Deer Shooting Season

[Haggis]

Deer shooting season is opening this Saturday (11/7), but I'm not seeing nearly as many deer this year as in recent years; so far it's only a doe, her two fawns, and one very large buck.

[Haggis]

Opening day was a bust; I did, after sitting thoughout the day and during the last moments of the evening, see two does about 250 yards from my stand, and well within range of my '-06, but my neighbor to the north opened fire at nothing in particular as he left his stand; something he is want to do nearly without fail, and my two does high-tailed it into the boreal.

On day two a fine buck crossed my Back 60, heading north, about 15 minutes before legal shooting time, and though an easy target in the bright moonlight, it would have been unethical (and poaching) to have taken him. Herself was sitting in the stand with me and I wagered her the buck was heading toward our northly neighbors corn feeder; perhaps 2 minutes after the buck crossed our pasture we heard the neighbor open fire.

There were however, some highlights for us: 10 minutes into legal shooting time on day 2 a very nice 6 point sauntered into the Back 60 and at the crack of the rifle he fell dead as a sack of stones, then with about 5 minutes of legal shooting time left in the day, a doe stepped out of some willows, and she too succombed to the charms of the old '-06. I then quickly gave thought to the idea this might be one of the two does from the night before, and waited at the ready lest the second step into the pasture, but to no avail, time ran out before the second doe made her way into the open. The second doe did however make her appearance, just as we reached her fallen comrade, but she was in no danger from us, as least not just then.

No hunting for me this morning, the weather is scheduled to be in the fifties, I've two deer hanging. Herself is off to school for the day so the work in getting the deer skinned, boned, wrapped, and made ready for either freezing or or drying into jerky is mine alone.

Should I get my work done in a timely fashion, I've two additional tags to fill, 14 days left to fill them, and, as of last night, I know where at least one doe lurks.

[Cornhusker]

I think all your deer came here.
They are thick, you can't walk out the door without pushing a deer off the porch (well, almost that bad)
The last corner on my way home from work is 1.2 miles from my driveway, and we've counted over 60 mule deer in that distance.
Antelopes are also thicker than flies, and elk are getting more and more common.
Driving to work can be quite an adventure these days.
Good luck on filling your tags.

[farmerjon]

Our shotgun season starts on the 21st. I have been hunting Bow pretty hard and have seen ALOT of deer. This weekend will be checking over my Encore and some of the guys will be over to check theirs.

[brownegg]

Haggis, congrats on the good hunt.

While you are a ethical hunter. How does one deal with unethical hunters that plop their ladder stands on the property lines.

We have all stands set so their is no shooting across lines, and plenty of room for a death run and then some more. My neighbors from the city that lease, are jerks to say the least, slob hunters is fitting for them. They place stands on the line, looking into our property.

I use to love to gun hunt, now it's something that I do for the kids, but they(the slobs) made all the fun go out of it. I bow hunt over 150 hours each fall and know the local deer. It sucks when the slobs have to key on your knowledge.

brownegg

[Haggis]

Originally Posted by brownegg

Haggis, congrats on the good hunt.

While you are a ethical hunter. How does one deal with unethical hunters that plop their ladder stands on the property lines. brownegg

A number of years ago, and just after we puchased Wolf Cairn Moor, local hunters let us know in clear and certain terms that they had always hunted here and they would continue to do so, but they had yet to bump heads with this old Scot. On one occasion a hunter climbed a very large white pine tree which sets squarely on our property line, and faced himself out onto our paddocks. When I found him sitting thusly, I told him we allowed no hunting of our land. He naturely informed me that the tree in which he was sitting was as much my neighbors as mine, and he would set where he chose. I then explained I had been hereaforeto unware of this "twightlight zone" between properties, climbed the tree myself, took a position just beneath him, and it being the only way for him to decend, blocked his escape from a loud recounting of U.S and World histories from 6:30 A.M. until Noon. He never returned to hunt any where near my land.

On another note, yesterday, while I was skinning one of my deer, my neighbors to the north opened fire to such an extent that I rushed from my barn to see what was afoot, and there, across the 40 acre paddock to the north came a muley headed yearling under as much steam as its small frame could muster. Meanwhile, three pumpkin colored forms were spraying bullets in the frightened creatures' general direction. It successfully crossed my neighbors 40 (400 odd yards), then traversed another open 200 yards of Wolf Cairn Moor before hitting the willow labyrinth along the southern edge of my Barn paddock. These hunters then held a tete-a-tete just aross my property line, gave a serious look toward my cottage, then crossed the fence; I was there in a heart beat,,,,,,, perhaps two.

One of the fellows was quite certain they had hit the deer, but I saw no signs of it, and said as much. They asked could they look for it, I said, "By all means, and I would be only to happy to help if you would like". Just then they weren't so certain the deer was hit, and I told them to give it a few hours to die, and we'd all go in for a look; this they nodded to, and went off to drive some other favored hunting spots. They haven't returned to look for the deer they "thought" they hit, but what surpized me more, was that for all of the shooting they have done these passed three days, they said this was the first deer they had seen long enough to get a shot at!!!!!!!

But back to the issue of hunters trespassing, these gentlemen, as with all of those who once roamed my land before it was mine, know to expect me to appear out of nowhere before they make more than a step or two across my line, but I'm always pleasant, always polite, and always insistant that what is mine is mine, what is theirs is theirs, and that we can all best remain civil if we don't forget those facts.

I only managed to get one deer worked up yesterday, will finish the other this morning, and tomorrow I'm off to purchase a bit of screen wire and 1"X2"'s to make a few new drying racks for drying up some venison jerky.

[bowdonkey]

Haggis, I was in the same boat. When I moved here the place had a couple permanent stands littered with assorted beverage cans. Both stands were taken down before that fall. So far no problems, only hunters here are the neighbors and they're welcome.

[Oldcountryboy]

I see more deer on the drive to my hunt area then I see in the woods. I just drive a mile from my house and pass by approximately 4 houses and am always seeing deer close by the houses. When ask to hunt on their property I get the "No, those are my pet deer".

Well I've decided that come this next summer I'm gonna start calling all my neighbors up and tell them "You better come and get your pet deer out of my garden or I'm gonna call the law on you and make you build a tall fence to keep them pets in".

That just chaps my hide when someone calls them "pets". Oh yea, where did you buy those pets at? How come you don't keep them out of my garden? So you're the one I need to call when I see a deer in my garden and need to re-imburse me for what they ate up!