I’m proud to say we are not deer hunters
here at This Old House.
I don’t think I could have ever married a man who
liked killing something just for the sport of it.
I’m sure that will raise some hairs on the back of a few of your necks…
because there are many who do it, and feel justified
because of the overwhelming population of deer in some areas.
I’m not saying that isn’t a problem.
But I’ll add that we have taken over habitats…
and we’re part of the problem.
I don’t want you to justify yourself here –
and my intention is not to crucify or judge anyone.
I’m just sayin – I can’t get past the killing, personally.
The man child has always wished to find antlers in the woods.
Just an antler or two – how cool would that be!?
And so when he came running down the hill with a big grin and said
“MA!.. bring your camera.. come with me!”….
I did.
I didn’t expect to find the whole deer, although mostly decomposed.
But we did.
YUCK.
I think he was struck by a car and then wandered up into the woods to die.
The coyotes took care of the rest,
and probably in pretty short order, recently. That’s why the antlers are still around.
you know alot of my family hunt and I have a friend who is crazy about it. He just sent me a pic of 3 he shot at one time. But I couldnt do it baiting a gorgous animal in with corn or whatever eles is used and taking its life I couldnt do it . Have a good sunday
A good find in those deep dark woods of yours.
It's a sport and I don't get it. Although many do. Just don't want game meat in my house. Ugh, the taste is horrible. I'd rather eat shrimp.
Nice find. We had always lived in places deep in the countryside and the last one contained what we used to call the cemetery, deep in the woods. It was as if ill animals would come there to die. Very strange, but understandable too. Along the trails we would always find antlers and have quite a little collection of them. The mice like to eat them, too.
There are deer where I walk our dogs. It is a managed estate and when they get road kill deer the rangers butcher them and scatter the remains for the foxes. Unfortunately, the dogs sometimes find them. So far I have had to wrestle a jaw bone and a leg off the beagle before allowing her back in my car. Not my idea of fun first thing in the morning!
We live in an area of people who hunt, and we'll never fit in because we won't ever hunt for sport. I don't see anything sporting about baiting deer with apples and carrots. Although, I have to say…the people around here do use all the meat. We were given a mince meat pie as a gift a couple of years ago. Where we come from, mince meat pie is made with raisins, currants, apples, spices, etc. Here it's a main course meal using deer meat. Imagine the surprise when we had our pie for dessert!
Being a policeman my husband has to shoot deer to put them out of their suffering when they are struck my a car. It is not his favorite thing to do. He has a hard time with that.
I can't stand the thought of deer being killed either. I get excited when they are in my yard. That is one lucky find.
i have no problem if folks hunt for meat.
and your boy scavenger reminds me of my dogs – hauling carcasses home to Run*A*Round. 🙂
There's a difference in hunting for horns or hunting for meat. Baiting is illegal. Most around here go for the meat, but many do hunt to help manage the herd numbers. Too many are hit by cars when there is overpopulation and also there is starvation and other problems when there are too many. There is a program that anyone can donate a harvested deer and the meat will be distributed to the needy. No waste. I prefer beef, but there are many who love venison!
Yes, I've been hearing some gunshots lately. Makes me furious.
I am against hunting and have been for years. And whenever someone says that they're only doing it to be humane because of the overpopulation of deer, I scream at them: Bullshit!
They do it to be superior. To take an innocent life and then feel macho because of it.
Disgusting.
I've spoken about it on my blog before. And I know it isn't a popular stance, but in my heart of hearts I know it's right.
xo
Claudia
That is a cool find and I would love to have some sheds or found antlers but my dad never hunted, my husband doesn't hunt or my brother. We are seriously the only people we know who do not hunt…we live in Texas. I did hear that because of the extreme drought here that does are abandoning their fawns to survive. We see deer in our area because we live right outside the city and they are beautiful. They have never come to my house but they do come to my friends house. I think they are one of the most beautiful creatures God created and they are also my daughter's favorite animal.
By the way I love the way you are always able to give your opinion without judging others. I look forward to your posts. How's Chip doing?
First I wanted to say I love your new header!! It's precious!! And I am with you on hunting. During hunting season, I totally get the chills when I hear the shots coming from the woods at the lake. But I know we have a huge deer population and so many are getting hit by cars. But I have to say, I'm against it. It's cruel to me.
Your pictures in the woods are outstanding. I love the moss! Just beautiful!
XO,
Jane
Our family just doesn't hunt. I think my youngest son would cry if he shot a deer (he would probably beat me if he read that here). My hubby is not a hunter either. I know when I was a kid and lived on the farm that they hunted because there were so many deers that were eating the crops meant for the cattle. We did not have to wait for hunting season and my father always made sure that the meat and skins were used…not just left in the wild.
I, personally, do not like the taste of wild game but I know there are lots of people that love it.
Great shots of the woods and lands. xo Diana
You and I are of the same mind,regarding hunting:)
I feel sad for the deer but couldn't help thinking after seeing those photos that that was a beautiful place to die.
I'm glad he found antlers…it's part of nature for animals to die and return to the earth. Great photos of the forest around you! I always loved hiking in the woods! ♥
I couldn't kill one either. My oldest son is a big hunter and even goes down to a ranch and helps with AI of deer. Like they really need any human intervention to reproduce! I just don't understand? However, they do eat what they shoot. I'd starve if I had to kill something, to be able to eat. I couldn't do it.
Wholeheartedly agree with you. Don't get me started on the subject of hunting for sport/pleasure.
Aaaanyway…. how cool is that? To find a decomposing deer with antlers. It definitely beats just finding antlers. And I'd like to think the deer just died from old age. Okay? 😉
I'm sure the antlers will look great above the fireplace in the man cave. Or wherever else they will find a place.
Boy treasure …!
My dad was a hunter, and the meat he harvested was what we and others in our community subsisted on during the entire year. However, as an adult, I know more people who bait, trap and hunt down deer more for sport than for meat. My students (male and female) write essays about the thrill of the hunt. I've completely lost my taste for game of any kind.
We hear gunfire in our neck of the woods every hunting season. Too close for comfort as far as I am concerned. One neighbor had a wounded deer that hunters shot find it's way into his backyard where it died and the hunters finally showed up and retrieved the deer. I would have told them to get the heck off my property, made them leave the deer and called a service to come and get the dead deer. It's called NO TRESSPASSING!
My son-in-law is a deer hunter and I see it as nothing more than an ego booster for him. My daughter does however find great recipes for the venison which they enjoy. There's no way I would ever allow a man to mount a flippin' deer head on my family room wall. Disgusting.
There are good hunters and bad, just like everything in life. We live in a rural area where hunting is part of a generational lifestyle and it puts food on the tables. Hunters can donate extra meat to the food pantries where it feeds even more hungry families.
I'm not sure cattle feed lots and chicken farms are more humane than hunting meat in the woods. At least these deer have had a free and happy life until they meet their end.
Hunters we are not. I can't even eat in a restaurant if there's a stuffed deer head on the wall. Maybe that's a little extreme, but it's me. Sad is all I can think of when I see these things. Antlers like M found, that's a whole different story. Good for him, and good for you to support him along with taking gorgeous photo's too. 🙂
I do understand what you are saying I think, but don't you eat beef or chicken or pork? Or wear leather?
Venison is great and when I get a chance to have some I jump at it.
My first hubs hunted with a bow and arrow, but I do have to admit that I would find a reason to not be around on the day when he was butchering.
I liked coming home to the tidy, white packages labeled and in the freezer.
Not a gun owner here, so no, won't be killing any deer anytime soon. The name of my developement is "Deer Run", so we do get a lot in my back yard, and I do shot em, with my Nikon. That skeliton you found looks like something from the show "Bones". Amazing.
My ex was really into hunting. Personally I never liked it. He used to like to have the head mounted. I simply could not stand eating meat out of my freezer while those eyes were on my wall. Still gives me the shivers. Perhaps that is yet another reason why we divorced!
Since I live in Hartwood ('hart' being old English for 'deer'), we have more than our fair share of deer. No hunters here, but I don't mind it … with rules. Shoot to kill, and eat (or donate) what you shoot.
Lots of gunshots in my 'neighborhood', and my dog wears a blaze orange collar during deer season. Just to be safe.
Many here in Tn. shoot deer to fill the freezer for winter. I cannot handle it, but that is just me. Just yesterday, at 5pm, I had to walk out onto OUR property and yell obscenities, for whomever was hunting, to get off our LAND! They were using a semi-automatic weapon.
What part of "YOU don't own the property" do they not get?!
We have horses grazing for God's sake!
Last year, we had a terrible epidemic of EHD in deer. J found several dead deer very close to our home and we did call the Wildlife Game Warden and they came out and removed the Caracas's to have them tested. They did all die of EHD.
Here is a link for you to take a look at-
http://www.ct.gov/dep/cwp/view.asp?A=2700&Q=323412
I am anxiously awaiting the end of hunting season! Sometime I will blog about holding 4 hunters hostage until the sheriff showed up! J as in Dallas and I was shaking mad! Now the local rednecks call me the crazy Yankee 🙂
xo, misha
p.s. We had a tragic story happen here a few years ago. A mom was playing with her kids in the backyard.
They lived way out like we do, a large piece of land. She was wearing a goofy hat with antlers. A hunter spied her through his scope and shot her point-blank in the head-in front of her children. He was hunting illegally on THEIR land just like people do on ours.
Makes my blood boil….
I grew up in a family of hunters so it doesn't bother me too much. I don't agree with salt licks and baiting to lure them to their death. I think if you are going to do it, do it the right way. We always used the meat and gave it to a local group that feed homeless people.
My dad made me take the hunter's safety course. I am not sure why, but it is something we did together. I outshot all the boys in my class and had the second highest test score. My dad had the first!
I went deer hunting one time with him and my step brother. I fell asleep and they watched deer walk all around me. I wouldn't have shot one if I had. I don't like it at all. I feel I did my job that day as nobody could shoot with me sleeping at the bottom of a tree!
Your pictures are just beautiful and those antlers are beautiful!
Beautiful pictures, I can see your son was thrilled with his find! I came from a family of hunters, even big game but married a man who has no desire to kill an animal. I guess he could if we were starving, but it would be hard. We both love the wildlife that roam our land, even when they eat our flowers and shrubs! I get to see close up the carcass of deer, our neighbors dog Jet loves to drag them home and share with others! YUCK is right!
My hubby found a skull with antlers Friday at daughter's farm. Those antlers would look wonderful in a tablescape. Often you can find shed antlers in the woods where no animal died. The skulls creep me out!
I have to say I am proud my husband is a hunter…he does it right and the meat is for our freezer. If you have ever watched the dvd Food, Inc. you would never buy meat again from a supermarket…the cruelty to those animals as they are slaughtered and processed is beyond words. It's funny how everyone thinks their meat is grown in those little white styrofoam packages in the supermarket…it is not!
I'm another non-hunter who is married to a man who has never fired anything other than a target.
Guess it could seem hypocritical to some since we do eat meat.
Just too many crazy untrained hunters out in the woods, so that skews my negative attitude.
I walk in the woods all the time and yet I have never come across any antlers. In fact I never thought about it before! Now I will be on the lookout but I don't think I would pick them up:)
My first thought on your post was…Look at your son wearing shorts and a t-shirt at the end of November! Crazy warm weather we are having!
Wow, love those photos! I would want to bring those antlers home, too. We have some around. I love bringing treasures in from the woods. Like turtle shells and such. Do you know you are supposed to leave them where you find them? (Turtle shells- at least in Indiana, they are considered Natural Habitat or something like that.) xo, Cheryl