All you macho guys will like this:

[J Burns]

They hate the smell of human hair. Before stapling hair to my tree, I'd ask the authorities if there's any local law against the purchase or possession of human scalps.

[Terry Coombs]

The damage was done during a very lush and green spring and early summer . I bear the deer no malice , they were doing what deer do - tender young shoots and leaves , a nibble here and a nibble there . I just need a barrier to what I don't want nibbled . FWIW , last summer was the first time we've had problems , and it is probably because I cleared an area they were foraging in and replaced the undergrowth with fruit trees . They've got plenty more , this whole hollow is mostly dense woods with lots of undergrowth .

[Frank]

I had rabbits girdle a couple of small fruit trees. They feed at the snow line on top of the snow. Deer go after leaves and sometimes twigs. When starving they will eat evergreens.

[nestork]

You're telling me that you walked up to within 20 feet of a wild deer and they didn't respond to your presence? That they behaved as if you weren't there. And it's because you were wearing bright orange coveralls and deer can't see that colour?

Do I understand you correctly?

At 20 feet, not only could the deer see you, it would have heard and smelled you as well. The only way I could see a deer not responding is if it was a domesticated deer from a zoo that got loose.

[J Burns]

Aw, you clipped the part where he said he didn't move. Hard to sneak up in an animal with eyes on both sides of its head.

I used to go out late at night smoking a Judges Cave and looking for wildlife. Step quietly, walk upwind, shield the glow, pay attention to how I would show up against my background.

One night I saw a rabbit and eased in almost close enough to step on it. I wondered why an animal with eyes on both sides didn't see me. Then I saw it was preoccupied with a fox. The fox didn't see me because I was out of its field of vision. I waited and the rabbit escaped the fox. I took another puff.

[Doug Miller]

nestork wrote in news: [e-mail]:

No, I'm telling you that I was standing still, and the deer walked up to within 20 feet of me.

It certainly did smell me! It was vigorously sniffing the air, quite loudly. Since I was standing motionless, the only thing it might have been able to hear was my breathing.

I'm not sure what it was able to see, but it certainly didn't see anything that alarmed it -- until I moved. *Then* it took off.

You evidently don't have a lot of experience with wild deer. They don't appear to fear things that don't move.

[nestork]

I don't hunt, but I do have a bit of experience with deer.

In the town I grew up in, which was about 25 miles north of Winnipeg and had a population of 4400, or thereabouts, deer would often wander into town.

Admittedly those deer were lost and probably scared, but there's no way you could ever get close to one. As soon as you started to approach it, it would be off, and those things can run like the wind. Those times where I saw the RCMP (local police) try to deal with a deer that found it's way into someone's vegetable garden, the deer wouldn't let them get near. The police would just scare it, allowing a clear path for it to get out of the yard, and the deer would run out of the yard and out of town, and that was good enough. My experience with deer is that you can't get anywhere near 20 feet away from a deer (which is what I thought you meant) before it would run away.

[Ed Pawlowski]

That could have easily been eliminated had the town put up Deer Crossing signs in the right places to direct them around town.

[Frank]

Right, that's the way it should be done. They get used to seeing it around and ignore it. This guy was putting up the blind only while hunting.

[Frank]

On more than one occasion I've had a deer look at me while up in a stand. Deer will stop and stare, paw and thump the ground, put it's head down and then quickly look up to see if anything has changed. If I have not moved, then the deer will ignore me.

[Dan Espen]

In the suburbs they are a lot more exposed to human presence.

20 ft is doable.

I had deer eat the bark off a locust I grew from seed. I thought at about 7ft tall they'd leave it alone so I took the cage off. I did not look like the results of a buck scraping his horns. The bark was removed.

Now it's about 10ft and I plan to keep the cage on until the bark gets much thicker.

[Doug Miller]

nestork wrote in news:nestork.eb82068 @diybanter.com:

[major snip]

That depends heavily on how accustomed the deer are to seeing human beings. We have a couple that wander through our neighborhood from time to time; I photographed one a few years ago from a distance of about seven feet. The neighbor across the street told me that her son (about 10 years old at the time) had actually petted it.

And we have a municipal park a few miles away that is jam-full of deer which aren't afraid of humans or of leashed dogs.

Out in the forest, though -- heck, no, you can't walk within 20 feet of a deer without it running away. Most of the time, a wild deer will take off before you get within forty or fifty yards. But if you're standing or sitting still, making no noise, and camouflaged, they sometimes get very close. My BIL shot one on opening day this year from a tree stand at a distance of just over six yards.

[Doug Miller]

"Terry Coombs" wrote in news:StHcw.163925$ [e-mail]:

So does a 1-oz slug from a 12-ga shotgun.

[Frank]

I cast and reload a 1.25 oz Lyman slug. Does a great job even with a light powder load only delivering about 1,200 ft/lb energy.

[JAS]

Is there a reloading forum?

[micky]

Don't you live near Buffalo?

Land of snow drifts and floods?

Did they cause you a problem a few days ago?

AIUI, north of downtown, just a little snow and everything was fine.

[Stormin Mormon]

The killer snow belt was maybe ten or so miles wide, and thirty or so miles long (just guessing).

I was outside the affected area, and didn't get bombed under. I carefully avoided that area.

Thanks for asking.

- . Christopher A. Young Learn about Jesus

.

[micky]

Good to know you're in one piece.

[Stormin Mormon]