My good friend has had in excess of 30 deer in his pen at a time. He now is down to 2 young bucks.

It is a labor-intensive, expensive and time consuming hobby. The deer are very fragile. During the rut...he has a hell of a time keeping them from trying to kill each other...and unlike in nature, the bucks can' t really run away.

He also warns that a buck in the rut is meaner than any pit-bull ever invented. He actually has tree steps on every tree in his pen so that he can shimmy up them if chased.

He loves it to death....Personally, I wouldn' t want to spend the time.