We have quite a few black bears around here, and in season they come into town to raid orchards, although they mostly stay away from the city center. Once in while one will discover a restaurant dumpster. Mostly they run away from humans, although you never want to be too close to a mother/cubs. Fish and Game has bear specialists who keep the public pretty well up to date and educated.
I’m starting to worry about racoons. Quite a few of them around here and awfully hard to keep out of things. We see a few around from time to time, and chased a bunch of them off of our front porch a few years ago.
our deer population is so small that it is a treat to see one. there are more moose than deer here. s. Maine is the opposite. moose can be just as destructive but they seem to prefer water plants in the summer but will nibble fruit trees and some fruit occasionally. bears will totally destroy a apple tree to get the fruit. they grab it and bend it over. a orchard in a neighboring town losts 5 10ft. apple trees to a big boar , that the farmer eventually shot. luckily they are more skittish than deer around people but they are smart and will adapt . people protecting them in populated areas is a recipe for disaster! relocation never works as once they get a taste for human food, they will always seek out humans to get it!.
I totally agree that is a really stupid comment. Though they do need to let legal hunters come in and thin the deer herds. At my ranch I have to grow everything behind a 6’ fence otherwise the deer will wipe it out. We hunt them to keep them in check and they have enough other food they don’t bother to try to jump the fence.
I’ve pretty much decided when our county gets more than a few scattered confirmed cases of CWD I’m going to fence my food plot off and run a few pigs or sheep in there. Our county was put in the zone where we can’t use salt blocks or bait at any point in the year this year.
I know that hunting law doesn’t apply to farmers, they shoot year around, sometimes they get caught killing eagles, the endangered ones. I know of people killing animals and leaving them laying for the buzzards to clean.
Maybe farmers in Arkansas… In Ohio we have to follow the same rules as everyone else in the state. My orchard is full of deer and critters… Special permits can be given but… I’ve never been allowed one… I have several acres that are farmed with corn and soybeans… That kind of open statement about farmers just isn’t so in my neck of the woods.
You guys sure know how to keep things out of context. I am not singling all farmers no matter what state. This is one of those with no end, so I,ll excuse myself from further replies. It’s like politics, no end.
Something’s been knocking down my corn, a lot of folks say it’s probably coons, but I just haven’t seen them that much here. I have seen a lot of rabbits in my patch, so I’m suspecting them.
Archery season here runs from mid September until December 31. Firearm hunters get at least 9 days to hunt. In some parts of the state firearm season runs for 16 days. Muzzleloader season runs for another 16 days. Additionally, there are special hunts held in some metropolitan areas. If people want to keep the deer herd in check, they have ample opportunities to do so.
I’m really surprised you haven’t been given any permits, considering you grow large plots of crops. I used to think that here, but it applies to anyone whose fruit or veggies are being taken out by deer. The legal term is depredation. But, such laws are different here than in OH, I suppose.
What I was told was to put a fence around my orchard and after that they would consider a permit. Years ago… you could get permits fairly easy. The population even being diseased is growing rapidly in our area.
I don’t think poaching is that big of a factor on herd numbers in Wisconsin. I can only remember hearing of it happening a couple of times and my family has owned hunting property since the early 90s. I think what can be a problem is trespassing of hunters. I know that has happened quite a few times but with trail cameras being so widespread its probably becoming tougher to get away with. Everyone who owns land up in that area does giant food plots so baiting isn’t much of an issue. The whole area use to be apple orchards a long ways back and i think back then (50+ years ago) they kept the trees huge and they killed anything that moved.
Just thinking about it…that first year i hunted deer…probably '92…my oldest brother just said one thing to me…“If it’s brown, it’s down”… They’ve since become old and retired and now they are all trophy buck hunters and generally only shoot a doe late in the season for meat and some years don’t even do that.
I would bet on coons as well. You would be surprised how much damage they can do. I don’t even try to raise corn for that reason. Between the coons and hogs I would never get any.
We have always driven used cars… Well one day some years ago my Dad decided it was time for him to fork out some savings and buy a new car for mom… So I went with him to the dealer and he was looking at clearance on previous year closeouts… Buying cash wanted a good deal, thats how my Dad is!
Well he finally settled on one and it took forever to do the papers dad called in his insurance and we were done and by then it was near dark winter it gets dark early and we had an hour drive home…,. Dad said I should drive it and I was like… “Nope… Somthin might happen!!” Well halfway home we passed town and stopped in for some food… supper time… After eating Dad was like " hop in and drive and follow me I’ll drive yours…" So i was like ok and so we headed out… I was enjoying getting to know the car and it was nice and all but as we neared home at 55mph in the dark down a small country hwy in the louisiana woods I was driving through some bottomlands and all of a sudden I saw a big buck appear in my headlights and BAM next thing I knew that car was totaled and the hood was in the windshield and airbags were in my face… And to make matters worse Dad had only called in liability…
By the way I just hit a deer 2 weeks ago on my way home from our weeknight church youth fun night activity, thankfully I got slowed way down and only minor damage…
Btw all of my fruit trees have to have wire cages 6’ high!!! And theyve been eating my garden stuff right by my house with a 40" fence too so yeah I really love deer…
HomeDepot has 3/4" x 1.5" x 8’ pressure treated poles for about $1. I drilled seven small holes in them up to 8 feet – used as fence poles. I bought PVC pipe that fit the poles (I forget what size) and cut them into 15-18" sections and pounded them in the ground every 10 to 12 feet.
I then bought 1/2 mile of electric fence wire and ran it through all the holes. So I ended up with an 8 foot fence with 7 strands. About 100’x100’. Cost around $100 or so.
Not a bad idea. I’d have to modify that design to fix some hardware cloth or chicken wire down near the bottom, because I have other critters to deal with as well (rabbits and groundhogs).
