This years fawns wiped out around here. Dammit. Has happened before. Piss' me off. Rant off.

Can hunt with dogs when season is on. I am all for it. Sons a bitches.

ORC - we had 1 fawn dropped close to the house last year. We have coyotes very close as well, but we watched over the tiny one with night binocs and a shotgun till mom sauntered in.

Have to be very attentive when mowing because I’ve found others in tall weeds especially near the creek.

Like you, I’ve found remains all too often.

This is a problem around here for which the Fish and Game is entirely responsible. Overpopulation of deer not only causes disease (CWD and EHD), but it brings in more predators. They could fix this problem, but for the past 30 years or so they have failed to do so. I don't expect them to change their ways. I've been stalked by cats before and I've seen first hand what they can do to a person. SSS. Same as wolves.

Not sure what is going on this year but I've only seen one fawn and doe. That's crazy as I generally will see ten maybe twenty fawns during the early summer.

We have CWD as well but the Game Department is probably doing the best they can in dealing with it. As far as having an over population of deer, that has always been the case around here. They are everywhere.

Predators? Not that many. Coyotes, maybe a mature Bobcat but very few large Cats. I've never seen one around the farm but I know there are a few. Probably motor vehicles and the highways kill more deer than anything else.

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
This years fawns wiped out around here. Dammit. Has happened before. Piss' me off. Rant off.

Can hunt with dogs when season is on. I am all for it. Sons a bitches.

Be nice if you would include a general location.

I'm over run with deer here.
I see at least 6-8 every morning on my drive in.
Have them in my driveway off the property sometimes too.
With that comes the coyotes.
I only see a bobcat every year or so.

We seem to have an ok balance here, though too many humans are quickly moving in, so there is an ever increasing number of carcasses on the roads. Aside from that, it's all how nature works.

The deer, elk, and moose populations are stable according to what we see on our property. Plenty of small mammals. Some sightings of predators such as bobcat and ermine. Hawks and/or eagles seen daily. Claims of occasional mountain lion sightings from neighbors.

I would root for the cute fuzzy critter to escape the predator, but logically I value having the full array of wildlife flourishing.

We usually do a 20 mile or so "wildlife drive" just before sunset at least weekly. We have done this for 30+ years and have seen up to 70 deer, probably average at least 20-30. There have only five total in the last three trips. It has been hot, so maybe they are coming out later, still seems a little odd.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
This is a problem around here for which the Fish and Game is entirely responsible....

Gustofer, do you think the Fish and Game policies have been influenced by the influx of Leftwing money with the huge land purchases there by elites?


.

I'm sure that that has some influence, but IMO the majority of the problem is an agency infested with young lefty wildlife biology majors who just find it impossible to leave alone the things that work. They continuously micro-manage things to their detriment. But hey...at least they can then get some grant money and write a paper about it.

quote:

Originally posted by NOCkid:
We usually do a 20 mile or so "wildlife drive" just before sunset at least weekly. We have done this for 30+ years and have seen up to 70 deer, probably average at least 20-30. There have only five total in the last three trips. It has been hot, so maybe they are coming out later, still seems a little odd.

Interesting. We’ve spent our summers in Northern Michigan for over 20 years and we’ve never seen this many deer.

We have about the normal amount of white-tails here in SW WI this year. That is to say, too many in the roads. My *impression* is that I see far more of them now than 40 years ago...

I had to go look.
The WI DNR has a webpage on this. According to their chart, WI had an estimated 905k deer post-hunting in 2009, and 1.6m in 2024.

quote:

Be nice if you would include a general location.

It would be nice if we knew where you are talking about...

Around here, we have plenty of deer. I've seen or heard of no big cats. The deer have few natural predators. A few coyote, no real wolfs. The only predator is man.

My dog had a day time stare-down with one the other day. Turns out, it had a couple of newborn fawns. I called the dog away.

There are lots of mountain lions in the Western third of the continental US. I have had a few interactions with them. One stalked me to with in 20 yds while bow hunting. It was a very large Tom. Had three at one time stalking deer at my cabin. All with in 50 yds of me. They as you might imagine are incredible creatures and amazing hunters.

they are probably young cats learning the art of hunting and end up in rural residential area's as prey more plentiful and easier to kill. Dogs, cats, chickens, goats, etc. Or an older cat that has lost their ability to hunt wild game proficiently.
None the less I do not need them around killing anything.