Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss Hunting/Trapping 2014-2015

Tony, at some point, a lot of older guys start hunting with a camera. I understand that but it seems like that is about like kissing your sister. It's still a kiss but...... Al Hall is now at that stage and I certainly understand it. I'm dang near there but the teenagers that I take hunting certainly aren't. Those guys are apex predators but have learned how to age a deer on the hoof.

And, if the genetics were a one time thing, I might look at it differently. If I catch a really big fish, it is usually at the end of it's life and it has spread its genes. I've never mounted a big fish but let them go back. That fish or deer is also the result of generations of genes that they have also passed on. In the case of a managed pond we have some level of control over what makes up the population. But, not so in wildlife. An obviously inferior buck can mate with a doe with great genetics and the result becomes a wild card.

We are told to shoot spikes. However, there are lot of documented studies showing that some young spikes become outstanding deer. Others never make it. So, we just don't shoot young deer.

I've seen very large deer over a several year span that suddenly I never see again. Although they usually go nocturnal, they are no longer there even on the game cams at night. I figure a cold winter and predators(coyotes) probably got to them. An awful lot of older deer don't survive even our comparatively mild winters. In the case of a buck, the rut that occurs in late fall and early winter really hammers their body. Some get injured in fights that they succumb to. That winter also kills off the preferred browse/forbs/weeds. That's the main reason that I plant the winter wheat in my no hunting area in front of the house. Does it help? I really don't know but figure it can't hurt. I often over seed with turnips to give them the leafy browse that they really prefer over the cereal grains. Once again, I don't really know the result. And, my goal really isn't to try to grow great deer, but just to POSSIBLY help the population in January and February. I'll be putting out a lot of high protein rice bran this Winter.

We enjoy sitting at the window just watching them. We also enjoy making a pitcher of margaritas and sitting back in the brush watching. Those deer are known as Grandma's deer and the teens know that they are off limits around the house. Yeah, they get frustrated but know not to mess with Grandma. She has a mean streak when it comes to her deer. One of the boys told my Grandson that messing with Grandmas deer could get you a whole bunch of whoopass that he wouldn't forget. I doubt that she would really mind but I'm not telling them that.

These guys don't get a free ride. They do some work when there that they consider me too old and feeble to do. One, a new Kid, is incredibly pampered and lazy. I'll soon correct that. And, like it or not, they are always given lectures on drugs, booze, unprotected sex, etc. Does it help? Probably not but it can't hurt. My Dads lectures didn't do much for me. I had to learn on my own and Dad was a champeen lecturer.