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ORIGINAL: Schultzy

I know of one doe that is 18+ years old in Northern Minnesota. My dad lives up there and in the winter months they feed the deer shelled corn here and there through out the winter in his yard (10 yards from the house) and the same doe (bear but) has been coming in for 18 years. Who knows how old she was when she 1st started coming in. The doe does not have a tail so thats how they know its her. She also has a handful or so of scars from the rifle hunters on her. She hasn't had fawns for about 4 years now. Her back is somewhat saggy but you would think she would look in allot worse shape for her age. She actually looks pretty darn good. She is by far the boss hog around there. Whenever any other deer are in the yard she is the boss and they all know it. Dad always gets nervous after gun season wondering if she made it through. He hunts the same woods/area and has never seen her on stand that he knows of. He wouldn't shoot her anyway but he's surprised he's never seen her while bow hunting.

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ORIGINAL: Schultzy

I know of one doe that is 18+ years old in Northern Minnesota. My dad lives up there and in the winter months they feed the deer shelled corn here and there through out the winter in his yard (10 yards from the house) and the same doe (bear but) has been coming in for 18 years. Who knows how old she was when she 1st started coming in. The doe does not have a tail so thats how they know its her. She also has a handful or so of scars from the rifle hunters on her. She hasn't had fawns for about 4 years now. Her back is somewhat saggy but you would think she would look in allot worse shape for her age. She actually looks pretty darn good. She is by far the boss hog around there. Whenever any other deer are in the yard she is the boss and they all know it. Dad always gets nervous after gun season wondering if she made it through. He hunts the same woods/area and has never seen her on stand that he knows of. He wouldn't shoot her anyway but he's surprised he's never seen her while bow hunting.

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Steve, she is the true Matriarch of the local herd!

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ORIGINAL: AF Hunter

How old can a whitetail get? Unfortunately, even with both two legged and four legged creatures after them year round, they outlive many of the two legged creatures, because even though the two leggers tend to think they are the smartest animal on the face of the earth, many of them do stupid things that prevent them from ever reaching even 20 years old.

There is my 1000th post and there aint even a whisp of sarcasm or lightheartedness in it anywhere.

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ORIGINAL: Siman08/OH

The fact that we think were the smartest animals in the world is actually our demise

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ORIGINAL: Schultzy

I believe were much smarter but we don't have an oz of will to survive like these deer do in the wild. Think about it if you had an arrow stuck in your leg, chances are you wouldn't make it and you wouldn't be able to walk because of the pain. A deer on the other hand would more then likely survive and also be able to run with a huge wound in its leg no matter if it hurt or not. They have such a huge will to live, we as humans don't come close to that! Were wimps!

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