Thread: Not Hunting, but kinda cool.

I shot this in my back yard a few years ago. I feed the deer here every day, rain, shine, snow, sleet, all year 'round & have for 23 years. I have the great, great, grand daughter of the first wild deer that ever ate from my hand coming to eat every day. The doe in the video was killed on November 11, 2016 a few properties over. She had been coming here every day for 13 years. I knew her since she was 2 weeks old. Since I hunt other places, I decided to have a safe zone to see how many might come around. The most deer I ever had here at once was 27, though that was in February about 10 years ago with snow on the ground and not much to eat in the woods. As soon as the snow melted, the herd broke up and went back to normal size. Most of the does survive the hunting season and I lose more to the road than anything. The bucks disperse once they grow their first rack to go seek their own territory. I almost never see bucks that were raised here once they leave. The biggest bucks usually don't usually come around until after dark.

Since I take from somewhere, I need to put back somewhere too, so why not my property? I have really learned a lot about deer behavior and body language just by observing. I also test buck lures to see what reactions I get from different animals. I was worried about having them get accustomed to people, but as long as I'm around the same area I feed them, the deer accept me. If I'm across the creek in the woods, they throw tails up and run, even if they can smell me.

Jim

We had an outbreak of blue tongue around here a few years ago that took out a lot of deer, but it is nowhere near as severe or long term as chronic wasting disease. I hope that situation clears up with minimal loss for you. Too bad no one has figured out a way that disease can be eradicated. I'm not aware of CWD being present around these parts. If the state of North Carolina outlawed hunting over bait, the deer population would explode and some guys might not know how to hunt a deer.

Jim