I'm doing it all wrong.

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troy fairweather

troy fairweather

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Up State New York
This year's hunting season has been the worst it's ever been for me, I got a small 6 pt but only deer I've seen and even the squirrel hunting sucked.

So my buddy stopped by today, he needed some 12ga slugs. We are out side he hands me 3 boxes of ppu 7.62x39 for the 30 or so slugs I gave him, nice since I wasn't asking for anything for the slugs.

As we stand there and talk 3 deer walk out the the 2 or 3 acer field next to my house. He said boy I wish it was that easy this season( he only shot a doe, the only deer he seen as well). I said here I'll make it easier, I made a kissy noises with my mouth like calling dog or cat. There ears spring up and the heads turn to us and they all run over across the field, by that time my buddy is freaking out a little.i said to him we just were hunting the wrong spot jokingly.

I found out about these deer a month ago, my mom said they were out on the porch earning are old pumpkins. They are all does, the young one looks like last year's deer and the others are 2 1/2-3 -1/2 years old.
I'll see them when taking the garbage out and last week I seen a car out from the lady next door, and I did the mouth thing. Nothing, typical for a car not to listen. That's when I've noticed the deer reacting to it.

I never feed them I'm sure that's how these deer have gotten used to people tho. They all look good and fat but to one doe is missing her left rear foot, just above where it pivots so it's just a stump. Hard to say what pain she is in her tail is tucked up but she looks to be fine. The end looks healed over good. She even walks around ok. Not sure if putting her out would be the right thing to do.

Just figured to share my little deer story, it's funny to me I only seen one deer this season and now can stick my head out the window and call 3 over on demand.
 
stillquietvoice said:
Well @troy fairweather I only saw one more than you did this season, at least that I could shoot at, a 5" Napoleon with grapeshot OT canister would have helped on the last one I saw, but it wasn't available at the time.
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Yup it was just a bad year, I've had years were deer would coming out everywhere except were I was hunting that day. But this year they just laid low.
 
caribou said:
We call those type "Uneducated"...... Young Caribou are like that.

When you shoot at 'em or have dogs chase em and they wont be so ease to see, soon.

Glad ya scored a young deer for munching, and keep the interest up.

Happy New Year.
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Happy New year, Meats going quick tho. Nothing to fill the freezer until string, we may not even get good I've this year, but it's fish until September 1st when small game opens back up.

funny enough are neighbor was walking there dog and the two older deer we're very interested in the dog, dog even got close enough for the oldest doe to get a few licks in. Like she was treating the dog like her fawn lol. I told the neighbor to be careful deer can kill dogs or at least a good kick it they feel up to it.

These seem smarter then the average deer, they even look both ways when crossing the private road are house is on.funny tho 2 hunters so close and they couldn't care less, suppose we didn't have killing deer on are mind.
 
troy fairweather said:
This year's hunting season has been the worst it's ever been for me, I got a small 6 pt but the only deer I've seen and even the squirrel hunting sucked.

So my buddy stopped by today, he needed some 12ga slugs. We are out side he hands me 3 boxes of ppu 7.62x39 for the 30 or so slugs I gave him, nice since I wasn't asking for anything for the slugs.

As we stand there and talk 3 deer walk out the the 2 or 3 acer field next to my house. He said boy I wish it was that easy this season( he only shot a doe, the only deer he seen as well). I said here I'll make it easier, I made a kissy noises with my mouth like calling dog or cat. There ears spring up and the heads turn to us and they all run over across the field, by that time my buddy is freaking out a little.i said to him we just were hunting the wrong spot jokingly.

I found out about these deer a month ago, my mom said they were out on the porch earning are old pumpkins. They are all does, the young one looks like last year's deer and the others are 2 1/2-3 -1/2 years old.
I'll see them when taking the garbage out and last week I seen a car out from the lady next door, and I did the mouth thing. Nothing, typical for a car not to listen. That's when I've noticed the deer reacting to it.

I never feed them I'm sure that's how these deer have gotten used to people tho. They all look good and fat but to one doe is missing her left rear foot, just above where it pivots so it's just a stump. Hard to say what pain she is in her tail is tucked up but she looks to be fine. The end looks healed over good. She even walks around ok. Not sure if putting her out would be the right thing to do.

Just figured to share my little deer story, it's funny to me I only seen one deer this season and now can stick my head out the window and call 3 over on demand.
Click to expand...
My inlaws have had deer for pets since I started going over to their place, and I had one way back as a kid, but gave it to a friend of mine.
They are interesting critters, in a way really similar to goats. They arnt stupid, but they will do stupid things. They are also easy to train and amazingly comfortable around other animals they probably shouldn't be.... sometimes to their detriment. Bucks can be a real handful unless cut, but does are generally pretty easy to deal with, tho they will boot dogs from time to time.

The ones that lived around our house seemed to know when I was actually TRYING to kill them and when I wasn't. I've walked within feet of a deer that KNEW I was there more than once. The Turkeys would do that too. I never shot them, and our dog knew not to chase them around the property, tho he killed more then a few off the property. The deer WOULD run from him pretty much every time, but unlike the turkeys, he really enjoyed making them run. Brought back a fawn once also.
Come bird season the turkeys stayed on our side of the ditch and never went more than a pond or two down from the house, they even moved from roosting in the big Keawe trees down at the end of our farm, to the smaller ones behind the house.
 
Years ago....Neighbors raised a Doe fawn that was seemingly orphaned. (Illegal to do in Texas, but it happens). They put a florescent orange dog collar around its neck and when grown, the Doe would travel about....visiting several of the properties around here. She would readily walk right up to you and look for hand outs. Come right in the house if you would let her. She was very fond of lettuce (hand fed) and REALLY liked to lick a sprinkle of salt from your cupped hand. Then she would go on her way.
 
troy fairweather said:
I never feed them I'm sure that's how these deer have gotten used to people tho. They all look good and fat but to one doe is missing her left rear foot, just above where it pivots so it's just a stump. Hard to say what pain she is in her tail is tucked up but she looks to be fine. The end looks healed over good. She even walks around ok. Not sure if putting her out would be the right thing to do.
Click to expand...

What you are witnessing is the acclimation to humans deer have taken to in the last half a century. When I was a kid my grandpa used to leave his farm in central Wisconsin during the 9 day deer season to take a train up North to Conover to hunt deer. The reason? There were no deer on his farm or in the general area. The small town I grew up in was full of deer hunters ans surrounded by small dairy farms. No body in the town hunted near-by and neither did any of the farmers. They all drove 20-30 miles to the large parcels of state-owned public lands to hunt deer. Reason? No deer locally. Now my grandpa's old farm and the area I grew up in, are some of the most heavily populated deer counties in the state. Nothing has changed but the deer's attitude towards man. Used to be deer saw a man walking on foot and it was gone. Nowadays, they just stand and watch, unless they have been pressured heavily. Deer have got so they identify man with food. Period. They have evolved to living with man knowing that while they are threatened, the threat is small compared to the benefits of living close to him. Generations of deer now have been born and raised within a shotgun slug's range of man their whole lives. They look at man like they look at his pet dog. They have learned to pattern him and his tendencies. We have helped to escalate this evolving by the feeding and planting of food plots. We have helped to reduce their fear by not shooting everyone we see(like my grandpa and those hunters when I grew up). The reason we have so many trophy bucks around is not because they are so smart, it's just because we given them a "get out of jail" card a dozen times over their life. 50 years ago, a buck got big because he either lived so far from humans he never really got seen, or he was exceptionally smart and lucky. Nowadays a buck can make 20-30 mortal mistakes in his life around man and still live to see 6 years old. Instead of getting smarter......they are getting dumber. Deer learn by repeating what has worked for them in the past. If in the past they have walked up on a man in the woods on the way to the bait pile, alerted of his presence and nothing bad happened, what has been learned? Maybe go to the baitpile even tho I know in advance that the man is there? Works just fine till the deer has enough horn and then it gets the surprise of it's life. We've conditioned deer to our presence where in the past, the conditioning was a bullet. Deer have conditioned themselves to the fact that man is close to his AG crops/baitpiles, but the advantages of using them as opposed to the deep forests, outweigh the risks because man is now so selective in what he shoots.

As for the doe's foot....my guess would be a fence. Hung up till she thrashed around enough to free herself. Maybe she was born early and froze the foot when she was a fawn. Could be a birth defect. Have witnessed several "tripod" deer over the years. Many times they have adapted so unless you watch them up close or for a length of time, their injury is not obvious. Yet, today's availability of good feed and lack of large predators makes it easier for deer with those types of injuries to survive.
 
It’s not just you. I had the worst season of my entire hunting life in terms of actually seeing deer and I’ve been hearing stories like this lots of people where I work and in my personal life.

I have a feeling it has to do with the unseasonably warm weather we had over this past deer season. Absent the actual science I have a feeling based on my observations where I hunt that the warm weather didn’t put pressure on deer to be a little more bold and forage for better/alternative food sources. Now that’s it’s gotten colder for more than one or two days in a row the deer have been kicked into the mode they should have been in last month.

Just my observations and two cents.
 
The doe with the missing foot gets around pretty good, the most times holds it in the air. When she is grazing I've seen her out some weight on the stub. We have a huge coyote population, there's on group(pack) that seem to make a one month loop, they travel the ridge tops. So the doe just found a way to avoid the coyote, see if she makes it through winter.
 
troy fairweather said:
I never feed them I'm sure that's how these deer have gotten used to people tho. They all look good and fat but to one doe is missing her left rear foot, just above where it pivots so it's just a stump. Hard to say what pain she is in her tail is tucked up but she looks to be fine. The end looks healed over good. She even walks around ok. Not sure if putting her out would be the right thing to do.
Click to expand...

Shot a buck with a compound fracture on a hind leg. He was about 300 yds out when I noticed he was dragging the leg, couldn't tell in the Bino's at that range either. Took him at about 210 yds.

troy fairweather said:
Yup it was just a bad year, I've had years were deer would coming out everywhere except were I was hunting that day. But this year they just laid low.
Click to expand...

Certainly was saw rubs, scrapes near some of the ones were left season. Could tell they were still moving east, west, and north, south. Just didn't know when they were moving. Shot my spike going west to east on the same trail that I took the seven point last year.

caribou said:
We call those type "Uneducated"...... Young Caribou are like that.
Click to expand...

I educated 2 spikes in the last 2 seasons, but being table fare I doubt they'll remember the lesson.

Flintknapper said:
They put a florescent orange dog collar around its neck and when grown, the Doe would travel about....visiting several of the properties around here.
Click to expand...

I've seen farmers paint large blaze orange squares, circles and others paint cow or horse on their livestock.

buck460XVR said:
What you are witnessing is the acclimation to humans deer have taken to in the last half a century. Whe
Click to expand...

Agreed teal easy for the yo live in the fringe. Also weather didn't force them to herd up as early this season.
 
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stillquietvoice said:
Shot a buck with a compound fracture on a hind leg. He was about 300 yds out when I noticed he was dragging the leg, couldn't tell in the Bino's at that range either. Took him at about 210 yds.



Certainly was saw rubs, scrapes near some of the ones were left season. Could tell they were still moving east, west, and north, south. Just didn't know when they were moving. Shot my spike going west to east on the same trail that I took the seven point last year.



I educated 2 spikes in the last 2 seasons, but being table fare I doubt they'll remember the lesson.



I've seen farmers paint large blaze orange squares, circles and others paint cow or horse on their livestock.



Agreed teal easy for the yo live in the fringe. Also weather didn't force them to herd up as early this season.
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Even at my buddy's small property where we built the blind he didn't see a thing. We normally see deer there daily just as we were working around the house. The food plot came in nice and he said not many deer we're going to it even at night. The bear were gone as well, we seen bear every week up until about September.

I think painting farm animals was more popular in ny over other states, then city hunters would shoot at anything.
 
troy fairweather said:
Even at my buddy's small property where we built the blind he didn't see a thing. We normally see deer there daily just as we were working around the house. The food plot came in nice and he said not many deer we're going to it even at night. The bear were gone as well, we seen bear every week up until about September.

I think painting farm animals was more popular in ny over other states, then city hunters would shoot at anything.
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Maybe they caught Covid. You could mix in some Zithromax and Prednisone in the deer corn.

You are not alone. At the property my brother and I hunt, they didn’t see deer for almost an entire month. Nothing at the food plots. Nothing at the feeders. Nothing. Then one evening, 37 does walked out into the plot like nothing ever happened.

I have some deer back home on public land that won’t come if called. But if you wave at them and whistle like a Robin, they will stand there until you get with about 30 yards before they bolt. I think it just confuses them.
 
BigBore44 said:
Maybe they caught Covid. You could mix in some Zithromax and Prednisone in the deer corn.

You are not alone. At the property my brother and I hunt, they didn’t see deer for almost an entire month. Nothing at the food plots. Nothing at the feeders. Nothing. Then one evening, 37 does walked out into the plot like nothing ever happened.

I have some deer back home on public land that won’t come if called. But if you wave at them and whistle like a Robin, they will stand there until you get with about 30 yards before they bolt. I think it just confuses them.
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Lol we were joking about them having the rona, then after 2 weeks of no deer it wasn't to funny. The farm I shot the small buck is a honey hole, it's only 25-30 acres but is next to a good size park the other side is where the pipeline runs that can't be hunted. Every opening day they shoot big bucks, they didn't see anything that morning, his some only seen one deer in the afternoon but that was a nice 12 pt.

The spot at my other buddy's house with the blind overlooking the plot is normally good he sate out nearly every day from open to about a week before close and never seen one. We even went to his sister's which for me I've shot a deer every time I've been there, nothing that day.

even the other animals were acting weird, didn't see many squirrel, no rabbits.

Don't know if baiting would have helped, we can't do it anyway. Even a food plot is walking a fine edge of the law here.
 
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troy fairweather said:
Don't know if baiting would have helped, we can't do it anyway. Even a good plot is walking a fine edge of the law here.
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I don't know either, usually take out apples and throw them out in the woods hoping to create new food sources for wildlife. So far haven't seen any evidence but maybe in a couple years it will bear fruit.
 
BigBore44 said:
How many cameras do you all have out?
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None by me, my friend with the small spot of land puts a few out. We had a bunch of deer until about September then they just stopped coming around. I can tell pretty good where the deer are moving and when last they were thru from deer sign, didn't see much this year.
 
troy fairweather said:
None by me, my friend with the small spot of land puts a few out. We had a bunch of deer until about September then they just stopped coming around. I can tell pretty good where the deer are moving and when last they were thru from deer sign, didn't see much this year.
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When does your rut start? And when do the acorns drop?
 
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