If I find ONE MORE...

[Mike Cruz]

dead deer on my property, I will ASSURE that NO ONE will get ANY deer for the rest of this season!!!!!

My neighbor emailed me the other day. Said that he traced a blood trail from near a deer stand in the adjacent property to him across the RR bed, across the creek, onto my property, and over towards my wood pile. I usually avoid walking the woods so that I don't disturb the bow hunters (I don't have a problem with them hunting...I just don't want to ruin their hunting day, OR get shot!). I thought I oughta take a looksee. Sure 'nuff, about 75 yards past my wood pile was a 4 point buck. Shot right in the spot where the deer's left thigh and belly meet. The exit wound was in his right buttocks. NICE SHOT!!!!

If I find ONE MORE DEAD DEER on my property, I will make a point of blaring loud music at the crack of dawn all over the perimeter of my property, bang on pots and pans, whatever it takes...every morning and every evening for the next month and a half so that none of these trigger happy, no go shot taking, don't bother to sight in their rifles, no practice shootin', I think I'm a sniper morons gets a remote shot at a deer!

Oh, and I am certainly armed when I walk my dogs this time of year! :mad:

[Stephen Cherry]

Shot right in the spot where the deer's left thigh and belly meet. The exit wound was in his right buttocks. NICE SHOT!!!!

:mad:

That's a bad shot, but at least people are hunting them. Where I am the deer are out of control, and I'm pretty sure that there is no way to get rid of them. You are not allowed by the authorities to even shoot an airsoft gun.

[Mike Cruz]

Yeah, welcome to suburbia, Steve... Out here, we don't have deer "problems". A healthy herd is 30-40 deer per square mile. Even with feeding the deer corn through the winter and my trail camera set up, I can tell (and confirmed by others in the area) that we have just about that.

Again, I'm not against hunting...I've done my fair share. Just make good shots, shoot on your OWN property, and process what you harvest.

Hey, go get your hunting license, Steve. Get all dressed up in camo (actually, where you live, you probably won't have to...), climb a tree in the back yard, with bowie knife in one hand and holding yourself steady with the other wait for a deer to walk under the tree. When he/she does, take 'em out old school...like Rambo would have done. Don't think there is any hand to hand combat legislation against hunting deer. Then again, in HC, you never know... Think Rouse ever foresaw that one? ;)

[Peter Elliott]

dead deer on my property, I will ASSURE that NO ONE will get ANY deer for the rest of this season!!!!! :mad:

I double dare you :eek:

[Mike Cruz]

You don't need to, but ok!

I've already had a run-in with a bow hunter while walking my dogs a few weeks back. I was on MY property when I hear, "Hey, what are you doing?!?!" I paused, did everything I could to not climb that tree and strangle the guy, then replied, "What are YOU doing?!?!?!" He said...in a very perturbed and loud voice, "I'm hunting on MY property, and you're walking up this hill!!!!". I said, "NO! I'm on my property! There is my marker. I was walking my path that loops around right here. My property line goes DIAGONALLY right in front of the tree you are in!" I called him a particular profanity repeatedly. He said, "Call me XXXX one more time! I'll come down outta this stand!" I said, "Well, then, come on down XXXXX!!!!" As he was coming down, he realized he was within feet of my property line, AND facing my property, AND that I was on MY property, and he cooled down.

Oh, did I mention that during the heated part of this, he actually began...just for a fleeting second...to draw back on his bow?!??!!?!! YEAH!

I am not armed whenever I walk my property during bow season. I DON'T walk the woods during rifle season.

BTW, this yahoo wasn't responsible for THIS dead deer. May have been for others, but not this one.

I've been here 10 years, and this is the fourth I've found. My neighbor has been here 9 years, and has yet to have a year when he has not found at least one dead deer on his property...

[Brian Tymchak]

Not making excuses for the hunter making a bad shot, but sometimes, a strong deer can still run a while after being hit with a reasonably good shot. In my much younger years when I hunted with a larger party, we would NOT trail a wounded deer onto property that we didn't have permission to enter. Usually we secured permission to enter adjacent properties prior to the season starting as we knew where we would be hunting. And most land owners were very good about giving it. And occasionally we would have to wait to trail a deer until we could contact an owner to get permission. But, unfortunately, we did have to leave a couple over the years on properties we couldn't get in touch with the owner.

[Stephen Cherry]

You don't need to, but ok!


I am not armed whenever I walk my property during bow season. I DON'T walk the woods during rifle season.

BTW, this yahoo wasn't responsible for THIS dead deer. May have been for others, but not this one.

I've been here 10 years, and this is the fourth I've found. My neighbor has been here 9 years, and has yet to have a year when he has not found at least one dead deer on his property...

Not armed? My guess is that those two chihuahuas would be waiting for the yahoo to twitch so that they could make a ground hog out of him.

I'm not a hunter, and I do not shoot very often, but it's amazing to me how poorly people, even "hunters" do shoot.

At one point I was concerned a little about what would happen if there were a breakdown in the food supply, for some reason. Not lying awake at night or anything, more of a "what if?" type of concern. Anyway, part of my solution was to learn to shoot. It does not take very long to shoot an airgun or 22 well enough that you could "eye shoot" squirrels, etc, but it does take time and commitment, and some study. My guess is that your guy did a great job of hitting the bass pro shop, getting a bow and getting camoed up, but he left out the personal commitment part. Think about it, a modern bow, and I have done archery, a little, - the modern bow shoots pretty strait, modern arrows are perfect, so the right and left aspect should not be a problem. Up in a tree, the drop would be harder, but there really is no excuse for butt shooting a deer. It's a disgrace to the hunter. Particularly since, I'm pretty sure, Maryland allows use of the cross bow during deer season.

In any case, your number of Lyme disease carriers has been reduced by one.

For me, I've been thinking about getting a harpoon- like a tuna harpoon, so that I could shoot deer in the backyard, and reel them in.

[Peter Elliott]

You don't need to, but ok!

I've already had a run-in with a bow hunter while walking my dogs a few weeks back. I was on MY property when I hear, "Hey, what are you doing?!?!" I paused, did everything I could to not climb that tree and strangle the guy, then replied, "What are YOU doing?!?!?!" He said...in a very perturbed and loud voice, "I'm hunting on MY property, and you're walking up this hill!!!!". I said, "NO! I'm on my property! There is my marker. I was walking my path that loops around right here. My property line goes DIAGONALLY right in front of the tree you are in!" I called him a particular profanity repeatedly. He said, "Call me XXXX one more time! I'll come down outta this stand!" I said, "Well, then, come on down XXXXX!!!!" As he was coming down, he realized he was within feet of my property line, AND facing my property, AND that I was on MY property, and he cooled down.

Oh, did I mention that during the heated part of this, he actually began...just for a fleeting second...to draw back on his bow?!??!!?!! YEAH!

I am not armed whenever I walk my property during bow season. I DON'T walk the woods during rifle season.

BTW, this yahoo wasn't responsible for THIS dead deer. May have been for others, but not this one.

I've been here 10 years, and this is the fourth I've found. My neighbor has been here 9 years, and has yet to have a year when he has not found at least one dead deer on his property...


Should have reported him to the DNR for drawing his bow.. then the cops! Situation handled...

[Mike Cruz]

Brian, you are right. I, too, understand that deer don't necessarily drop after being hit...even with a good shot. The hunter has a strip of land about 100 feet wide by about 100 yards long. It is almost impossible for him to "drop" a deer on HIS property.

This deer (may or may not have actually been shot ON his property) ran from his property, and through two other properties before ending up on mine. And no, he does NOT have permission to enter my property. Only one hunter does. He hunts the property behind mine. He calls to let me know when he's out there (bow and rifle...not to ask permission, but out of courtesy and to make sure I don't ruin his hunting), he keeps in touch. IF he has to chase a deer onto my property, he leaves his gun at his stand. He offered that up... He realized that no one ever wants to see someone in camo walking through their woods...certainly not with a rifle!

[Mike Cruz]

Oops, I mistyped, Steve...I WASN'T armed that day...I most certainly definitely positively and resoundingly am NOW...EVERY time I walk the woods during bow season.

And I might have created a bit of confusion... The dead deer in question was from a rifle. Last weekend was junior day. Heard a million shots on Saturday morning! This must have been one of them. The bow hunter was 2-3 weeks ago...

[Mike Cruz]

Hehe, yeah, he said/he said. I was waiting for him to come down, step foot on MY property, and assault me. I wouldn't have even raised a finger. I would have OWNED him... Again, nothing against hunters/hunting. Certainly against unbridled bravado and stupidity, though.

[ray hampton]

i would NEVER LEAVE MINE gun at the stand while I walk to find mine deer, this make it very easy for someone to steal the gun

[eugene thomas]

And what's worse than a bad shot.... Hunter that's trigger happy but what he shot is to small so goes back to hunting....

[Ryan Mooney]

Don't think there is any hand to hand combat legislation against hunting deer. Then again, in HC, you never know... Think Rouse ever foresaw that one? ;)
I wouldn't be so sure. The number of states where you can legally hunt with a spear is fairly limited (yes weird things to know 101). Most states have the rules defined more as "includes things matching these criteria" which tends to disallow by omission some of the more esoteric hunting methods.

[ray hampton]

meanwhile back in KY, since slingshots are prohibited as a hunting weapon , will catapults be allowed ?

[Curt Harms]

That's a bad shot, but at least people are hunting them. Where I am the deer are out of control, and I'm pretty sure that there is no way to get rid of them. You are not allowed by the authorities to even shoot an airsoft gun.

Areas where I live (Central Bucks County PA.) specifically Solebury township bordering the Delaware river had a major deer overpopulation problem - there were no saplings in the woods - they'd all been eaten. Gardens needed 8' fence around them, lots of deer-car collisions etc. They contracted with 'sharpshooters' to thin the herd.

[Bill Cunningham]

In Ontario, you could call the MNR and report the deer, then put it in your freezer the same as a road kill. ALSO banging pots and pans and doing anything to disturb a 'legal' hunt will get you arrested and fined. In Ontario, you have the 'right' to hunt as long as your doing it legally ..i.e license/landowner permission/correct gear etc.. A few years back some treehugging yuppy would park on the side of the road during the spring turkey hunt startup his chainsaw and wave it around while waling up and down the road..to 'save' the turkeys. He was arrested and fined and never did it again..

[Mike Cruz]

Bill, I fully understand why that person was arrested/fined/whatever. If he is disturbing legal hunting for the sake of not allowing people to do what they are allowed to do simply because he doesn't like what they are doing, or doesn't agree with the law, well, suffer the consequences.

I take no issue with hunting. I was a hunter for many years in my younger days. What was instilled upon me by both those who taught me and took me hunting, AND the Hunter's Safety Course that I took, was that you take good shots. You harvest what you shoot. You respect property lines. You respect the animals that you shoot (don't just let them go if they don't drop at your feet). Don't go foul hunting in swamps without dogs (you'll never find the ducks!). And respect your fellow hunters. Some of the yahoos that are hunting the woods behind me are failing most, if not all, of those principles. Sure, bad shots happen from time to time. But the number of deer that get shot and end up on our properties is ridiculous. Some of these guys are hunting property that is 100 feet wide and 1000 feet long. But they either haven't asked permission to track the deer or actually don't have the permission from some of the neighbors. Yet they still hunt that property. How many deer fall that fast? Not that many. Too many keep running...even with a perfect heart shot.

There are many ways to keep these yahoos from having successful hunting days...

And again, I want to stress that I take NO issue with having hunters in the woods back here. They have the right to be there. They have the right to hunt. I'm just sick of having to deal with my dogs rolling in dead deer, finding blood trails and "losing their minds", finding the dead deer by smelling them, or having to discard the bodies so I don't smell them (or have my dogs obsessing over them) for weeks. I don't think most hunters realize that when a deer gets "away" from them, it dies on someone else's property, and now THEY have to deal with it.

Unfortunately, Bill, by the time we find most of the dead deer around here, they are past "harvesting"...If you can smell 'em, um, well...

[Bill Cunningham]

Muzzle loading deer season starts here on Monday, and I plan to be sitting in the deer blind on my daughters farm. We hunt an area of about 200 acres which is composed of my daughter and son in laws property, and the properties on either side. The owners of the other properties don't hunt, but we have permission to both hunt and search to retrieve any downed game. I have unfortunately lost one Turkey a couple of years ago, the arrow went right through and it took off and vanished. I spent 3 hours looking through the cedar bush it headed for with no luck. Sometimes you lose em, but you certainly have to put in the time at least 'trying' to retrieve them. If you don't then you should never be allowed to hunt anything...

[Mike Cruz]

Sorry to hear you lost the turkey, Bill, but bravo for your etiquette.

[Mike Cruz]

Hmmmmmm, look who made it though rifle season. I wonder what could have kept him hunkered down on my property? :D I'm SURE I wouldn't have found him dead on my property. But I'm just as sure that someone would have been trespassing to track him (no, the neighboring hunters do not stop by to ask permission to track). Anyway, he might live to create a bunch more offspring with nice racks. Way too many spikes and odd three pointers around here. I've seen the same odd ones on my cameras year after year.

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[Brian Elfert]

I wonder if there any reality to the TV show this past year about deer hunters getting permission to hunt on large suburban estates?

[David Weaver]

There are plenty of archers in suburbia here. There's a lot of suburban space with very tame deer (that need to be thinned) that a hunter can easily stay 50 yards from structures.

There is so much shrub material and stuff here that the deer never do look very hungry. they sure do look better here (in terms of nutrition) than they did where I grew up in a rural area.

[Mike Cruz]

Brian, I wouldn't be surprised at all...with bow, at least.

David, certainly, in the urban/suburban areas there are far too many deer. They are a hazard to vehicles, shrubbery, and themselves (competition). A health heard of whitetail deer is about 30-40 per square mile (assuming there is enough natural habitat for them). Around here in the rural parts, that is about what we have...certainly not an overpopulation or problem. Where my brother lives, there are about 250 per square mile. WAY too many...even for themselves. Most of the deer are not all that healthy. And they get hit by cars all the time.

[David Weaver]

I recall seeing a study of the gettysburg battlefield (where hunting wasn't allowed) that estimated their population to be 700+ per acre. I also recall the huge outcry when they culled a bunch (the rangers did) and donated the meat to the local pantry. I have no clue what the density is here overall, but there are places with more than 40 per sq mile, and no good way to really control the population in most places - other than to run them over by accident. That's just the way it goes, I guess.

[Mike Cruz]

Well, 40 per square mile isn't all bad. But if you are getting over that, winters and summer droughts can be awfully tough on them.

700 per acre? I find that a bit tough to swallow. I think you could barely FIT 700 deer in a square acre... But I wouldn't be too surprised to hear 500-700 per square mile in the park areas. No natural predators, no hunters, and probably fed by some...

[David Weaver]

Sorry, 700 per sq mile, got the wrong unit - I am usually better about that - 700 an acre would be the density of hauling deer to market in a pig truck.

I believe it was something more like 770 in one of the reports, before the culling. I could probably find the article about it.

Yuou can imagine what the habitat looks like with 700 a square mile. Nothing else can exist there (birds and small animals) because there's nothing to eat, and the density doesn't do wonders for the deer nutrition or disease.

[David Weaver]

I must be losing my mind (either that, or I can't remember much...or perhaps I read a dud news article back then. I'd love to think it was the latter).

Anyway, a review of the old stuff courtesy of google says the population was close to 120 per mile^2, and the NPS set their target at 20. They did have the problems with no habitat support for small animals and birds, though, I guess even at 120 there are significant carrying capacity issues.

So comparatively, 250 is a major issue.

[Mike Cruz]

Even at 120 per SM, a thinning of the herd in necessary. As a matter of fact, I keep telling the local hunters to let the 6+ pointers go, and take all the spikes, odd racks like three pointers, and four pointers out of the gene pool. In about 3 years time, they'd have their CHOICE of 8-10 point to take for their trophy wall. Antler size is a function of genetics. A spike or 4 point that is more than 2 years old will never become more than that. Take the odd antler/small rack bucks out, and leave the big rack bucks. That's how you get really nice bucks to "chose" from...not just take what walks by you. Falls on deaf ears, though...

[David Weaver]

that is a requirement here. there is a gap between spikes (which are allowed to be taken as doe if they are small enough) and either 3 or 4 points on a side where you are not allowed to take a deer at all unless you're military or disabled (as a courtesy to those folks). the biologists have the same sentiment you do. The herd of deer needs to have mature males so that the females are being bred by deer with better genetics, and not just what little is left because everything with any antler is blown away.