Jude 2

We saw two six points (best rack count in the dark) and a doe about 10 miles from my house. Eat your heart out hunters! Of all my years of driving, I have only witnessed bucks near the highway one other time. We see doe all the time. I would assume to see bucks on the highway is uncommon?

pa

pastorables,

I was enjoying a wave runner ride with a cousin and my two boys on Table Rock lake early one morning a couple of weeks ago. When in the distance I spotted what turned out to be two 6 point bucks swimming across the part of the lake that I was on. I got close enough to them to grab their antlers. They could not do anything but grunt at me because they where in 20 feet of water.

After messing with them a couple of minutes I herded them back to the shore line. They could not get away from us fast enough. I wish I could have gotten video, but it is a memory that we soon won't forget. I have had deer run past me within a few feet and I have had them directly under my tree stand, but to be near them in water was different because they were unable to get away instantly.

What a You Tube video that would have made!

jessea wrote: I wish I could have gotten video, but it is a memory that we soon won't forget.

I'm sure. Great story!

And how big was that fish that got away? JK

We have 3 bucks that have been hanging around on our land all summer. Boy, they are really good looking too. They are young, but one of them has 4 points. There are also a bunch of does and a few babies that we've been watching also. We have counted up to 20 on one occasion, all just grazing or setting down. They let us get pretty close, look at us and then go back to eating. They just love our place, they know it's safe here.

Linda,

Where exactly do you live?

Poimen wrote:Linda,

Where exactly do you live?

Don't answer him Linda! That's a "loaded" (as in gun) question!

I used to have deer that grazed in my yard but I haven't seen them this year. Of course that's probably because I had all the pine trees cut down last winter. My neighbor saw a big buck in his yard late one night a few weeks.

I know that hunting keeps the herd thinned and ensures enough food for the rest but I still wish we didn't have to kill such beautiful creatures. Of course, I think that about most all animals except for rats and snakes.

Martha wrote:

Of course, I think that about most all animals except for rats and snakes.

We had a hairless rat named Zara. She was really a sweet little creature. She would play with you just like another animal would. She also was well trained. No matter where she was in the house, my daughter could clap her hands and say, "Zara, go to bed," and the rat would run and get in her cage.

She was an ugly thing, but she still captured all of our hearts. My whole family, (except for scooter and I think he wanted to) cried when she died.

question for those not on the west coast.

Out here (in the pacific northwest at least), points are counted on 1 side only and normally don't include the eye-guards. Are the points of an antler counted the same way in the south?

to me, when I hear six point I am envisioning one huge deer or elk.

My parents live on the banks of the Warrior River near Jasper, Alabama. They had to clear a path through the woods to make the quarter-mile dirt and gravel road to their house, so they actually live in the forest. Families of deer graze at the edge of their front yard every night. When I visit I sleep upstairs, and during the winter, if they get a nice snow, I sit at the window in the wee hours of the morning and watch the deer... one of the most beautiful and peaceful sights I've ever beheld.

As you can tell from this narrative, I could never hurt Bambi, or any of her extended family, but my Dad was one of the most avid deer hunters in the county. Now he just sits and enjoys their beauty, because he doesn't have the strength to hunt anymore.

Closed our store on Sat night and came home to find 3 deer standing in the pasture almost at the edge of our back yard, one buck. No more than 4 points on him. The third deer may have been a buck, it was big, but was far enough away that I couldn't see him well enough to tell. I watched them stand there for, no lie, 10 minutes. Then, they just sort of sauntered on away to the tree line about 200 yards away. It was neat. We see does often enough, and they have come all the way up next to the house (as evidenced by their distinct footprints in the pine bark in our flower bed). First time in a while I have seen any out there, though. First time this year, I believe.

All of this deer talk reminded me of a story I read this week:

"According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. While both male and female reindeer grow antlers in the summer each year, male reindeer drop their antlers at the beginning of winter, usually late November to mid December.

Female reindeer retain their antlers till after they give birth in the spring.
Therefore, according to every historical rendition depicting Santa`s reindeer, every single one of them, from Rudolph to Blitzen had to be a girl.

We should`ve known. Only women would be able to drag a fat man in a red velvet suit all around the world in one night and not get lost."

Paully_44 wrote:question for those not on the west coast.

Out here (in the pacific northwest at least), points are counted on 1 side only and normally don't include the eye-guards. Are the points of an antler counted the same way in the south?

to me, when I hear six point I am envisioning one huge deer or elk.

Paully, not an authority here, I believe the antler points are counted on both sides here.

pa

pastorables wrote:

Paully_44 wrote:question for those not on the west coast.

Out here (in the pacific northwest at least), points are counted on 1 side only and normally don't include the eye-guards. Are the points of an antler counted the same way in the south?

to me, when I hear six point I am envisioning one huge deer or elk.

Paully, not an authority here, I believe the antler points are counted on both sides here.

pa

Yes they count both sides, and actually everyone I've heard of out west do too, but they list it differently, what we'd call a standard 6 point, they would call a 3X3, seven point would be 3X4 or 4X3 (sides counted separate, but both listed) generally if only one number is given, it's a total, otherwise it would be confusing knowing that not all deer have the same points on both sides.

Are the points of an antler counted the same way in the south?

Brother, in the South, if you can hang a wedding ring on it, you count it.

Another deer story from FOX News:


BALL GROUND, Ga. — A man has been found dead at his home in Ball Ground after apparently being attacked by a deer.

The body of 66-year-old John Henry Frix was found around 8 p.m. yesterday inside the deer's pen on his property. Cherokee County Sheriff's Sergeant Jay Baker says he had been gored several times in the upper body by a deer's antlers.

The deer was one of several Frix kept on his property. His relatives told sheriff's deputies the deer had recently been acting very aggressive, probably due to rut -- the period when deer mate.

Authorities say it appears Frix tried to fend off the deer, which was the size of a small elk.

A family member later shot and killed the deer.

No charges have been filed and the incident has been turned over to the Department of Natural Resources for further investigation.

Deer kill about 150 people a year in the Unites States. But most of those deaths happen when deer are involved in collisions with automobiles.