It's deer season. Neighboring Nebraskans are expected to bag at least 30,000 deer this weekend alone. I couldn't find any stats for Iowa, but, I imagine it's about the same numbers, maybe a little higher. We have an unbelievable population of the critters. There are different dates for different types, like bow hunting, muzzle loaders, shot guns, etc. but, basically it's getting chilly here, time to kill something big. But, along with the good hunters who keep the populations down so that humans and deer can co-exist we have the red neck lawbreaking shoot 'em from the car kind of assholes who make the world join PETA. I just try and ignore it all until it's over. Which is hard to do because you find deer parts in your yard. It's just part of Midwestern life. But, I wouldn't advise walking in the woods right now. Run, Bambi, run! Awww.
32 comments:
And in case you're a hunter who thinks I'm a hypocrite..let me save you the trouble. Got any extra deer steak?
There is a "deer club" just down the road for my house. I love seeing the deer in the early morning or dusk by the side of the road. They are really beautiful, but I also love the deer roast I cooked last weekend. As long as they gut the deer to get the meat I tend to not mind. It pisses me off to see them kill them for the fun of it and just leave the thing to rot. If ur gonna kill it at least eat it.
30k in each state is extreme though. How can that not hurt the overall population?
Sole our populations are HUGE. They have to be managed.
We had one jump through the shop window a couple years ago. A herd of about 30 was right uptown. It tore the store up and smashed two big windows before it jumped out. It came right back to my reading room. I peed a little.
I hate trophy hunting..long story..but, I hate them. Hunting for food and the trophy is okay though.
Wow. Ok, ours are not that bad. I have only scene 5 at one time. Usually I see only 1 or 2 and it is only once a year, maybe. If there are that many than by all means control the population, but at least eat the meat. I don't like to waste. I'm like the Indians, thank the deer for its gift of sustenance and then chow down.
It can be quite dangerous not to manage these populations. Accidents on the road, damage to plants and trees, damage to property if they are not running through businesses, they are stomping through someone's patio door. Over population causes disease and weakness in herds.
It's the fun in the hunting I don't get. Sitting silently in a tree for hour and hours and hours. ??? Or the tromping through the fence row and creek bed with a fire arm hopefully wearing enough orange your not mistaken for game. ???? And then there is the whole processing process. Guess I will be thankful someone enjoys it.
I my state they get so much that 10 of thousands of pounds are donated to homeless shelters and food banks. Even the hunters can't consume it all. Weird. Wonder if we should start doing that with armadillos and raccoons. eeww! they can't taste good.?
Every deer someone shoots is one less I have to worry about hitting with my car. That's all I know.
some guy in ohio was found dead in a tree stand when he was out deer hunting....they say he had a heart attack....i like to think that a deer scared the hell out of him...
:-)
what really pisses me off is when these home developments are built in land that the deer live and then the people who move there--knowing damn well deer are there fucking bitch about the deer....
there's a national park around here where people can live and they fucking bitch about the deer---don't move to the woods then!!! that kind of shit pisses me off!!! they want to live in nature but not DEAL with nature....
I hate hunting.. Hunters will be coming soon up to PA. I hate when they do. We have a very low population because game commission comes in a deplet's alot of the deer. The hunters always complain about not getting anything. Maybe I should send them up to your area DD.
2 things come to my mind while I hate hunting. 1. when I was little my dad ask me if I wanted to see a deer. He didn't tell me that it was hit in a ditch. Next thing BLAM game commission came in shot it right infront of me.
2. The movie Powder the deer scene.
We live beside a cemetery where the ground slopes off to a canyon on the other side. We see deer sometimes several times a day. This time of year less than through the summer and early fall, but we still do see them. They are beautiful, and I love seeing them out there, but I'm not bothered by hunting. I would be upset if someone came along and shot these because they are in city limits, and just hang out (and eat the floral arrangements at the cemetery).
We also see the occasional (rare) elk wander through.
The idea of hunting and donations to shelters, or food banks is great! If I was accessing a food bank, I would be very happy to get some deer meat.
My brother used to hunt, and when he got his elk on the first day of the season, he told me he had never worked so hard for meat. Hiking to the elk, cutting it up correctly, packing it out, etc.
I read a few months ago that raccoon is becoming a regular meat item for many families, too. If prepared correctly, it is supposed to be delicious. (If I remember correctly, you have to brine it, then boil it, then roast.)
Christina
thank goodness I live in the city, the closest thing I'll get to a deer is an overpriced piece of venison at a local restuarant or a plastic one at macy's
I love hunting season - i guess it's the redneck in me, lol! In NJ though, they are SOOO strict with the rules that we have like 95% responsible hunters, so it's not bad. :)
Yep, Iowa has a lot of deer. My daughter hit one last year and a buck with a big rack plowed right into the side of my hubby's car several months ago. This time of year you see car/deer accidents continually in the newspaper's police report. I will not drive between dusk and dawn. It's just too risky with all the deer. And of course the bucks are in rut now as well as the fact that farmers are combining. That alone drives the deer out into the roadways. We see deer a lot in our back yard. Lately they've been stripping the bark off of my young trees. Deer are beautiful animals but I'd just assume not have any in Iowa.
We are famous for big deer in South Texas. People come down here for big deer and pay 5 to 7 thousand dollars for a 175 class Boone & Crockett buck.
I used to hunt deer, but now I'd rather pick up shed antlers with my boy at the end of the season.
I shot a raccoon that was eating horse pellets at night and got too big to share space with. His reaction when I shot him was disbelief, shock and sadness. I'll never forget that look. Almost as if he was asking me why I did that, he was just eating what was there to eat. I'd rather go fishing now.
Jarhead
I sold about 50 rifle licenses today in about 3 hours. Northern Michigan is a pretty big hunting destination.
Shelly
We bought 10 acres last summer in
Northwest MI to retire on. Love
seeing all the deer and wild turkeys when we go up there camping. (I'm new to the camping
thing, but trying--told spouse I
would check into the resort if I
did not like it. So far, so good
though) Hope the herd is still there next Spring when we go back.
It has to be done, the reduction of population. I am good with that.
However, honor what you kill. Make a jacket from the hide, take the steaks and freeze them, then you can put the antlers above your mantle. That's all good.
But to kill just to kill, no.
When we first moved here, we were on 33 acres of protected land. We had dove cotes along one fence, and the neighboring farmer tried several times to knock those down, because he wanted our pond for his cattle and sheep. I can't tell you the legal hassles we went through. People would come in to shoot just to kill and drive off. I've had bullets hit just above my head on tree limbs, while I'm shouting that my daughter is asleep a few feet away. They don't care.
Then I began discovering deer stands set up in my trees, so I started posting signs. Hell, the hunters didn't care, they drove their horses right though my signs and down to the pond.
So late at night I began going out to dismantle deer stands, one after the other. And I'd leave a note on each one: "You have violated my property. This is protected land. If you don't like it, here is the sheriff's name and number. Take it up with him, he knows me. You do this again and you'll have a law suit. I watch."
Not long after that, I am sitting at my computer in my house, and I see a small red dot light begin moving up and down my wall. I yelled to my daughter to get on the floor, and I called the sheriff.
I hate this crap. If someone can hunt legally and without shit, go for it. Those others? I will get you sooner or later.
Yikes SharnaPax!
We have heavy populations here as well, and while I could never hunt unless I absolutely needed to, I am of the camp (heh) that if you kill it, use as much of it as you possibly can. No killing just for shits and giggles.
We only have almost 11 acres and every fall, without fail, we have hunters knocking on our door to hunt everything from Deer to rabbit to muskrat and beaver. My answer is always no. I don't want guns and killing on my land. Last year we posted signs as well, but that didn't stop people - particularly the teens that sneak in from one road. I kicked 5 of them off twice last year.
Lots of meat-eaters have mixed feelings - that doesn't make them hypocrites. Or does it? Then we're all hypocrites of something.
For reference I would age that buck in the picture at about 3 years old and roughly the 130's Boone & Crockett score. Good looking symmetrical deer.
Jarhead
atypical, not symmetrical, and 31/2 or so after a better look--upper 130 to 140's B&C.
Jar.
SharnaPax, I've seen the "red dot" on my walls too. I live in town now, but, I still remember how terrible that felt. I used to have the greatest bunch of bird hunters come every year and they always stopped by and ask permission and they always had a gift for me after they hunted. They were great, but, there's always the other ones. Shudder.
And it's infuriating when someone doesn't respect you or your propery rules. It makes you want to fight. Hard.
DD, yeah. I can still barely contain my anger from that time.
How can anyone violate a mother and daughter simply to "kill a deer"? Is it that fucking important? Are you starved for meat? If so, let me pull a goddamned steak out of my freezer, and I'll pitch it to you, then you go on your way. If it has to do with masculinity, well, I have an opinion about your tiny dick.
arrrgggh, I'm sorry, DD. Just venting a bit, and I tend to cuss like a sailor. Those were horrible days.
I want to add that I didn't simply dismantle their deer stands, I bent what I could and took all the screws with me.
I have never agreed with the idea of shooting a deer at a watering hole. We are not in Africa where one needs to hunt enormous plots of land to find game.
You are in someone's back yard and probably see the 7/11 sign where you'll get your six pack of "stud-ale" after surprising an animal at the place it has quenched its thirst for years. Way to go Daniel Boone.
Jarhead
They have to be thinned out. They cause sooo many automobile accidents. There are so many here in Indiana, I have to slow down on my way to work to let them cross the road!! I am always afraid when driving out in the country and have a few jump out in front of me from a corn field. Our corn is still up, once the corn is harvested, I calm down. But they kill. They have to thinned out. Ppl here in Indiana eat the meat too. Not me!
rox
Jarhead, Just where are in south Texas? We lived in Corpus for 10 years. Are you near Oden or Sinton? Lots of hunting down that way for sure. It is a big deal. I miss Corpus. Pick up trucks with gun racks is standard there.
rox
Odem...sorry. Kingsville?
rox
Hi Rox!
I go down to Rockport (my Mom has a house there) to go fishing in Copano Bay and go down the Laguna Madre in search of Redfish, Trout and flounder. My ranch is closer to Dilley, but I live in the Hill Country not far from San Antonio.
Kingsville has some great deer. I went to the King Ranch to work when I was younger and got to meet some of the old "Kineros", employees that have never left the ranch. They got schools and everything you may need right there in the huge place. Capt. King ( a former river boat Captain) hired them on early in the last century.
King Ranch is so big, that Texans dispute the size. One former employee of the King ranch showed up once to talk to my Dad about some cattle. We were all talking at the local watering hole when an old man asked "How old is the King Ranch anyway?"
"If I got in my truck at daybreak and drove all day, I still wouldn't get to the other side"-was the reply.
"I had an old truck like that"- the old man said, and walked away.
Jarhead
LOL, that was cute.
I have a real hate for unethical hunters. I despise the ones who won't track their wounded. Daniel Boone indeed. Lazy cowards.
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