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?

micdundee; if you check through the posts on this forum you' ll see the basics of improving deer habitat. If you want to farm deer you should check out deer farming sites on the net.

Dan O.

Here' s one site: http://www.deerfarmer.com/

P.S. It sounds like an expensive proposition

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.

A friend of mine had 18 in a pen. He had a considerable amount of money invested in the fence and the brood stock, then in October they came down with bluetongue and all of them died. A couple of years ago he spent about $1000 for a herd buck. The price was " live loaded in the trailer" guarantee only. He died before he got home with him.

Very high risk... but profitable. The shooters will go for $3k-10k... One or two is not so iffy... Get the necessary permits and built a twelve foot fence on an acre for every deer. Then the $$$$un starts...

With CWD spreading and deer farming as a main cause, it might be a better bet going to Vegas for a holiday.

Dan O.

One of the veteranarians in our county raises deer. He also hunts deer (he showed me his incredible trophy room) and even has won the NRA silver bullet award for a giant Alaskan moose he killed--it hangs in the waiting room! He was almost killed a few years ago by one of the bucks that actually " gored" him while he was tending to the other deer. One of the tines punctured his stomach and tore him up inside. Once he recovered, he killed that buck even though he doesn' t hunt any of the penned deer. It can be dangerous--esp during the rut.