I bow hunt WT on private land near a state park. Tons of deer, including monster bucks, hop the fence to graze at several feeders set up along the fence. I was recently sitting in my hay bale blind watching deer eating corn from a feeder 30 feet from my blind when a doe walks up and sticks her head thru the window of my blind. She's looking around a couple feet from my face, sniffing the air, and didn't seem the least bit disturbed by my presence. So I took a pecan out of my pocket laid it in the palm of my hand and she took it and ate it. I had several nice bucks I could have shot that morning but I passed. I sat in my blind and watched those deer feed for a good hour thinking I'd take a shot to fill all my tags but I never did.

I walked back to my folks house and my dad asked why I didn't harvest a buck. I explained what happened and he replied he'd seen it, that he was watching thru his binoculars. He said he experienced something similar, hence the reason he doesn't hunt any more. I'm not sure what it is that's different but something's changed. Deer hunting doesn't have the appeal it used to.

A couple years ago I had a nice 10 point that used to come up and follow me around near a pecan orchard while was hunting geese. It was wild, but I think I was more afraid of him than he was of me. The first time I saw him was during a late season goose hunt. He came up to my layout sniffing by face and I almost crapped my pants, I was dozing off and all of a sudden I had this huge buck head down in my face. Needless to say, it scared the [censored] out of me. That year, every time I hunted geese in that spot, that buck would follow me around like a pet. I think that was one of the reasons I've lost my desire to deer hunt.

Well when your deer are tame likely because of neighbors and park go-ers, it probably doesnt have any appeal.

Yeah, that would "let the air" out of it for me to, at least at that spot...

Most deer in state parks are tame and not fearful of human scent or presence. We have fed deer by hand in many state parks.

It's not hard to find the opposite if you're wanting more of a challeng hunting wild deer.

Similar thing happened to me years ago. I was hunting next to a bean field, and a buck came walking from the field right under my tree stand. After I shot him and got to where he fell, it was apparent that he still had food in his mouth. For some reason that hit my button and I've never had the heart to shoot another one since. But now a hog or coyote is an entirely different story ......

I had something similar happen. I used to have fun, but one day I got married and it sorta took the wind out of my sails.. now.. all I do is watch people have fun and think, "I could have taken the BLUE pill!"

*snicker*

At the house, we feed deer and watch them.

At the ranch, we shoot them.

State parks... yea, too used to humans, would be like shooting your dog.

Come to think of it... I don't like my dog...

I am bad with these analogies...

R

There were signs in the park telling folks not to feed the animals but they've never enforced it. I could sit at a camp site and have grey squirrels climb up on a picnic table to get a pecan out of my hand. Same with deer and raccoons, folks act like they're at the zoo.

The spot I hunt borders the state park a good quarter mile, with a thicket all long the fence that's a good 300 feet deep. Over the years, I've lost count of how many bedded deer I've jumped out of that thicket while rounding up loose cattle. Quite a few monster bucks as well.

Yep, too much like living in a Disney cartoon. At our place in Ruidoso we have a "pet" mule deer buck that comes inside the house to get hand outs.

I always try to look at animals with a combination of how my grandfather would have looked at it, plus the realities of today's conservation needs. My grandfather was a dirt-poor sharecropper during the great depression with nine kids. The last thing in the world you needed around a farm was a mouth to feed that didn't pull it's own weight. So even though there may have been a few pets, they didn't last long and either got killed and eaten or just killed to get them out of the way. Today, there's no need to kill anything indiscriminantly, so I never kill any wild animal just for the fun of shootitng it. But if it came to needing to shoot the family pet, or slit it's throat, then it's time. I like photographing them just as much as hunting them, so I'd just as soon they were around to look at. But if it was hunting season, I was out of meat, and the only thing I saw was the 10-point pet deer, then he's getting tagged.

I think most hunters lose their "blood lust" as they mature. I know i have. Dont get me wrong, i hunt a LOT and fully intend to shoot a good buck every year if i can, but i am no longer disappointed if i dont. The joy and love of the outdoors keeps me content now days.

Maybe you should dive into the fabulous world of hunting public hunting for a few years...

I personally enjoy the beauty of nature as much as I enjoy the hunt. I have never "had to" kill anything, and I have never taken great pride in the kill. I have taken enjoyment out of the harvest of good meat, but that is different than the kill. I read a story a few years ago about a hunter who tracked a herd of elk for days, stalked them and waited. He spent 2 pages of his story telling about how magnificent this elk was and what a treat it was to see him. Then the last paragraph was on how he killed him...... I was dumbfounded. But that was his hunt and not mine, to be played out in his way. I have had to put down many family pets, and I have never really had a problem doing it. Never looked forward to it, but had no trouble sleeping afterwards either. Personally I will continue to hunt and enjoy the bounty of the forest, but if others choose not to, that is their row to hoe.

It's now your duty to put the fear of man back into them...

Start shooting them, they'll get back to being cautious.

I'd kill a deer I raised in my back yard if I ran out of back strap. It's just meat.


Of coarse I'd never let myself run out of back strap and I'd never raise a deer in my back yard .


Sounds to me like you just need to finals a more challenging spot to hunt where the deer aren't tame.

All that means is that you have a soul and don't hate the deer. I wouldn't over-think it.

I've had a few "pet" deer at various leases over the years. I always thought they were the smart ones. They get extra food and are in absolutely no danger of getting shot.

Me to a tee. I have a really hard time killing a Deer on my ranch.

Yep...it'd be like shooting your pet... But you could still shoot them...with a camera which I do as well and it too is a lot of fun and very enjoyable.

Wheres it at? I'll kill it.