3 of us went to southeastern Armstrong county the first Saturday. While putting on a short drive about 8:30 I came across a blood trail. The blood indicated a lung was hit so I rounded up my buddy and we went on a mission to finish what some slob didnt bother to do. My buddy had seen a guy shoot, and not even walk over to check if he made a hit or not. We got to the deer but both missed when it boiled up from 10 yards in some of the nastiest stuff I've been in. While tracking it out yet again into some very dark pines and hemlocks my buddy looked off to the side and a deer was looking at him from the shadows. He made sure it was bald and shot. We walked over and found a 30 lb spotted fawn!!! I'm sure he wouldn't have shot if he'd realized it was so small but he probably performed an act of mercy. I dont think this deer could have survived the winter.
My guess is that this deer couldnt have been much more than a month old, certainly not over 2 months. (this was Dec 7th) Obviously his momma got bred very late!
Later that day, I shot a mature doe in her prime and when I gutted her she definately was not pregnant. There were tons of deer and lots of sign but it I wonder if this isn't an example of an area where there just aint enough bucks around to breed all the does on time.
The mature doe I shot in Allegehny County on Nov 15 was already pregnant but the buck doe ratio (at least from my sightings) is much more in line there
Of course, one or two hunters experiences dont necessarily reflect a total picture of the condition of a particular deer herd, but from where I see it, it may take a few years of high doe kills to get areas like this back in line.
Oh yeah, we also found a fairly fresh unrecovered deer left in the woods . It was a big doe and a pretty big bear made sure that none of it was wasted.
Member of NRA, BASS, Buckmasters and Life member of UBP.........Kill a big doe, Let the little bucks grow
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Cant wait for 2012!
If guns kill people, spoons made Rosie O'Donnell fat!!!
Iteresting day in Armstrong County
