I have pictures of them. But I’ve never been inspired to get up at 4 am to go take a picture. That hunting bug goes deep. I think I’m just getting more philosophical as I age. I don’t feel the need to kill as many as I used to. They all got eaten. I liked filling my freezer with meat. I filled my daughter’s as well. I hunted on a vineyard and their objective was to cut the numbers down as much as possible. I think part of it is being too busy and part is seeing the deer almost every day. You get to know them by site.
We are in an EAB county. earn a buck you have to kill an antlerless deer before you can kill a second buck. I still had not killed a doe so yesterday morning, this guy paraded past my stand and walked around the clearing for 2 minutes. He came in from behind me and passed my stand 15 yds to my right. I could have hit him with a rock.
I am not a hunter but do keep up with the deer hunters we have here in the Cherokee Mountains/Forest. We have a lot of deer on our 26 acres and love watching them come through the property and stop to eat on all the plants and shrubs we have in the yard.
I had to look up EAB county on your post David as i have never heard of that. Well the search came up with 'Emerald Ash Borer', but no mention of deer. Scratched my head and then read your post again twice. That's when i noticed " Earn A Buck".... program your county has.
That's a nice buck there you encountered !! Thanks for posting and educating us on what EAB county is !!!!!!