A few of our deer

[Robert_in_NY]

I know there are quite a few members that love animals here so I thought I would share a few pics of some of our bucks I took yesterday. This is Andy.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

This is CB

 

[cstocks]

Robert,

Nice looking bucks!

Are the deer that you raise wild, tame or semi-tame? How did you start your bloodline or is that how you select deer for breeding?

 

[RoyJackson]

Wow, both beautiful animals!!

Just curious, Robert...are you pro or anti-hunting by chance? I just read an article about deer populations exploding in the NE to Midwest.

Not even trying to start any BS here... I don't hunt, myself. But Robert is the only person I know of that raises deer.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Our bucks are raised to be semi-tame. All of our does we hand raise and make into big babys but the bucks we leave on their moms so they maintain some fear of humans. All of our deer have come from other farms, we do replace the inferior deer when we find them but we are trying to stay small so we do not have too many head to worry about in the breeding herd.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

I am for hunting. We started raising deer as a hobby because of how much we enjoyed watching them and hunting them. I know about the problems with overpopulation and pen raised deer are not allowed to be released into the wild. The biggest problem with overpopulation is too many non hunting areas. There are a couple places near Buffalo that have a huge problem with deer but they refuse to allow hunting there. It is a populated area so I understand their fears of gun hunters but they will not allow bow hunters there either. This is a delicate situation here as the anti's say no and they are winning but they do not understand what they are doing to the natural order of things. I do not hunt just to kill as I will not kill fawns or yearlings as they are a lot of fun to watch. I get just as much enjoyment shooting a buck with my camera as I do with a gun but I enjoy archery even more as it is quiet during archery which makes it peaceful. Thanks for asking though as I don't mind talking about deer.

 

[cstocks]

I assume that since you raise the deer that you sell them as well? Do you sell bucks or does or both? Yearlings? Who would your customers be? Private or public sector?

You have really piqued my interest in this subject. Sounds like something I could enjoy doing if I had enough land and the time to do it. 'Course I might not ever let loose of a single deer because my wife would get attached to each and every one of them!/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[beenthere]

There is growing concern (in the West, and now in Wisconsin) that wild deer raised in pens develop the CWD (Chronic Wasting Disease) from being in close quarters with each other (maybe natures way of thinning the herd). Apparently the deer cannot be tested for CWD unless they are killed. The CWD has been found in wild deer in WI and a big killing program (25,000 deer to be eradicated in a 360 sq. mile area!) is now underway. The suspicion is that a big buck was brought into the state and released, in order to improve the big bucks. There is now a feeding ban for everyone in WI with a $300 dollar fine if 'caught'. Any concern among the deer farmers that you are aware of?
Beautiful buck.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

There is a major concern right now about CWD. NY has shut down its borders and will not allow any deer to be imported here. So far NY has not had a case of CWD and we are waiting to see how things play out before the borders open again. As for how it started, no one knows for sure how it is started or transmitted for that fact. They do know that CWD was found back in the 1930's and they knew about it then but they did nothing about it. There are no test for CWD unless you kill the animal. The latest theroy is that CWD is transmitted from sheep to deer as a form of it sits dormant in sheep. It will probally be a couple years before most people have an idea what is going to happen with this industry, right now there is a lot of talk about closing down hunting preserves, forcing farms to build perimeter fences around their existing fence to keep other animals away, and the extreme activist want all farms shut down. I have nothing against shutting down canned hunt farms as I do not agree with shooting animals in small fences but there are a lot of decent farms and they have a lot of money tied up in their place. We have spent over $50k since 97 to build our place and feed and raise our deer. We have just got to the point where we were started to recoup some of our investment and now CWD has basicly shut down the industry. I do wish they would develop a test for it as once that is done the industry should be allowed to go back to normal. Take care.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

We sell any and all of our deer. We pull our doe fawns at 3 days old and hand raise them and have 15 fawns we are raising right now. We sell mostly to people who want to start their own farm or want a couple for pets. We have not sold any to hunting preserves and it would be great if we didn't have to but I have a feeling that time is coming.