Leaderboard

Sorry for the delay. Here's the rest of the story and thanks for the comments and following along. After a good long while contemplating what to do next I was still undecided. I'm usually pretty good at figuring things out by myself and making up my own mind when it comes to this kind of stuff, but now I was technically in posession of a deer, and didn't quite have all the answers I needed to make the wisest decision. I decided at this point it was best to put it in someone elses hands who would know better what was best for this little rascal. Reluctantly, I got out my wallet where I had a card from a DEC officer who I met in the past and explained what had happened. The officer sounded interested on the phone and said he would be out shortly to take a look at the critter and then we'd go from there. He arrived and observed the deers behavior, her physical condition and appearance, and her tempermant. After gathering all this information, he rattled off about a half dozen deer diseases like they were the common cold, but I had a hard time even pronouncing any of them again,lol. After making a few phone calls, he pointed out several possabilities for this deers abnormal behavior that he felt were worthy of investigating further without having to put the deer down. One explanation being, illegaly posessed, raised and released, but that wasn't determined true or false at the site. He had seen all he needed to see, and informed me he was just there to make a judgement call on what to do next. After 1 1/2hrs since I placed the initial call, it was obvious this little doe wasn't going anywhere. The DEC officer made one more call and told me someone would be coming out to collect the animal soon. He gave me another card with Laura's number on it and said she'd be the one coming out but didn't say when. Another 1/2 hour passed. Now I've watched 'Swamp People' so I already had a picture painted in my head of the ruff and tough, 300lb, animal wrassler "Laura", who would show up in her safari buggy fully decked out in off road lights and roll bars. I did not get what I expected,lol. When she arrived and assessed the situation, it was clear to see even though she didn't fit my stereotypical visions, she was all bussiness. She grabbed a needle and we tried to get hold of the deer so she could administer the sedative. Her first poke would prove to be her last as the deer quickly wised up and knew we were up to something. It was hard to get close to her any longer and she was making her way through the woods now and into the neighbors yard. My neighbor has a 30'x30'(x7' high) outside dog keenel for their labs so we coralled the deer into there. Now this bugger was bouncing off the fence and scared out of it's mind. Every lunge she made against it to ellude us could have ended bad if one of her hooves got caught in the fence. In the blink of an eye and without warning, Laura pounced on the deer like a WWF wrestler ad picked it up. The deer thrashed and kicked and squirted free so I did my own rendition of her cat like manuever and we flopped on the deer together where she was finally able to administer the sedative! We stepped out of the kennel for about 15 minutes to let the drug take affect then returned to transport her once she calmed down enough. I flipped the camera into 'AUTO' mode and had to pass it off so the pics get a little sloppy now. As you can see, Laura turned out not to be the beastly hulk of a woman I was expecting to wrassle deer with today,lol. We got the deer wrapped in a straigh jacket blanket and it was time to carry her back to the buggy! We finally got her back to the "safari buggy"... also her daily commuter, and I waited for her to prepare to load. You guessed it.... I hope the tranquilizer doesn't wear off any time soon,lol So I like to believe my encounter with this little deer had potentialy saved it's life. At least I know I did the resposible thing to do and the rest is up to the deer and those administering help now. She was taken to a rehab facility where they'll do their thing and hopefully raise her back to being 'wild' and released again. I'll try calling for an update on her progress later in the week and keep you guys posted of the outcome. Who knows, she may have been one of the spotted fawns that followed me around all last spring and summers photo shoots. Regaurdless, she's in good hands now!

Cut the S.O.B. down and tear off the leaves. Cover it in saran wrap keeping the humidity level to 83.2% for 36 days in direct sunlight. Apple trees should not produce fruit untill they are 4 1/8 years old at the very least, and must have maximum bark crust of 11cm for optimal cider and pie fillings. If you're growing them for the deer, things get a little more technical. You'll need a bee colony with two queens to cross polinate between two pears and a cherry to prevent inbreeding and a breakdown in carbon elements throughout the trees 'family tree' DNA lineage. Deer will crap out a stronger strain of seed if the apples are round-up ready and fertilized at least once every blue moon..... and remember, it only takes one bad apple to ruin the whole bunch,lol Geno- I hope your tree grows to be a real producer! Good luck with her!

I am detecting some Rage here.

Finally, a gun law that I can enthusiastically support.

MOney is money...credit card transactions and cash sales make no difference into fund allocation. Payroll is almost always the first thing to be paid out in a small business. Why? Because if payroll doesn't float, then no future money comes in. If you aren't getting your cash, it's time to bolt. You likely won't get it...businesses like this often never recover.

My Amish buddy and I scored a double on turkeys yesterday!

I guess im lucky to live 5 mins. from the depot and can see them all the time, Im fine and the extra arm that grows out of my neck is usefull for holding the binos and driving, Wish it would tan up though its as white as those deer,

Sooooo Close!! He'll be around for another hunt!

Who determines the NY slam? Not sure why a coyote would be in it? If the coyote is in, why isn't the fox and/or bobcat as well? I could see Deer, Bear, Turkey. Hopefully in December, I will complete the North American Cat Slam. I have a Mt. Lion (Arizona) and Bobcat (Minnesota), heading to British Columbia in December to try to shoot a Lynx.

Thats some serious tree growing tough talk.

Call the Department of Labor.

like they say, "read the fine print".

Hate to say it but this deer's days are now numbered. Hope not but their answer for most problems like this end up with..Its best to put it down! No fault of yours and you did great things but i sue wish she would have made it through that yard!

That should be published. It's great seeing how Hunters care so much for the wildlife in this state. Hats off to you Wooly! I'm sure this story could run in NYON.

I want to build a roundbale blind style one sometime this summer... (like these) these that I built work great but I didnt use them much cause I tagged out by the third time I hunted this season... LOL not that its a bad thing!!! +1 LOL Its not JUST my free time!!! I can honestly say that i could prob call myself a total hunting fanatic... I kinda think of it this way: I have a filter in my mind that I run Everything thru... and it tries to figure out how I could use this or that for hunting... Im ALWAYS trying to think up new/better ways to hunt!!! LOL Thanks!!! I need to take/post some in the field pics...

So much HS on hunting shows it's a shame. Good on you WNYBH for pulling the plug on that crap.......... DVR Family Guy, at least you can laugh at that!!

I think it's time to pull the plug on your buddy. He probably won't recover from the mountain of debt that is piling up. You know what you need to do. Good luck with your decision.....

I understood you perfectly. I was just reminding others to have some fun and quit worrying about all the things that might ruin a day of hunting. I still don't get how crossbows being legalized will screw up bow hunting. I say let them hunt. All I know for sure is a day hunting that gets screwed up by the weather, people, other hunters, coyotes, dogs,whatever, beats the hell out of working the other 48-50 weeks out of the year. Enjoy it no matter what, and let others do the same.

As far as security. There are 2 St Bernards loose on the property all the time. No one shows up here un announced. And at tis time the only real gun is my Shotgun for Turkey, the rest are Air rifles. All the other real guns are safely locked in my safe.

Attached is a picture of my largest buck to date, taken with my bow. The story behind it demonstrates what a true friend and sportsman is. My buddy invited me to go hunting with him on his private land. On the drive out there in the morning he informed me that his back was really bothering him and he didn't feel safe climbing up to his tree stand. He said he really wanted me to hunt out of it, as in his opinion it would give me my best opportunity to get a deer. This friend is the definition of a "trophy hunter" but he stressed repeatedly that I was free to shoot anything that made me happy. It was only about an hour after sunrise when the biggest buck I had ever seen came walking towards me. It all happened so fast I had to litterally sit down, try to stop shaking, and recall what just happened. It took me a while to realize that in all the excitement I had seen the buck fall and sure enough he was laying dead only about 30 yards from the stand. As I already said this was by far my best deer ever but I also knew it was probably on the border as to if my buddy would have shot him. We have all heard stories of friends getting upset when you take a buck that doesn't quite meet up to thier standards, especially from thier property and out of thier stand. A couple hours later I tried to curb my excitement as my friend approached because I really wanted to see his reaction. Well, when he first saw the buck he screamed "yes, you did it!" out loud and immediately started to hug me (and no, neither one of us are known as being huggers). Both of ours excitement just built from there. It really was a toss up as to who was happier, me for getting my best buck ever or him for putting me in a position to get him. As I stated at the start of this post, that to me is the definition of a true friend and a sportsman. PS It took a couple of weeks before he finally admitted that he probably would have let the buck walk. Still, that did not diminish his excitement for me at all!

Absoutly! I even target hens in the fall on purpose. One less hen to compete with...

Count your fingers !