The Other Deer Hunters

Field and Stream ^ | February 09, 2011 | Scott Bestul

[afraidfortherepublic]

We have a hunter who hunts on our land every year during bow and gun seasons. Although my husband is a hunter,he prefers to travel to hunt. But our “guest” hunter places motion sensitive cameras n the trees every August-October to track the deer wanderings. (I just look at their hoof prints.) In addition to capturing me on the lawmower, he’s captured lots of shots of bucks on our property. We see the does and fawns all the time, but we seldom see a buck. They are out there,ut they keep themselves hidden. I saw 8 in our driveway the other night when we came home from watching the Super Bowl.

[Georgia Girl 2]

Atlanta suburbs are lousy with Coyotes. We have them in our neighborhood. No fear of humans. One took a run at our Chihuahua one night as we were walking her and our Beagle. I had to pick the little one up while my fiancee’ was making a run at it with a maglite. We went back in the house and waited about 20 minutes and took the dog out again and within a minute the Coyote appeared out of the woods again. Best thing to do is see a Coyote shoot a Coyote. They are a total nusiance animal.

[fso301]

Not having a gun or a hunting license, I’ve tried to stone deer to death. Doesn’t work. They just stand and look at me as they munch my prized hybrid tea roses. Have at ‘em coyotes. Be my guest.

You got that right. All they are is potential hood ornaments where we live. I'd like to see more people hunt them. I've stopped hunting because where we live they are more like vermin and something seems wrong about getting up early to go hunting when i can stand in my doorway and club them most any day.

Last year, I went out with my son and he got his first buck. This year, we went out together and he got another. While I had a license, I did so simply to be able to carry a gun in the woods and not go through a big hassle should some game warden happen to come along. I didn't fill any of my tags because with the bucks my son killed, we have plenty of tough, dry venison in the deep freeze without need of additional contribution by me.

Next season may be more of a problem because my daughter will be old enough to take into the woods. If she and my son take a buck, we'll be eating tough, dry venison most of the year when my preference is for a nicely marbled ribey.