Deer Season Approaches

[TXBryan]

We've had a lovely cool snap that usually comes the third week of October. Not sure how long this will last but it's been in the mid 50s at dawn for the last several days. When this happens in late-October one can be reasonably sure it's not going to be 100 degrees anymore for the rest of the calendar year. Sure hope that's true as we head into mid-September.

The backyard deer are surely more frisky, as are the cats. Our resident 3 year-old buck shed his velvet in a single day about three weeks ago. Bloody mess for a couple days and, apparently, crazy with the itching. The does gave him a wide berth as he tore up the backyard brush and shrubbery. They generally try and chase him off everyday but not that day!

Of course these deer are safe, at least from me, as we've a place nearby that's more hunt-suitable. I start putting 20% protein out on the back wall of the yard when the fawns drop about mid-May so the mamas have plenty of milk.

Bryan

 

[mike4sigs]

We've had a lovely cool snap that usually comes the third week of October. Not sure how long this will last but it's been in the mid 50s at dawn for the last several days. When this happens in late-October one can be reasonably sure it's not going to be 100 degrees anymore for the rest of the calendar year. Sure hope that's true as we head into mid-September.

The backyard deer are surely more frisky, as are the cats. Our resident 3 year-old buck shed his velvet in a single day about three weeks ago. Bloody mess for a couple days and, apparently, crazy with the itching. The does gave him a wide berth as he tore up the backyard brush and shrubbery. They generally try and chase him off everyday but not that day!

Of course these deer are safe, at least from me, as we've a place nearby that's more hunt-suitable. I start putting 20% protein out on the back wall of the yard when the fawns drop about mid-May so the mamas have plenty of milk.

Bryan

50 pounds a week of corn here.
what is the ball hanging in the tree

 

[mike4sigs]

 

[TXBryan]

The ball is odds and ends of cloth and fiber that, supposedly, the birds can use for nest material. My wife won it as a door prize when attending her local garden club meeting recently. Probably a function of the time of year but it doesn't seem overly popular.

We feed some corn occasionally at the ranch but inevitably end up with increased feral hog traffic when we do. Our local Texas A&M wildlife biologist, actually Texas Parks & Wildlife, says feeding corn is like putting out a bowl of Doritos; everyone loves them but they really don't constitute health food. A relatively steady diet of corn apparently gives deer the scours.

As policy we only supply a feed as a supplement so I don't worry too much about deer getting a steady diet of anything from me. Sounds like you have the same policy.

Bryan

 

[steelslaver]

My deer come right up to me wen they see me walking in the driveway wanting a bit of corn. The one old doe who I have know since she was a fawn will eat right out of a bowl I am holding in my hand. There is a little 3 point that was a spike last year, but he stays back a few feet. Come November the big boys will come around romancing the does that live here

 

[Dave.357]

I am lucky, have a wife that hunts (45 years so far) and have
Land and a hunting cabin . Little 6 point on wall was her first deer she has been hooked ever since.
Picture of deer in field was taken from our cabin.
Tornado did wipe out my tree stand
It will be fixed before season.

 

[jscheck]

We’ve got bunches of does wandering the neighborhood and a few young bucks. All are too small to think about hunting (and I think the neighbors feed them). My dog run out in the yard and they just look at each other.

 

[Exmilcop]

We have does galore where I hunt, but to get an "antlerless" tag we have to enter a lottery. To make a long story short, neither my buddy nor I were successful so we're both bucks only. The pig of it is the area is over run with does, they're smaller than they should be due to competition for food, they're getting into town, into peoples gardens, and pose hazards on the highways and roads. The locals are steaming that so few doe tags were alloted in our hunting area. If the fates are kind, I'll repeat last year's harvest. I'd really love to get the big sonofagun I caught on the trail cam last year.