Bad Bad News...UPDATE!
 

Hey all, just wanted to vent...

I heard yesterday that the farm two farms down from us cut their corn early this year (like aug)... When they did that they killed 89 fawns. All the other farms had beans in last summer, so alot of the deer were in that corn.... I dont know why they didnt wait to cut until oct like everyone else.... The only thing i can think of is that they put it in extra early, but i cant remember...

Looks like im going to be seeing a few less deer for the next few years :(

RE: Bad Bad News...
 

Seriously? That is amazing. I can't imagine a field with 89 deer in it, let alone 89 fawns. I know this may sound heartless but perhaps the herd needed a major culling. You know better than me obviously, but that was my first thought.

RE: Bad Bad News...
 

:(I agree that the herd needs managing, but i'd rather seem them all be does... our buck doe ratio is way off, I plan on whacking atleast 4 does next year in early season... But im gonna wait and see what this does to the herd... I did notice i saw a lot less deer this year....

RE: Bad Bad News...
 

This was my first thought, also. In speaking with my NCWRC Wildlife Biologist.....and giving him my deer sightings numbers......he seemed to think I had a doe group (or a few groups) consisting of about 40 does (I saw over 300 antlerless deer, from stand, this year). He told me that all of them (we had to assume) would have been bred......and that my friends and I could take as many as EIGHTEEN (more, really)and not do anything harmful to the herd, this year. We're gonna try and do what we can.......but I have to admit that killing does with fawns and killing smaller does isn't gonna be easy. o be honest....I'd welcome such an event......but I know I couldn't help but wonder about the bucks, too.

Tough deal....sorry to hear about it....

RE: Bad Bad News...
 

in august fawns are plenty big enough and plenty smart and fast enough to leave the field or get out of the way. i also find this hard to believe, 89 fawns, just doesnt add up.

RE: Bad Bad News...
 

Well when farmers like myself harvest corn in august, sept, and oct, this is for high moisture corn. But if these fields held that many fawns im thinking theres something wrong. I have 300 acres and a verylarge deer herd of course its not hard to see 80 plus deer in a field at times but 80 plus fawns, im thinking someoneis full of it.

RE: Bad Bad News...
 

Deer getting killed in swathers and combines happens, BUT 89 in ONE field. Seems a bit over blown!

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Yea, My uncle wasnt sure if the data was correct. Also the picking time didnt add up, My first thought was that it was picked in spring. I KNOW that they left their corn stand through winter last year, cause all the deer were there... It could be the case that they picked it in spring, but he told me it was aug/early sept...

I know that it seems like a lot, but we have a ton of deer in the area... and they are highly moblie, if there is a good food source they all go to it.

And as far as being big enough and fast enough to get away, their instincts tell them to sit still, It happens all to frequently...

RE: Bad Bad News...
 

I am not a farmer, so know nothing about cutting corn. With that said, how is it that someone can kill 89 fawns while cutting corn and not at some point recognize what is going on (such as unusual noise, blood, flying boddy parts, etc....)?

RE: Bad Bad News...
 

some corn gets cut when green for silage, not sure thats spelled right.

RE: Bad Bad News...
 

sounds like someone is puffing up there gore stories....[:o][:o]

RE: Bad Bad News...
 

skidder.....for "community relations" reasons, this year....we might puff ours DOWN!;)

RE: Bad Bad News...
 

Maybe the guy did it on purpose...........if he has that many deer running around like rats I'm sure he would love the chance to whack 89 of them at once. Remember, he is trying to make a living.........not raise deer for other people to shoot. Deer in numbers like that must be doing a tremendous amount of damage to his crops. If he did in fact kill 89 of them I am sure he is THRILLED.

Doesn't do much for you though.

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It won't even put a dent in your population there. You won't notice it a bit.

RE: Bad Bad News...
 

We pick corn in eastern NC in late August, there is always about 1/3 of the crop harvested by Labor Day...The reason....Hurricanes....We would rather spend money drying it then loosing a crop due to hurricane damage.

RE: Bad Bad News...
 

If they killed 89 fawns in the field there wouldn't have been enough corn left to harvest. The heard would have eaten it all. In aug those fawns would have been big enough to run away. Someone is pulling both of your legs!!!!!!!

RE: Bad Bad News...
 

Ed, like these guys said, something doesn't add up. That's a pile of fawns, no pun intended. To have that many fawns in a corn field, deer must have running everywhere, I think there's more to the story.

RE: Bad Bad News...
 

Yeah...I bet they meant 8 or 9, and instead someone heard 89 and the whole story got blown way out of proportion.

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That seems to be alot of fawns killed but how big are the corn fields?

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I doubt the combine would even work anymore after running or that many fawns.

RE: Bad Bad News...
 

Guys arent we assuming that we know the size of his corn fields. He might have a thousand acres or more in corn.

RE: Bad Bad News...
 

Hey guys, got some more details on the "kill" this weekend. Turns out my initial thought was right, they killed 89 fawns in late spring when they cut the winter wheat off the fields. Its pretty bad, and will def. affect the herd in my area, I guess most of the does dropped their fawns in the fields and they were too young to know to run.

...But on a better note, my cousin was down there shed hunting and saw a bunch of deer, which is rare for this time of year... not many were killed this year, and the farmers have been seein a few nice bucks that made it through...

RE: Bad Bad News...
 

now that is possible, dont know your area or your deer herd but would still have to be a pretty large field....certainly no 40 acre field[:-]

RE: Bad Bad News...
 

When I first read this I thought "There's no way! Somebody probably meant 8 or 9." But then I did some quick checking on the internet and found this: http://www.naturalresources.umd.edu/BranchingOut/2001Spring.html( I assume you live in Maryland from your profile.) Anyway, the study says some areas in MD have 150 deer per square mile. That's a ton compared to most places in the US. Having seen this number I guess it's very likely that 89 is correct. If you live in one of these overpopulated areas I think it's only a matter of time before your local herd will be back to original numbers. It's just hard to think of that many deer killed at once when our area probably doesn't have even half that many deer per square mile.

RE: Bad Bad News...
 

Not to sound off but it still don't add up to me. You live in a similar climate as me and the winter wheat does not come off until end of June or July at the earliest. I have never seen a deer get in the combine in my area, deer are just not that slow and dumb.I also would have to say that he could have only had two or three at the most. The front end of a thrasher on a combine is a fragile piece of equipment. After the first one he would be very pissed, and after the second one he would be doing something different because a combine could not handle that kind of abuse plain and simple. The only way I could see a deer getting killed by a farmer is if he had a large bush hog chopper being pulled real fast by a big tractor and the small ones would not have time to move. But in June and July they are out of the hiding and nest phase and are up and around with mom alot. Still seems way to off base IMO.

RE: Bad Bad News...
 

I don't know how many a platform on a combine could take but a disc mower conditoner takes a lot of fawns in late May when Alfalfa fields are done and quite frankly the famer won't even know it happened until the vultures and crows show up right after cutting. It is sad, and no farmer I know who has had it happen enjoys it but it does happen... Have seen farmers run Quads infront of their windrowers trying to prevent it but those fawns just hunker down.. Hard to see when the hay is waist tall and you are cutting 16 feet at one time...

RE: Bad Bad News...
 

That place would of had to smell and I hope they are not in my corn flakes.


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RE: Bad Bad News...
 

The winter wheat is usually picked in late may here, if not earlier, its off by june, we have long growing seasons, its usually planted in october... Anda lot of the farmers around here are the "corporate" type where they lease thousands and thousands of acres, there are no "small" operations anymore. It looks like army manuevers when they cut a field, 4-5 combines going fast and hard....

Ive seen them kill healthy adult deer... its no wonder they slaughter the young ones...

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I've put a few though the baler in N.J. Rotten parts after sitting in a wheat straw windrow. Put one into the Combine, Real messy the head got all bound up in the feeder auger.

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thats a shame

RE: Bad Bad News...
 

This wasn't meant to be funny I'm sure, but I laughed really hard reading this reply! The funniest thing I've read in a long time. Thank You Red Lion!

And to get back on topic I agree with most of you guys here, 89 fawns in one field at one time all getting butchered sounds a bit fishy to me.

RE: Bad Bad News...
 

I've run fawns through a conditioner cutting hay before. You don't even notice it when it happens. You might see it the next round laying in the wind row. I think if I ran 89 of them through my haybine, I'd probably notice at least 30 of them. I'd go slower, but, you got to get the crop out.

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No way I'm believing this one. Sure...maybe a couple get it, but anymore than 5 and I'm callin cough.....B...S...cough. :D

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Wow, that is crazy! How big is this farm. It must be huge if they killed 89 fawns...sad to hear..

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well a couple of years ago I hunted w/ an outfitter in Montana. the Night we arived he told us we would all be hunting "the bean field". Alll of us I replied, yep all of ya. He said, turns out 365 acre bean field, Now thats a field!!!!

RE: Bad Bad News...
 

LOL like Burbaust99 did, and I agree, if you hit one of them in August, you're going to know it. It ain't going to be a little bump and crunch. Those little skulls are pretty hard at that time, and would raise some concern if you were hitting on about every 100 or so yards as you were cutting. Those little skulls would do a little damage to the cutting head after about 50 or 60!!!

Ed,
I think some one may have told a big fish/deer story. My father-in-law farmed nearly 600 acres for many years here in OH, and killed a deer or two per year max, some years he didn't kill any.