Toying w/hunters emotions.

[Thomas]

Its youth hunting weekend in NH,and this well make the fourth vechile that has stop this morning,and youngsters plus dad drooling over mother doe w/young & two last years doe & nice little six pointer as they feed on grass,apples,acorns about 75 yards from the road on our lawn...now the little heard heading for the hill side behind our home for nap,and they are safe as can be and I think they know it...no need for posted signs,for the Mrs. has everything under control...yikes.

 

[JoeR]

Must be fun to watch. I too have a a couple of deer that traverse my property, but the buck killed my orange tree by rubbing all the bark off the trunk. I am ready to hang his rack on my wall as a tribute to my orange tree. hahaha!! Just kidding! To me, deer are big goats. They seem to eat everything! I prefer they stay away from my house, but are welcome to use the pastures.

 

[EddieWalker]

Hey Thomas,

I'm what you might call a trophy hunter. I don't have much interest in killing for meat as much as I do for the challange of finding a mature animal that's been around awhile. Once I stoped shooting the little guys, I started seeing them all the time. It's not about killing, but learning all about the particular species I'm after and putting in the effort to harvest one that's worthy of putting on my wall.

As much as I enjoy that, I've realized that I enjoy helping others to get an animals even more than shooting one myself. My wife has shot three wild hogs this year and we're working on number four. She's at the point that she also likes to shoot the larger ones and let the little guys live. The amont of satisfaction and enjoyment I get from her kills is just about impossible for me to put into words.

She wants to shoot a deer now. It's a natural progression to seek a more challenging animal to hunt. Deer are far more allert and wary to hunt than hogs. We've planted a food plot and have been scouting out our land every evening for tracks and sign. We know of several small bucks, but haven't seen any in the last month. It's a challenge with the level of dificulty adding to the enjoyment. Deer are very, very scittish in our area of Texas. You never see them along the roads or out in the open. It's thick jungle here, so they have total cover day and night.

I've had the land 4 1/2 years now and haven't shot a deer on it myself. It's just not important to me, but now that she wants one, it's become a priority.
If for no other reason than to give her the experience and oportunity to harvest her first buck. Hopefully one day she'll travel to other states and countries with me to hunt the varied animals of the world.

She also has two kids, one 9 and the other is 6. Both want to learn to shoot and hunt hogs. For me, it's juat that much more fun and enjoyment that we can spend together outdoors. When you mentioned the hunters and their kids admiring the deer on your land, I can imagine doing the same thing. The kids always get a huge thrill out of seeing a deer, Any deer is exiting for them, and that makes it exiting for us!!!

Eddie

 

[texbaylea]

I don't hunt our 20+ acres as it is getting too built up around us with more citified types. We have two does we see regularly. We know that they are different as one has a single fawn with her and the other has twins. They seem to spend much of their days on our property as we see them regularly. They cross the road to get to the tank on that property for water but are back fairly quickly. We don't bother them, even our Boxer ignores them, so they come close to the house almost everyday browsing.

My point-n-shoot digital camera is not good enough to focus on just them so my pictures are lousy. I may have to get a digital SLR some day.

Vernon

 

[ToadHill]

I hunted years ago then gave it up for over 25 years. I took it up again recently when I realized I was finding no young maple trees in my woods. The deer are so plentiful that they eat the young trees before they get knee high. They won't eat the birch which arn't worth anything. Since my plan is to use the timber to help with the taxes, it's time to thin the herd so the young trees have a chance.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Its youth hunting weekend in NH,and this well make the fourth vechile that has stop this morning,and youngsters plus dad drooling over mother doe w/young & two last years doe & nice little six pointer as they feed on grass,apples,acorns about 75 yards from the road on our lawn...now the little heard heading for the hill side behind our home for nap,and they are safe as can be and I think they know it...no need for posted signs,for the Mrs. has everything under control...yikes.

It seems like we have 75 different deer seasons here anymore. I can't even keep track of when they're on or off. Even when seasons are out, there's always someone on the move looking for their next target. My place is LOADED with deer and wild turkey. I used to hunt turkey and MAY start up again. (I've been watching the biggest tom turkey I've ever seen. He hangs out on the back of my property) Every day I get 3 or 4 "great white hunters" pulling in my drive, wanting to hunt on my place. When I see a pick-up truck with 4-wheeler in the bed, compound bow and muzzle loader hanging in the rear window, camo-ed driver, and "My other car is a deer stand" bumper sticker on truck, I just kindly invite them to LEAVE......QUICKLY.

 

[Thomas]

Morning Gentlmen.
JoeR...I hear you about antlers vs tree bark,for last year we had young bull moose torn the heck out of our young maples...grrrrr.

Eddie...yup if one keeps harvesting the small ones chance are they never will get wall hanger.
I rather kick back and let the big boys come to me while sipping on hot cup of coffee...heck I rather reach for the video cam than the firearm...still like going thru the motions of each year tho.

texbaylea...by the sounds mom and her fawn found a safety zone,and there a good chance this will be handed down thru the next generations to come...keep the camrea handy for some picture postcard shots.

ToadHill...certain part of NH has the same problem which your facing,and the State at one time hire sharp shooters also run the deer off the area...still the deer return...from the ground to about 6 feet not much vegation what so ever to be found...sad issue.

Farmwithjunk...boy oh boy do I hear you about the dates and the do's and don'ts...getting so in NH one needs to read the booklet each day before heading to different zone.
I like the way you confort those type of hunters...what happen to the old ways...one did there home work,took time and offer hand to the land owner in which they wanted to hunt,if one harvest the game(deer)part of it was to drag and drag.

 

[ByronBob]

We spent a day reciently helping a man who own's 75 acres in exchange for hunting at his place. We loaded him with wood for the winter.

He's happy and so are we. Not all hunters are evil. But I see how we get a bad rap sometimes.

I'd rather teach my son something useful than have him sit in front of the tube all day. The quality time is priceless. I can only think all those men might be similar to me.

But the day is coming if you don't have your own land that it will be impossible to hunt anywhere else.

 

[KubotaSteve]

There's a rather large 12 point that stands on a hill in my front yard about 50 feet off the road almost tempting people to shoot at him (or at least I've been told because I haven't seen him but several friends and family have) He seems to only move in the middle of the day. I kinda hope he leaves or does something because I'm afraid some yahoo will try to shoot him and my house be in the line of fire with the wife and kids inside. My neighbors and myself don't hunt so the deer have about 40 acres or so to roam between us. Although my neighbor said two guys shot one in his field and drove their truck in there to pick it up. My neighbor is the fire chief for the near by town and called headquarters which promptly dispatched state police just in time to see them with everything loaded up. Of course our county is getting so built up that they are banning hunting with high powered rifles now.

 

[Thomas]

We spent a day reciently helping a man who own's 75 acres in exchange for hunting at his place. We loaded him with wood for the winter.

He's happy and so are we. Not all hunters are evil. But I see how we get a bad rap sometimes.

Evening ByronBob.
Now that's what I am talking about when I say the old ways...good for you!!

"Not all hunters are evil"...sooo true!!