Done it again ....

[Southernspeed]

Yep, sliced up another fawn with the sicklebar. Again, didn't kill it outright so had to dispatch it with a shot. Tiny little thing, such a shame but I watch the ground like a hawk as I mow but they are so well camouflaged. I've been racking my brains to figure out some way of spooking them to move before they get mowed but I've got nothing. Mom tells them to stay put, and that's what they do! Anyone found a way around this?

 

[oldnslo]

An old fashioned hand scythe but your production will be a little less per day

 

[Tinhack]

That's a shame. I haven't cut this year yet. It was so dry nothing was growing but now that we've had a couple of inches of rain (more like 10) the last two months, its been too wet to mow. What I usually do when cutting in the spring is make a few big circles without the mower running or lowered. This gives me a chance to scout the fields and let the critters find an escape. It it's not deer, it's flocks of quail (multiple coveys). Sometimes it's Kit Foxes. They all come back and hide under the mesquite trees. The White Egrets will usually follow me around when I'm mowing. I've had to stop for them many times while they go after the bugs.

 

[Shawn T. W.]

I have no experience in this, but could you maybe fasten some kind of boom on the front of your tractor, sticking out the side maybe 2' off the ground the distance out from your tire that the sickle bar is?

That might flush them out at the last second, or give you a second to see them better to hit the clutch?

When it's thick like this it's still gonna be tough though ...

 

[MichiganIron]

Keeps me on my toes every year for 1st cutting. I stay focused ahead of the mower and watch for patches in the field where they may have been bedding. I can usually spot the bed by watching for different lays in the field ahead of the mower. So far, this has worked pretty well. If I see something ahead that looks layed, I'll stop and get out of the tractor and check it out. About half the time, it's a deer bed.

 

[Southernspeed]

An old fashioned hand scythe but your production will be a little less per day

More likely to cut my own feet off!!

 

[Southernspeed]

I have no experience in this, but could you maybe fasten some kind of boom on the front of your tractor, sticking out the side maybe 2' off the ground the distance out from your tire that the sickle bar is?

That might flush them out at the last second, or give you a second to see them better to hit the clutch?

When it's thick like this it's still gonna be tough though ...

View attachment 5762186

I was considering some kind of boom, maybe with chains hanging down but I don't know if even that will make them run. Plus I hay all the horse pastures I'm not using which are all one to one and a half acres so I'd have to get off and lift the boom each time I go through a gate. Can't see any other way though. A black snake didn't fair too well yesterday either

 

[bdhsfz6]

I gave up on the mid mount sickle bar after I got the last fawn a few years ago. I switched to an offset flail, which gives me a better view to the side and more time to stop. I've had a couple of close calls but haven't hit one since.