micdundee

I would like to get into raising deer. Not for hunting but just to raise them and be able to watch them grow and what not. Possibly get into selling dna but not really sure about that. Does anyone have any info about how to get started or how much it might take to get into it?

j_wag15

My family raises whitetails, and it is really easy to get started. We are in Ohio and i am not sure about the laws where you are from,you should probably contact your game warden or wildlife officeer about getting started, But in ohio you have to have a wildlife liscence or something like that to raise anything like that. In ohio the law is you must have a fence 8 feet tall i think it is or higher( I am not sure if it changed, my dad takes care of that). How big the area you fence in is up to you i am pretty sure.We fence in 15 acres. which is 12 acres of woods.and 3 acres of food plots, and two ponds for them to drink out of. As far as the cost goes. you can get a doe for 200-300 dependin on where you are located. Bucks might be a little bit more. You can get a buck almost as cheap as a doe, But he will probably not have as good as genetics. NOw if you really want a nice BIG buck you are talkin 5000-10000.OR you can buy a bred doe that is bred to a big buck.,unless you are lucky and you know someone who raises deer and has a big buck, you can have them use that buck on some of your doe herd to get a good line of genetics , if they alow you to do so. Then really once you get some does to start having fawns and everything like that, you really dont need to buy anymore deer, unless you are looking to get bigger and better bucks. So really it takes some money to start out like setting up the fence and everything and making food plots and ponds unless you plan on doing the watering and feeding by hand, but once you get most of that accomplished it really dont take that much money and work because the deer keep populating and you dont need to buy anymore. YOu may need to occasionaly thin some out , like bucks depending on your pen size to keep them from fighting.And if you really get into making HUGE bucks there are a few places that will give you a nice chunk of money to buy one of your bucks.

Hope this helps, and sorry for rambling on about it.
Justin