Alabama seems reasonable and on the right track. But I’m wondering why Alabama isn’t more aggressive in ‘culling the herd’?

I’d offer a bounty on the beasts.

There are lots of backyard deer processing places around here. But even with that and the fees..buying beef or pork from the store is close to the same price.

Weird, I was in Seattle in 2000. We had no work to do one day, and decided to drive to Mt Ranier since we had seen it from the space needle on another day. We got to Rainier and then drove to Mt St Helens and then back. I saw what seemed like tons of deer in that drive that day. I think it was 10-12 hours of driving. I probably saw 30-50 deer from the road that day.

My per pound cost for venison with processing is cheaper than any beef I buy... until I add in jerkey, snack sticks, summer sausage.

There are always more than 50 deer in just one particular field near me. I was talking with a friend about the deer population and resultant damage just a couple of them can do. 'A couple!, he says, Jump in the truck. So we're driving down a two lane blacktop in farm country and he stops. 'What?', I ask. He points to the tree line on the far edge of an 80A field. 'What?' I ask again.

What I thought was a stand of undergrowth and brush in the trees was actually a solid line of deer. At least 50. Now the interesting thing to me was that he was totally confident that on that random day he knew exactly where a gigantic herd of deer was loitering at dusk.

When you stop at Jay's in Clare, check out their venison seasonings. They may not still carry as much but you never know, they might. Worth a glance.

Thanks for the tip! I was going over their website and it looks like they do offer a lot of different seasonings. I didn't even know what Jays was till I drove out of my way from Grand Rapids to Clare and then to Manistee to help my friend out. He called and said he bought some lures in Clare. I said "we go by there on the way up!" not knowing it was to the east of me... so I went and upicked up some lures for him. Would have done it knowing it was out of the way since the guy was taking me fishing on his boat. But having been to Jays now I'm "hooked" ;) The place really is impressive.

NC began to allow hunting on Sundays a few years ago .... them heathens are gonna burn in hell :D. My uncle told me it was lobbied through by the Insurance biz ... I think there were like 200,000 auto damage claims here annually from deer hits before that.

Disease is gonna have to cull the herds here.... and it will.

We can only hope, KC.

I helped pass the high fence bill in Texas, 1997. They like to raise (grow) deer in Texas, but the reasoning behind the fence law was to keep the predators out. Lol.

I haven't pulled the trigger on anything in almost 20 years.

One of my local friends is a retired federal judge. He sold his house and some land in Santa Monica and a lifetime membership to a golf course he got from selling some land to the golf course to use for the course. He moved back home to Oklahoma, and bought a square mile of land in eastern Oklahoma county with the proceeds. It is his nature preserve, and he has hundreds of no trespassing, no hunting signs all along the fence at the property line. On a regular basis he catches people on his land, and he confiscates all their gear, everything, and escorts them to the fence line and tells them to call the police if they have any questions or complaints. When they return expecting to get their equipment the police are there to write them a trespassing ticket, and give the equipment to the Oklahoma wildlife department as punishment for illegal hunting on posted property. If they were poaching out of season they are often handcuffed and taken to jail.

He sets up in blinds, and takes pictures of the wildlife. His property, his rules. Their house is almost in the middle of the property, so he is surrounded by the trees and wildlife. He has entire families of deer named and can recognize them as individuals. He has a pair of bald eagles, and lots of wild birds, turkeys and every critter imaginable.

Sounds perfect!

I was hoping some might find warmth on my grill but alas, Feb 6 came and went and the deer didn't cooperate :(

It will kill you if you create your own preserve. My former employer did it, high fenced, turkey, quail, deer. Too much. He died in December 2021.

There's a guy about 10 miles from me that has hundreds of deer he raises on about a square mile. Probably 10 different fenced areas as to age. He's been doing this for prob 20 years.
He has a portion of the land that he puts the trophy bucks. He then sells the rights to hunters to shoot one.
The racks are incredible.
He makes out real well. He told me once how much hunters pay for a trophy....it was in the thousands for each.

People doing that aren't "hunters"

^^^ That's true...but he recognized the need for an easy trophy kill.
The guys that want one, prob throw the meat away.

Canned hunt. Not for me, but some people will pay.

Yeah sadly there's a need to be filled with people just looking for a trophy. Some consider me a "trophy" hunter. I let bucks walk that aren't bigger than what I've got on the wall already. This year is the first and last season that I harvested a buck with a smaller rack than any of the three largest I have on the wall. I was part of a "biggest buck" contest that I wish I hadn't entered. In a normal year I would have let the one I harvested walk and took a doe.

I'm generally not a 'trophy hunter' either.

That's the last concern I have when those da** red squirrels run across my yard with a walnut in their mouth. (although the large ones are easier to hit)

I found a few of the nuts on top of the engine of my Fit. :mad:

Trophy Squirrel....
https://i.etsystatic.com/7321322/r/i...10048_cfwp.jpg