# Its opening weekend!



## Frizzle (Oct 6, 2011)

For deer hunting, don'cha know, eh? lol. Its so exciting. Driving to my stand this morning, it was crazy seeing so many cars out at 5:45am. For those of you who don't know, deer hunting is really popular here in Wisconsin. My family owns the "88 Acre Woods," where my dad, brother, aunt, uncle, cousin, and I all hunt. Sitting in the double decker, it started to get light, and soon the birds started chirping around 6:30. Then, the gun shots begin! The louder, the closer it is, but you can hear them from miles away.

My aunt is the only one who got anything this morning, an ugly 4 pointer. I could have shot a doe who was traveling with her two fawns, but my folks told me to hold off on the does til later in the week. I did get to see a coyote come out of our woods, so that was pretty neat. We'd seen signs of them before, but I've never seen one on our property. It was howling later in the afternoon, fairly close to my stand.

Don't tell anyone, but there is this AWESOME buck that's hanging out in one of our fields. An 8 or 10 pointer, with a beautiful, even spread. If it gets shot, its gonna get its head taxidermized its so nice. So my brother and dad have been camping out down there since last night at 11, but it hasn't shown up this morning, hopefully tonight will reap its rewards. I'm mainly in this for the sport/memory/and the venison, but even I can appreciate a good buck.

Here's to hunting!


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## Autumn2005 (Apr 21, 2010)

Gratz! Sounds fun.


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## Shadowrunner (Sep 26, 2011)

xD venison is delicious *wishes you luck*

Would you have also dispatched the fawns if you had shot the doe? (I can only do snares and archery.The archery is not so good :/ The wolfdog eats everything he catches, so no goods there either.)


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## Frizzle (Oct 6, 2011)

Thanks! I agree, venison IS delicious. And no, at this point the fawns are around 6 months old, so they are weaned and capable of life on their own. Besides ppl, the only predator that would take down a deer in our area is a car and bad weather, coyotes are only scavengers that loot the carcasses.

I passed up a spiker last night, saw the doe and two fawns again, as well as a couple lone deer that were too far away/moved to fast to scope. Dad thinks the monster is taking cover in our woods, so my brother is trying the "tube" today.

Did you know that you look at the teeth to age a deer? A lot of ppl think its the bigger the horns, the older the buck, but deer in Wisconsin rarely get over the age of 5, because of how heavily they are hunted. Even then, it is usually the does since they aren't as often shot.


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## Autumn2005 (Apr 21, 2010)

You look at teeth to tell a horse's age too. Interesting that you use the same method for deer as well.


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## Frizzle (Oct 6, 2011)

Yeah, you look at the teeth in their lower jaw. Until 6 months of age, deer only have five pairs. Then a sixth molar grows in. The third tooth in from the front is the next key aging tool. Until about a year and a half, this tooth will have three cusps (points) on it, where upon it will be replaced with a tooth that only has two cusps. From there, you go off of how far the back molar grew in, combined with the wear. As mentioned, the deer rarely make it over 5 yrs, so the wear is really specific. Deer that have been raised on a deer farm can be super old (an example in class was one in/around its 20's) but the wear is more varied, and the tooth wear isn't as precise.

Deer are typically born in the spring, shot in the fall, which is why the ages are measured like 6 months, 1 1/2 yrs, 2 1/2 yrs, etc... Anything else and it would have been shot out of season/raised on a game farm.


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## Laigaie (Mar 7, 2011)

They might make it longer if you make a cultural or legal prohibition against killing does still with their fawns.


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

there have been seasons here in Minnesota where it was forbidden to bag does at all. I always felt left out when my dad and brother would head off with a few relatives for the weekend. I'd have rather gone to shoot pheasant and grouse as my dad was a good enough hunter that I got pretty tired of venison as a kid. Some seasons he bagged two deer, so we had a LOT of venison at the table.

It all sounds like good times, though. I did, on my own, spend a lot of time up a tree watching the critters.


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## Frizzle (Oct 6, 2011)

The area that I live in has always abounded with deer, its been a T-zone up until that earn a buck program. The DNR did a VERY good job of culling down the deer herd with that little number. Driving out to my stand on Friday night to put some blankets and stuff up there, we passed a herd of a dozen does munching in the corn. I don't think shooting does is ever going to be an issue in my county.

Laigaie: Make what longer? The time until the gun hunt, or hunting (bow and muzzle-loading) in general? I have no-idea what you mean by cultural/legal prohibition. By "fawn," I'm talking 6 month olds. A doe's offspring will stay with her for about a year.

moustress: lol, the only time I got grouse is when my dad would hit it with his truck! Probably the only reason I really got included with the hunting is because our land is right by the house. So no deer camp for my family, as well as when I was younger we had dairy, and when you have dairy, dairy is your life. Vacations are very short. I was trying to get my mom to let me take out her good camera during the hunt, the chickadees were flipping around by my face, I really wanted to get a close up!


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## moustress (Sep 25, 2009)

Those filthy ungulates deserve to die!! Die!! Die!!

They are hazards to navigation in populated areas, not to mention the munching of gardens and trees. I remember driving through a state park area in Wisconsin right at twilight and after dark. We were on that piece of road for maybe a half an hour, but it seemed to take forever. there were deer standing all over the place, right of the road, left of the road, right in the middle of the road. It was terrifying!

I've been kind of off venison ever since my science club, in high school, had to dissect deer livers and count the liver flukes.

My dad loved to hunt with our mixed Irish setter/water spaniel, Rusty. He was a good retriever, and loved to flush out ground birds.


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## Laigaie (Mar 7, 2011)

By cultural/legal prohibition, I mean that here, with the hunters I know, it would be considered the absolute worst thing possible to shoot a doe with fawns. Those fawns stay with her for a reason, much like baby mice are often kept with their mother until a week or even two after they are weaned. Here, we would call it "shooting yourself in the foot". :? That said, I don't personally hunt or have anything against it, and think of the whole issue solely from a herd management perspective. In that sense, I feel that the most reasonable solution is to prohibit canid hunting, but I understand livestock farmers disagree.  Either way, I don't mean to argue, so much as point out that the deer will live longer, and provide better-looking trophies and better-managed herds, if the fawns are fully raised before losing their dams.  I'm glad you got to get out and that you've got your eye on a good one! It's always nice to have a goal in mind.


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## Autumn2005 (Apr 21, 2010)

moustress said:


> Those filthy ungulates deserve to die!! Die!! Die!!
> 
> I've been kind of off venison ever since my science club, in high school, had to dissect deer livers and count the liver flukes.


I'm afraid to ask.... but are liver flukes parasites?


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## Frizzle (Oct 6, 2011)

Laigaie: The hunting perspective from my area is "If its brown, shoot it down." Going to a management college, I am seeing the problems with this idea, lol. One of my uncles brought up a similar point about the does with fawns, except he looked at it as these were not barren does, and should continue to breed. I'm kinda looking at it from not necessarily barren, but more so who raised their babies successfully. Nah, you're not argueing. Its nice to see a different point of view, its how we learn. I'm kinda working on changing my mentality from the area's perspective, the only problem is that 88 acres is about a half mile, you need about 1 square mile to manage anything effectively.

Oh, do you know what my fool cousin did!? Shot at a doe, "missed" then shot the fawn. The doe actually dropped 25 yrds away on the other side of the fence line. Ug... I know I never would have gotten away with those shenanigans from my parents. I'm guessing her dad was P.O.ed too, she made some angry facebook status about how he made her drag them both out, and do all the gutting and skinning by herself. This cousin is a little idiot, kinda the 9th grade skank.

Autumn: Yep, parasites that are more common in wetter area. Last year we donated our livers to the college that was doing research, and we had to select how close we were to a swamp. Maybe this is why my family doesn't eat them, lol.


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## Laigaie (Mar 7, 2011)

She should also be donating the meat! Idiot who shoots fawns. DX


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## MoonfallTheFox (Nov 12, 2011)

Euu. Liver flukes. LOL.

I don't think we should be shooting does who have fawns, they need the mother and (as others said) the doe is productive. I also don't think every older buck should be killed- those who survive for a long time are strong animals with genes that should be passed on.

Vension is good, I had some jerky once and liked it. I'm partial to elk in particular.


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## Shadowrunner (Sep 26, 2011)

My uncle would go hunting for deer and..jar it?

Amazing it was xD

They are all over the place here. It's so bad that when we drive at night, My mom will drive and I will be the "spotter". We lost a car or two to them for sure >__>


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