Awww, twins!

[mystkm]

I decided to go hunting this evening. I spent most of my time fending off mosquitoes the size of Chinooks. But I did get to see this (apologies for the crappy cell phone picture quality):



There's a doe with twin yearlings to her left feeding. Yeah I know....hard to make out the twins but trust me they're there. Wish I had a real camera with me...but at least I got to watch them for the better part of 45 minutes.

 

[Gordy2]

I chase out two mamas, one set of twins and a single yearling out of my yard at least twice a day. When they are eating your plants and lawn, they aren't so cute. My wife wants be to thin them out and get them in the freezer, especially since they love her hostas, even frost bitten hostas.

 

[mystkm]

Well that's one thing. I don't have that issue here. Worst problem I have is every great once in a while in late December or early January a couple seem to wander across 90 acres of field and locate my patch of greens in the garden.

 

[Gordy2]

They're so bad here, a hunting buddy has an 8 foot electric fence protecting his large summer garden and fall and early winter greens. Seems there's just not that many hunters anymore, and those that do hunt go after the bucks. I don't mind taking a doe during doe season, I think they are more tender than bucks and we are getting so many deer that they NEED thinning. I will have to admit, the yearlings are enjoyable to watch, when they are behaving.

 

[mystkm]

Yeah, in general I agree about not many hunters per se and the deer definitely need some thinning. And, perhaps those that do hunt mainly go after bucks. But...horns don't eat, as my Dad once told me. If I'm after meat because my reserves are low then I have no issue taking a doe. If not, I pass them up. I came close to harvesting that doe but what stopped me (twice) was she was a younger, smaller doe. I've seen larger, older ones around. While I can harvest up to six deer, being that it's just me, one a year is OK but two is almost too much. That pretty much makes a massive dent in my grocery bills for the year meat wise.

And, yeah, yearlings are a blast to watch most of the time. These behaved pretty well and did put on some frisky antics the first 5 minutes or so.

 

[AGE]

We have a similar problem with deer in Brisbane Australia in suburbia! makes hunting difficult, at least its a change from Kangaroo's and Wallabies. Though a similar ability to clear fences.

 

[mystkm]

While I've never tried this a friend of mine apparently has and swears by it. He goes to a barber shop and gets bags of hair and sprinkles it around the perimeter of his fence for his garden. He says it keeps them away.

While this may work since we are in a rural area, I don't know if it'd even work at all with "city" deer.

 

[Gordy2]

While I've never tried this a friend of mine apparently has and swears by it. He goes to a barber shop and gets bags of hair and sprinkles it around the perimeter of his fence for his garden. He says it keeps them away.

While this may work since we are in a rural area, I don't know if it'd even work at all with "city" deer.

That works well with the "wild" deer in our area, but the "domesticated" ones ignore it. Some are not even that afraid of the local dogs and I saw one doe chase a beagle down the street.

My hunting buddies and I don't shoot does that have fawns with them. That's kinda' a no no.

 

[Old AF SP]

Looks like your hunting from a ground blind? That's awesome!

Those that hunt up a tree are missing a big thrill. I've been so close to deer in a ground blind that i have touched fawns with the tip of my longbow.

 

[mystkm]

That works well with the "wild" deer in our area, but the "domesticated" ones ignore it. Some are not even that afraid of the local dogs and I saw one doe chase a beagle down the street.

My hunting buddies and I don't shoot does that have fawns with them. That's kinda' a no no.

Ha! No such thing as a domesticated deer in these parts. I wish I could have seen that doe chase a beagle! Yeah, I think shooting one with a fawn is a no no. Yearlings on the other hand....I'm on the fence with that. A couple of days ago I harvested a lone doe and had two sets of twins and two does feeding in the area.

Looks like your hunting from a ground blind? That's awesome!

Those that hunt up a tree are missing a big thrill. I've been so close to deer in a ground blind that i have touched fawns with the tip of my longbow.

Indeed I am. It's a ground blind I made out of split fence rails. It's covered with camo netting and canvas.

I agree with you. I had three deer last year I could have reached out and touched from that ground blind. I do hunt from a tree stand as well and love the scenery from being 20 or 30 feet up. Still, one can't beat a nice ground blind.

Longbow, eh? Before I ever hit my teens I was hunting with a recurve. By my mid teens I moved to a long bow. I do own a compound bow and have hunted with it exactly one season. It seems too much like cheating to me just like using inline muzzleloaders seem like cheating to me. Still got both my recurve and longbow that I made as well.

 

[Old AF SP]

I will admit, the scenery is better from 20 to 30 feet up. I agree 100%, compounds and inline M/Ls are like cheating. Never have hunted with a compound, but don't hold that against my buddies that hunt with a 'bow with training wheels'! If I hunt with a firearm it belches fire and smoke, has a flint or sidelock, and iron sights.

Someday when I grow up and have more time on my hands I'd like to try building my own bow!

 

[KodiakAttack]

I chase out two mamas, one set of twins and a single yearling out of my yard at least twice a day. When they are eating your plants and lawn, they aren't so cute. My wife wants be to thin them out and get them in the freezer, especially since they love her hostas, even frost bitten hostas.

I have a friend who started putting hot sauce on all the plants that deer were eating in his yard, obviously it didnt make his plants look any nicer. Get some pure capsicum and put a few drops on the plants. See what happens.

 

[mystkm]

I will admit, the scenery is better from 20 to 30 feet up. I agree 100%, compounds and inline M/Ls are like cheating. Never have hunted with a compound, but don't hold that against my buddies that hunt with a 'bow with training wheels'! If I hunt with a firearm it belches fire and smoke, has a flint or sidelock, and iron sights.

Someday when I grow up and have more time on my hands I'd like to try building my own bow!

Now that's awesome! A few years ago I got into flintlocks and purchased a .32 caliber kit from Dixie Gun Works. I've tried (rather unsuccessfully) to take some squirrels with it. The thing is a load of fun to shoot. Quite a bit different from my .50 cal cap and ball.

As for building your own bow....that's a serious sickness to develop!! Trust me! My Dad has a friend that was interested in it and got us hooked on it. You won't believe the paraphernalia you'll acquire just to make one. Not to mention it is a metric ton of work. But....it IS satisfying to harvest a big buck with one you made. I'll try to upload some pictures of mine tomorrow.

I must say I did have a blast competing in bow tournaments all through the state. Everyone looked at me like I was nuts. A teenager rocking a recurve and longbow. I was the only one in my age group. Funny thing is I was consistently in the top three score wise against adult compound shooters. The looks on other guy's faces when I'd study a target then suddenly draw and release and bullseye a 50-60 yard shot using a longbow was priceless. Training wheels? Who need them!