Any deer hunters/enthusiasts here?

[greyghost]

Our place is on several wooded acres, adjacent to a state park. Every so often though, and twice in the last week, we have had deer try to cross the highway and get killed by cars. Saturday morning one was lying dead right at the venue entrance, we had to remove it before anyone in the wedding party saw it. Would be a great way to start your wedding



Losing deer bothers me, because I'm in the forest enough I *know* these deer. I know the size of their herds, and some of them I've known for years, knew what their mommas looked like. There is a hunting plot a few acres away, I don't care as much if they are hunted and eaten. Roadkill is just a waste all around.



My guess is they are crossing for water. In winter though, they likely are looking for food.


To reduce the chances of dead, I'm willing to try feeding them and leaving a trough of water out up by the edge of the state park. In looking at all the options on Amazon, I want to know if any are better than others. I don't give a shite about antler size, most of ours are does.


Any tips appreciated, both in method, frequency, and placement.

 

[bill dennison]

i have not hunted in years because of CWD mostly

https://www.cdc.gov/prions/cwd/prevention.html

be carefull

if they look sick or are acting strangely or are found dead (road-kill).

 

[greyghost]

I do know about it. So far none of "our" deer appear sickly. Folks around here still hunt quite a lot (and it's not terribly unusual to discover that a deer hit on the highway has been cut up after).


Its the South. *shrug*

 

[Riptide]

Don't hunt but I do love me some deer sausage. Only thing that beats it is elk sausage.

 

[Munkus]

I've got about a dozen deer on my property. A couple of bucks, several does, and a few fawns. I don't hunt any of them. I love watching them. When I do hunt, I go into public lands (of which there is plenty around here). Luckily I'm far enough from the main roads that I don't have to worry about them getting hit, but when I do travel the local highway there is always roadkill here and there. It's not water they are after. We have TONS of creeks, rivers and lakes nearby. Not sure what's making them want to cross, but the local body shops do big business here.

 

[huskylord]

I like the band Deerhunter:

[yt]aW2jOA6uIaM[/yt]

 

[Lazy8s]

I've got about a dozen deer on my property. A couple of bucks, several does, and a few fawns. I don't hunt any of them. I love watching them. When I do hunt, I go into public lands (of which there is plenty around here). Luckily I'm far enough from the main roads that I don't have to worry about them getting hit, but when I do travel the local highway there is always roadkill here and there. It's not water they are after. We have TONS of creeks, rivers and lakes nearby. Not sure what's making them want to cross, but the local body shops do big business here.

Predators?

 

[kytprice]

All my guns and I don't hunt at all. We have a ton of deer but I enjoy them to much to hunt them. They get really close to us in our yard. Now if we were hungry that's another story.

 

[bill dennison]

I've got about a dozen deer on my property. A couple of bucks, several does, and a few fawns. I don't hunt any of them. I love watching them. When I do hunt, I go into public lands (of which there is plenty around here). Luckily I'm far enough from the main roads that I don't have to worry about them getting hit, but when I do travel the local highway there is always roadkill here and there. It's not water they are after. We have TONS of creeks, rivers and lakes nearby. Not sure what's making them want to cross, but the local body shops do big business here.

they were all over my uncles place in buffalo wy

one sacred the hell out of my bloodhound looking in the sliding door

 

[greyghost]

Predators?

Not many around here. Bobcats are too small. Some idiot neighbor shot the foxes, those only bother infant deer... once in a great while there is a mountain lion but you might hear tell of a sighting once every five years.



No idea why they cross then.
Guess i will see if feeding/keeping water this side of the highway helps tho. There isn't much on our side, but there is a pond on the other side.

 

[bittermann]

All my guns and I don't hunt at all. We have a ton of deer but I enjoy them to much to hunt them. They get really close to us in our yard. Now if we were hungry that's another story.

We have them in my back yard as well. Had some triplets running around having fun this summer. Last few years I've been hunting for a wall-hanger (bow moslty). That and jimmy sticks/sausage. The older I get the more I hate the cluster of gun hunting in WI. Especially on public land. I guess the older you get the more you appreciate all wildlife and don't fill tags just because you can.

 

[bill dennison]

my uncle and great uncle both took two deer and a elk almost every year and some antelope

my dad was always working two jobs most of the time

now my great uncle and aunt died with dementia years ago

my aunt died with full on alzheimer's and uncle had dementia and couldn't remember the start of a phone call

now they say CWD does not transfer humans but it is a prion brain disease
and they make you test all kills now and destroy the meat if found

my dad and mom lived to 90 and 91 with no sign of any form of dementia

...

now i buy good canon cameras to hunt with that go obsolete before i use them much because i'm always working

 

[Lazy8s]

Not many around here. Bobcats are too small. Some idiot neighbor shot the foxes, those only bother infant deer... once in a great while there is a mountain lion but you might hear tell of a sighting once every five years.



No idea why they cross then.
Guess i will see if feeding/keeping water this side of the highway helps tho. There isn't much on our side, but there is a pond on the other side.

most likely just a foraging path they take. It’s coming up on 40 years since I lived in Michigan, but the herds around the upper peninsula used to go hungry in the winter, not uncommon to stumble across carcasses in the dead of winter.

Then again, winter there is nothing at all like winter anywhere in the south.

Hopefully your guests are smart enough to not try to get too friendly with a buck, should they encounter one.

 

[greyghost]

Hopefully your guests are smart enough to not try to get too friendly with a buck, should they encounter one.

DYING


We get a number of city people as guests here. For some, when they see an insect here, you'd think it was the first time they had ever encountered one. I wouldn't be surprised to find someone saying "here kitty kitty" to a bobcat.



However, weddings make noise, and that keeps the critters away. Most of them. Snakes don't give a ****. Deer will stay away though.

 

[Lazy8s]

DYING


We get a number of city people as guests here. For some, when they see an insect here, you'd think it was the first time they had ever encountered one. I wouldn't be surprised to find someone saying "here kitty kitty" to a bobcat.



However, weddings make noise, and that keeps the critters away. Most of them. Snakes don't give a ****. Deer will stay away though.

It’s true. I live among all city folk now. I wouldn’t camp at a Kampground of America with them

A laughable story for you. We went to New Hampshire camping. beautiful place called Crawford’s Notch. Late one morning a bull moose wandered through the campground.

Yes. A number of people, mostly men, wanted to walk over and get their photo taken with it.

you can’t make this stuff up

 

[greyghost]

It’s true. I live among all city folk now. I wouldn’t camp at a Kampground of America with them

A laughable story for you. We went to New Hampshire camping. beautiful place called Crawford’s Notch. Late one morning a bull moose wandered through the campground.

Yes. A number of people, mostly men, wanted to walk over and get their photo taken with it.

you can’t make this stuff up

Well I cursed us with the snake reference earlier.
Saturday night, my venue manager spotted a copperhead. Then another one. And another. All near each other. This is 30 minutes before send off, and right where the send off will be, AND our waiting area to pick up guests in our shuttle and take them to their cars.
Eight in total. We figured out, a female was "ready" and giving off pheremones that brought Every. Male. Copperhead down the mountain.
So while my manager and another employee are trying to keep lights on the snakes and my other half is chopping them up with a shovel, people are ALL WATCHING. One drunk idiot offered to pick them up and throw them further in the woods. Another drunk idiot leaned hard on my venue manager's shoulder (yeah little close bud, back off) and she was afraid he was going to push her right into one.
The whole time I am driving everybody back to their cars, I'm having to explain Basic Snake Information 101: No, copperheads are not worse than rattlesnakes. No, baby snakes are not more venomous, they just lack control and dig in.

One lady was all "why are there snakes here?" and I explain we are in the middle of a forest, it's their habitat "well I live in the woods and I NEVER see snakes!" Her son says "mom, we don't really live in the woods."
People.
The guys that offered to pick them up win.

 

[Lazy8s]

Well I cursed us with the snake reference earlier.
Saturday night, my venue manager spotted a copperhead. Then another one. And another. All near each other. This is 30 minutes before send off, and right where the send off will be, AND our waiting area to pick up guests in our shuttle and take them to their cars.
Eight in total. We figured out, a female was "ready" and giving off pheremones that brought Every. Male. Copperhead down the mountain.
So while my manager and another employee are trying to keep lights on the snakes and my other half is chopping them up with a shovel, people are ALL WATCHING. One drunk idiot offered to pick them up and throw them further in the woods. Another drunk idiot leaned hard on my venue manager's shoulder (yeah little close bud, back off) and she was afraid he was going to push her right into one.
The whole time I am driving everybody back to their cars, I'm having to explain Basic Snake Information 101: No, copperheads are not worse than rattlesnakes. No, baby snakes are not more venomous, they just lack control and dig in.

One lady was all "why are there snakes here?" and I explain we are in the middle of a forest, it's their habitat "well I live in the woods and I NEVER see snakes!" Her son says "mom, we don't really live in the woods."
People.
The guys that offered to pick them up win.

I needed a good laugh this morning and your guests delivered!


You know you’re going to have to write a book one day, right? You would have people falling out of their chairs

 

[greyghost]

I needed a good laugh this morning and your guests delivered!


You know you’re going to have to write a book one day, right? You would have people falling out of their chairs

Actually my venue manager and I are considering a podcast. We'll have to change our voices and never be identifiable by location to protect ourselves, but man there is some stuff I would LOVE to share about.

 

[Lazy8s]

Actually my venue manager and I are considering a podcast. We'll have to change our voices and never be identifiable by location to protect ourselves, but man there is some stuff I would LOVE to share about.

You would have 2 guaranteed viewers in my house. The best half and I would be dying over those shenanigans lol.

 

[bill dennison]

copperheads are easy to pick up

i grabbed one right behind the head going after a friend in black river in ohio it ran thru my uncles 200 acres in lorain ohio

we were up to our waists in the river fishing

now they are hard as hell to put down

i had to hold it till he got his kinfe out

we were about 14 at the time