bedded buck. James drove in a different direction and stopped the vehicle. Then he and John stalked the muntjac buck. A few minutes later, we heard a suppressed shot. John was smiling broadly when he returned to the vehicle. Moments later, James arrived, carrying an excellent buck.
John Landgraf with his last minute, though great muntjac!
John’s antlers were very close in length to those of mine, though shaped a little differently. As we were preparing to photograph our bucks, John said: “Let me show you an old surveyor’s trick.”
He pulled an America dollar from his pocket. “Our U.S. paper currency is six -inches long.” He folded the dollar bill in half, lengthwise and held it next to the antlers of our bucks. “Both bucks have antlers over three inches long. I’d say we took exceptional bucks, since reportedly any muntjac with antlers longer than two inches is really good one.” Knowledge learned and a point well made!
Before heading back to the Waveney House Hotel, we stopped at the estate’s pub to share a pint, nay two, of Guinness with James, to honor him and the two exceptional muntjac bucks we’d taken.
My England adventure for “Fanged and Vampire Deer” had essentially come to an end. Next morning over breakfast, I spoke to Sofia and Stefan about the “Three Nation Roe Deer Hunt” I would be doing with them in May of this year, and John of his Norway reindeer hunt he and Bruce Keller would be doing with them later in September.
And yes, of course, we talked about another hunting adventure John and I could do with Scandinavian Prohunters after those hunts were completed. I can hardly wait!