Posted: 12/1/2006 4:38:04 PM EDT
I went down to check the camera and feeder this evening - around 4:30. Snuck up and almost put a rope on her! 
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You edited out the rope. The rope marks are still on her neck....  BTW, how far across the fence did you end up tossing the spent brass? 
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This one must have lost her fawns. I've seen this doe more than once with two fawns. She's a good sized doe, around 100 or more. My son is worse than me about these deer. He's got one fawn he has videotaped more than once, actually laying down a few yards from his stand. After enjoying seeing them several times, it makes you reluctant to take one. 
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I was just outside and one of the fawns from this spring was munching on a frozen pumpkin about 15 yards from me. This time of year I see deer several times a day at least and more if I am not at work. There are 2 fawns that still stay close with their mother and they are all over our place every day along with a lot transients that come and go. I have shot 2 deer in my back yard, but I would have to be pretty hungry to shoot one of these deer that I have watched grow up this year. Good thing there are plenty of other deer that I don't feel this way about. My boys and I call them "sausage on the hoof", or "MARE's" (Meals Almost Ready to Eat). The wife is even in favor of shooting some of them due to their extreme fondness for her plants. That is a good picture you took and it proves that deer know the difference between a camera and a gun. Here is a pic I took a couple of weeks ago with a deer cam. 
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That's a good looking red x! 
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thats where he aims at them.
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That feeder holds 320 lbs of corn. I'm going to keep it out there all year from now on. We are going to plant a couple of acres of food plot this fall instead of the little ones we've been doing. I've got to set it up in a way where the horses will stay out of it - electric fence - and still let the deer get to it. I'm thinking a single wire around 4 ft high should do it. Big_B, I've gotten really attached to this place. I knew it really well before I bought it and have cleaned it up quite a bit. I still have more work to do on it, but I'll wait until I get my bitch problem solved. My son killed his first deer there at age 11. I've got it set up for young boys to kill their first deer. Only happened once this year. I took one too. I felt bad about killing the doe afterwards. You are absolutely right about taking a deer you've been feeding, watching, and enjoying. Two years ago I took my young nephew out to pick sand plums on the place. We found a young fawn motionless in the thicket and watched it for a few moments. My nephew reached to scratch and the fawn jumped up and took off. My nephew jumped too but he was very excited about seeing the deer up so close. His father, my BIL, is anti gun, and anit hunting.  Or else I would have had him hunting with me. I've got a 17 yo nephew who is 6'6", 240 lbs, bench presses 400 lbs, that has no interest in deer hunting.  He's a great kid that I love a great deal. But my damn sister didn't insist and she should have. He would have enjoyed himself a great deal and has no idea of what he is missing.So I'm basically screwed in my intent for making this a family hunting paradise for the boys.  . My neighbor on the quarter section north of me has taken his son on the place 6 times and only seen 3 does - thanks to the bitch south of me with her friggin' hair on the ground around the feeder and kotex hanging south of us. But I was blessed watching a 15 yo take his first deer while I was with him. It made all the trouble and effort worth it. FWIW, I don't let anyone hunt my place (other than my neighbor and his 12 yo son, and my son and anyone he takes with him. That way I know the killing of the deer won't get out of hand. I've gotten that attached to the deer. Ain't that a bitch?
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