Not deer season yet

[NavyVet1959]

Had an injured 6-pointer in my backyard this morning. He was bleeding from the rear. He laid down in a corner of my backyard and wouldn't even get up when I walked all the way up to him. I opened the rear gate that leads to the levee area / greenspace behind my property and eventually he got up and hobbled towards it.

So small, not even worth the effort to harvest. This is why some call the deer we have around here just "dogs with horns".

http://images.spambob.net/navy-vet-1959/deer-in-backyard-2.jpg
http://images.spambob.net/navy-vet-1959/deer-in-backyard-1.jpg

[richhodg66]

Poor little guy. I hope he recovers, but being injured in nature usually is a death sentence. Any idea what hurt him?

[NavyVet1959]

Poor little guy. I hope he recovers, but being injured in nature usually is a death sentence. Any idea what hurt him?

Don't know... I saw a couple of quarter size spots of blood on my driveway, so I believe he was injured before he managed to make it in my backyard. He hopped over the two wire electric fence that I have under the breezeway between my garage and my house that keeps my dog in the yard. The deer eventually got his head stuck in the metal fence and my dog was licking the blood on the rear of the deer. I put the dog up and washed all the blood off the dog. When I came back outside, the deer had gotten out of the fence and was laying down under a tree in the corner of my yard, but would not get up when I walked up to it. I went back inside and called the TXPWD and they had a game warden call me back. I told him I wasn't particularly in a deer harvesting mood this morning, especially since the ones we have around here are so small, plus since I'm in the city limits and it's daylight, shooting him might be noticeable (joggers along the levee in the mornings). He said that I could just take a knife and slit his throat and harvest him. Well, I guess the buck was listening in on my conversation since right about that time, he hopped up and I was able to head him towards the open rear gate that allowed him onto the greenspace / levee area. That was when I snapped the above photo.

[richhodg66]

Probably hit by a car. If it didn't break any bones, he might make it.

I hate seeing road killed deer. For every one you see that died quick, how many got gravely injured and managed to make it off the road to die a lingering death? Not to mention property damage and the risk of injury/death to the people in the cars. Sad deal all the way around, just can't think of anything that can be done about it except hunt them and keep populations down, which you can't really do in the suburbs.

[NavyVet1959]

Around here, I mainly see does and fawns. The other night, I was riding my Harley back home and when I came into the subdivision, there were 5 deer (2 does and 3 youngsters who were probably born last year). They were moving down the "buffet line" that is the ornamental plantings that some of my neighbors seem to like to have in their yards. These are the same neighbors plant these things and then complain about the deer eating them. The does are pretty tame. You can drive right by them and they will just look at you. Hell, they'll even use the crosswalks at stop signs to cross the street! The bucks, on the other hand, are skittish. They will run out in front of you crossing the street and then do it again and again if you are driving slower than they can run. They aren't that large, but I don't want to be hit by one when I'm on a motorcycle. Not that I particularly want the expense of hitting on in a car either.

Combining how small they are and how tame they are, I don't even bother to harvest them if I'm hunting hogs and I come across some. Just doesn't seem sporting.

[Markbo]

You in Central Texas/Hill country?

[NavyVet1959]

You in Central Texas/Hill country?

Nope, about 40 miles south of you.

[Markbo]

Ahhh... the few deer we see in my hood anymore are just like that. I think thats why people like to feed and try to pet them. :)

[NavyVet1959]

Ahhh... the few deer we see in my hood anymore are just like that. I think thats why people like to feed and try to pet them. :)

Our levees are connected into a "greenbspace" and eventually end up in the river bottom land along the Brazos. The deer follow the levees and end up in our subdivisions. So do the hogs. The damage the hogs do is a lot more noticeable though. I'm not big on the whole ornamental plant landscaping thing, so I really don't care if the deer consider the front yards as basically a buffet line that they walk along at night. The fact that their eating habits irritate the yuppie neighbors makes me like the deer even more.

[Markbo]

Heh heh heh... I like your style. I guess we are lucky I have only heard of 2 hog sightings anywhere near me and they were alone. I have oftened wondered if a bow hunter didnt take them down

[NavyVet1959]

Heh heh heh... I like your style. I guess we are lucky I have only heard of 2 hog sightings anywhere near me and they were alone. I have oftened wondered if a bow hunter didnt take them down

I saw a hog on the levee on the other side of the pond behind my house a couple of years ago around dusk. It would have been a pretty long shot and there were houses on the other side of the levee behind him, so I didn't bother with it. If he came closer, I might have harvested him. The next evening, I was out there and I heard a single gun shot. I think someone had a closer shot and took it. :)

Actually, I can get away with a couple of shots at night around here if I need to get rid of a pest and no one seems to notice. The houses are fairly well sound-insulated and people don't leave their windows open, so no one hears it and calls the cops. I have some very low velocity rounds that I fire in a .357 for the pests and I choose the appropriate round for whatever pest I need to dispatch. Armadillos get a 158 gr cast lead bullet going at around 400 fps and it is at an angle such that if it goes through, it ends up in the ground. Rodents get .357 shotshells that use spent primers for the "pellets". At close range, they are deadly, but they will also not go through a cedar fence picket.

[taco650]

"The buffet line"... I like it!

[HABCAN]

Spent primers for 'pellets'? Now THERE's an idea. TYVM!

[Bad Water Bill]

Listening to the radio and they said there were more deer killed by cars in Cook County than any other county IN THE STATE.

Yup 60,000 acres of Forest Preserve and it is all a GUN FREE ZONE.

OH well the reported 3,000 coyotes in the county can continue munching venison steaks EVERY DAY.

[Markbo]

You might want to look into a suppressor for a .22. With match/sub sonic ammo they are movie quiet. :D

[NavyVet1959]

Spent primers for 'pellets'? Now THERE's an idea. TYVM!

Yep... Great for short range... They loose velocity pretty quickly... Which is just as well since going out a rifled barrel, the pattern tends to spread a bit. Just take a .357 mag cartridge, put 2 gr of a fast powder like Red Dot in it, then tamp down a 1" square wad of paper towel, fill it up with spent primers, and then cap it with a bit of wax pressed down into it. Quiet enough that the neighbors don't notice it and deadly to mice at 10 ft. Squirrels are usually too far away, so it just scares them away.

[NavyVet1959]

"The buffet line"... I like it!

I remember coming in one night and there was a group of them in the middle of the street, slowly meandering down the road in a group. I was right behind them in my truck and they didn't speed up or get out of the way. Periodically a couple of them would peel off on one side or the other, go munch on some plants at one house or another, and then come back and join the group. I probably followed them for 4 blocks and it really just seemed like they were going through a buffet line.

[taco650]

I remember coming in one night and there was a group of them in the middle of the street, slowly meandering down the road in a group. I was right behind them in my truck and they didn't speed up or get out of the way. Periodically a couple of them would peel off on one side or the other, go munch on some plants at one house or another, and then come back and join the group. I probably followed them for 4 blocks and it really just seemed like they were going through a buffet line.

The deer have eaten my wife's flowers at every house we've ever owned. Didn't matter if we lived in town or out, fence or no fence. One house had a 5' chain link fence around the yard, the does still jumped it with ease! Roses seem to have been the favorite food.

[NavyVet1959]

The deer have eaten my wife's flowers at every house we've ever owned. Didn't matter if we lived in town or out, fence or no fence. One house had a 5' chain link fence around the yard, the does still jumped it with ease! Roses seem to have been the favorite food.

That's like setting up a deer feeder and then complaining about the deer eating all of your corn. :)

[taco650]

That's like setting up a deer feeder and then complaining about the deer eating all of your corn. :)

True. The irony is SHE DOESN'T HUNT!!

[Powder Burn]

Hope he makes it. They are pretty resilient. Who knows, in a few years he could be a 'turdy point buck'. They sure do like Hostas.

[NavyVet1959]

Seems that they are having problem with deer in a small town in Oregon:

http://video.foxnews.com/v/4584370435001/deer-in-oregon-town-terrorizing-residents-ruining-property/?intcmp=hpvid1#sp=show-clips

[Bad Water Bill]

With 50 deer car collisions in 1 year how long till their car insurance rates take a BIG increase?

Time to FIX em all.

[NavyVet1959]

We have quite a few deer around here, but they are pretty good about not jumping out in front of cars. They mainly come out at night. And yeah, they will use the crosswalks when crossing the street at a stop sign. I've only seen one hit by a car since I've lived here and it was by an idiot driver who was speeding down a street and ignored the deer warning sign. I was slowing up as I got near the levee where they go through at night and he comes zooming past me and hits one. I stopped, asked him if he was OK, and upon learning that he was, I asked him if he thought that maybe the city was serious about it when they put up the deer warning sign.

http://www.pdffun.com/images/thumbs/heres_your_sign.jpg