Deer Hunting or Deer Watching?

[Vaquero]

Vaquero -

Time spent in the field with your grandson makes precious memories. He sounds like an accomplished hunter. You must be proud.

Thanks, I am for sure, he's always liked being outside and in and about the woods.
So I've looked forward to this, and it's been a joy.
Seeing that face light up is worth a million bucks to me.

RP

[HenryFan]

Only a million bucks? Probably more than that.

[BrokenolMarine]

Vaquero -

Time spent in the field with your grandson makes precious memories. He sounds like an accomplished hunter. You must be proud.

Thanks, I am for sure, he's always liked being outside and in and about the woods.
So I've looked forward to this, and it's been a joy.
Seeing that face light up is worth a million bucks to me.

RP

I took my granddaughter fishing and she caught a huge fish, now she's hooked and fishes the pond every time they visit. I know that smile.

I don't deer hunt, I can't eat wild game, doesn't agree with me. So, I won't shoot it. Miss T took a nice Doe this year, she passed on a huge buck, she was hunting for the meat, not a trophy, and let him stay with his harem. The meat was for my daughter who is allergic to beef, pork, etc; but can eat venison and bison. Miss T hung the deer and had it in the freezer in a couple hours.

I Don't have a problem with hunting, I will shoot varmints and predators that raid the farm. I just don't choose to hunt myself. I do shoot, a good bit.

Deer? Watching. We have a lot of deer on the farm, a dozen were in the pasture when T went to the lower barn tonight. I saw them on the security camera feed as well.

[rickhem]

I've been more of a watcher for the most part, but not entirely.
Today is the last day of our late season muzzleloader hunt, and I'm planning to be out in the woods when the sun sets. I'll have my rifle, but it'll have to be a pretty nice buck to get me to pop a cap. Last year I had 7-8 of them all around me, all directions, and they knew I was something that wasn't there before. One was a spike with about 8" tines, and he seemed most curious as he got the closest. I don't even know where I'll go, which stand or blind, but I'll be out. It's a long wait until next October.

[Stray Cat]

For me, an occasional a deer snooze creeps up when I'm in the climber stand. My old Warren Cottonwood climber is awful comfy, when the wind is calm, the sun is shining, and my heat packs are working on a cold winter day, I nod off like a chicken on a roost! As hard as I try to fight it, I'll wake up looking at the ground! I'm certain when the 8pt bucks gather after hunting season, they get a good laugh at the hunter they saw sleeping in the stand as they slowly walked by....yup that'd be me!

[HenryFan]

I think that my blinds have ether in them.

[Hatchdog]

Reminds my of the last buck I shot. Late in the day and I’m sitting on a stump in the snow watching a point where three skid road come together. I’m drowsy and fighting sleep when a doe and fawn walk by below me. That wakes me up for a little bit but once again the drowsies start in. In my semi-stupor I hear a grunting sound which wakes me up to see a nice 4x4 buck sniffing the tracks of the doe. That was a fun event.

[BrokenolMarine]

With the full moon and the snow on the ground the security cams get great pics. Last night (and every night) before I go to bed; I check the cams before turning in to look for varmints in the area and the security around the farm. This was the spectacle I watched for fifteen minutes. I see these guys most nights in the early evening, then around midnight, then sometime around five to six am. They love the acorns from the oaks and/or the corn Tina tosses from the feeders in the Coops when it starts to mold.

In the first shot there are seven or eight deer moving up toward the barn both in the paddock and in the side yard. If you look closely, you'll see some in the shadows of the oak on the left side of the picture.

05 Jan 12 night shot moving in.jpg

Here is a bit closer view....

06 jan 12 night shot closer view.jpg

None of the fences on the farm pose any problem for the deer, they can stand flat footed and leap over the top line without effort and if running don't even break stride. The fawns... ... they just walk thru the fences as if they don't exist. We put the fences up and maintained them for the livestock, which we have now gotten rid of and only keep the chickens and guineas. When I initially spotted the deer on their approach there were a dozen, evenly split between the paddock side and the side yard portion of the fence. There are oaks and acorns on both sides. As they got nearer to the barn, they started jumping the fence to enter the paddock.

07 jan 12 up and over.jpg

The herd eventually moved together to the barn area and gathered around the oak. There are a dozen in this pic, some blend together standing side by side, the small fawns blend into the shadows. A couple went into the stall to look for grain or hay leftovers and the salt and mineral block Tina put there for them.

08 jan 12 night shot herd.jpg

After a bit they will cross the paddock, then the offside fence and fade into the tree line and go into the orchard to scratch for pecans, move to the pond, loop back to the coop area and acorns and corn, then fade back across the road to bed down for daylight. Every night.... same routine.

[FormerParatrooper]

This year ended watching a buck come from the wrong direction and stayed between the blind and the house. The only deer I saw for the season.

[BrokenolMarine]

There are several bucks on the farm, or that visit on a regular basis with their harems. One is huge, looks like the insurance company logo. Some of the smaller bucks have just a few does, but the big guy has six or eight that he escorts. He is massive.