Watch for Deer.
 

With the sun not coming up so early I have been seeing a lot more deer crossing the roads on my way to work. Just missed one by a few feet this morning. Had there not been snow on the ground to contrast with the deers dark color, I never would have seen it....Very close call. So be careful if you are an early driver like me.:eek:

Muzzleloader deer season opened Oct 29th and will run to Nov 8th. The regular firearm season runs from Nov to Dec 4 in the lakes region area.

Deer hunting hours are 1/2 hour before sunrise until 1/2 hour after sunset. Hunters in the woods tend to get the deer moving around so yes watch out.

Hunting definitely pushes them around and in some cases out of the woods as there's more activity with people walking around.

Deer in Rut
 

It's also just about peak rut (breeding) season right now so deer are naturally moving around a LOT more looking to mate. I would attribute seeing more deer due to this than hunters in the woods.

Dan

The peak of the rut here in NH is around Nov 15. The rut gets the male deer moving around to find a female deer.

With any luck there will be one less in the woods and I'll once again have a full freezer.

The deer not only will be on the move due to hunters in the woods, but also the acorn crop was terrible this year so the deer are forced to scrap for what ever other alternatives there are out there.

The rut is definitely on, I've seen towards the end of last week some very impressive scrapes meaning the boys are cruising for chicks.

Finally if you do venture into the woods, hunting or not PLEASE wear plenty of blaze orange!

Protect the Pooches!
 

Dogs should be wearing blaze orange too! Accidents do happen.
We recently saw this story while at the lake on a Maine station:
Man Accused of Shooting Dog he Mistook for a Coyote

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Accidents
 

I lost count but there were at least 4-5 reports on the news about hunters shooting other people tonight.

One fatality
 

Sad news on the WMUR web site. While the vast majority of hunters are ultra safety conscious, opening day sometimes brings out a few less careful one day hunters.

Wtf
 

What hunter shoots without identifying what he is shooting at?
I don’t know how many deer my son passed on this year because he told me he just didn’t have a clear shot. And he knew they were deer and could see them but branches could have deflected his shot.
He has settled on a small buck (first one ever for him) this week and hopes to fill his bow tag before the end of the season.
I hope they find a way to prosecute the hunter who shot and killed the other one.

0pen and close
 

How could they not prosecute this. Just becasue someone aquires a hunting license, doesn't give them the right to just go into the woods and start firing away at anything that moves. How could you even mistake a deer with a person, no matter what color he was wearing. And of all my years of walking in the woods, I have never seen a deer taking pictures.

I totally agree, there is a disturbing trend I have observed while out hunting the past few years. Sitting out on the stand and hear bang.... bang.... bang, bang..... bang, bang. Seriously? I have never had to take more than one shot to get the job done and some fool is unloading their gun? And is the meathead that is doing this thinking about where those bullets may be headed? This kind of thing is going to ruin it for the rest of us. I have no idea why some hunters are that freaking desperate to get a deer, nor can I understand why anyone would chance injuring one and have it possibly run off, die a miserable death and be a total loss and waste.

Kudos for teaching your son the right way to hunt, passing on a bad shot doesn't make him any less of a hunter, and good for him for ending up being successful later on!

Learning to hunt.
 

Most of my sons gun handling qualities he learned in the Army while training to serve a term in Iraq.
His step father is also a big hunter had a hand in the learning process as well.
Top it off with a really good head on his shoulders when it comes to handling a firearm.
Although I am all for hunting, I have never actually found the time to do so.
The sad thing is I can look out my window and see turkeys and deer all year.
I have had the opportunity, over the years to sample deer, moose, antelope, elk, and this past summer bear.

Nice doe got hit yesterday
 

Yesterday around noon I was just up the hill from the school on 25 in Meredith when a deer came across the road and plowed into the car in front of me. Sadly the deer broke its back legs. We tried to cover its head with a blanket until the police came to put it down but it was dragging itself around and would have no part of it.
This is the second nice doe I’ve seen hit in two consecutive Saturdays. Last weekend it was on 89 in VT.
I hope the animal was taken and went to feeding someone.

I hope that is not the one that I have seen many times crossing the road to eat under the tree at the Yellow commercial building at the top of the hill .

I don't think they can use the meat from a wounded deer. If it was in an accident like you describe the meat gets full of adrenaline which taints the meat. This is what I was told when I called in a deer hit before. sad if that is true as it is a waste of a good animal and food source.