I'm already a camera hunter! He'll figure it out eventually on his own. He's a wonderful man, and I'm not about to spoil his fun!

You are blessed, so enjoy every minute.

My son loves to hunt. He's a big deer hunter. After the first few years, he only goes for the big ones, so he doesn't kill near as many as he did and they eat the meat so this always makes me feel better. Oh, I love deer meat, too. He also loves to Bass fish and he does the catch and release thing with all his fish.

Mona, honestly there are far too many deer. Far, far too many. Deer have expolded because they no longer have any natural predators in most of the country. And no hunting in suburba where they most need to be displaced.

Mona, I really am blessed. If he wants to hunt, he's welcome to do so. I don't love it, but I do love him! It's funny... I've seen him spend 45 minutes trying to revive a little fish, and then he'll go hunting the next day. Makes no sense, but it's how he is. He is an avid fly fisherman, but releases all of his fish.

I grew up eating wild game, and refuse to eat any more of it. I just don't like it! Hunting here is huge, especially deer. It's not like it used to be, but it's still huge. When we moved here 20 years ago, there was hardly anyone left in town when deer season started! They usually closed the schools the Friday before the opening weekend, because there were no kids in school anyway. It's just not "politically correct" to hunt these days like it used to be.

When my husband was stationed in Illinois, he and a friend of his were hired to hunt on the private golf course. The deer were destroying it because there were way too many of them, and they weren't healthy because of it. The owner didn't mind it if the deer wanted to eat some grass, but they were tearing up everything, including all of the trees. In fact, the entire area was so totally overrun with deer that the county ended up having to hire hunters to come in and thin the herd out some. They hadn't let anyone hunt there in years, and the deer were suffering terribly because of it. Having no natural predators was the problem. By the time we moved, there wasn't even a dent being made in the problem, and after 10 years, I doubt that it's gotten much better.

Yes, I agree. One local town here is having terrible problems with deer destroying all the landscaping in peoples yards and the town. Then they are getting ran over and several folks have been bad hurt. So, they put out ads for hunters to bring their bows to a try out. The winners were given free rein to kill deer for several days in the subdivision. It was a supervised kill. The meat was donated to a local soup kitchen. Worked great. Of course some had fits and now they don't know what they are going to do this year. I'm sorry, I understand both sides, but, to me, it was a great idea. The deer will not leave because of all the great shrubs and stuff, so what will they do now???

I can get as bent as the best animal rights folks, but I try to have a little "common sense" with everything. I've been told by my children that folks this day do not have any "common sense". It was taught to our children from birth, think before you do!!! Must be a lost art nowdays.

Mother nature never ment for any one species to overpopulate. Thats why the deer have predators. But of course no wolves in suburbia.

Mona...your vole story really cracked me up Couple years ago, D*O*G (Catahoula mix) caught one and brought it in the house to finish off. Poor thing was trying to burrow in the carpet like crazy. Well it was garbage day so I scooped it into an empty jar and put on the lid with every intention of putting it in the garbage can. NOT....poor thing was SOOO frantic to get out of the jar that I just didn't have the heart to do the deed. Walked accross the dirt road and set it free. Within an hour I could see it's tunnel heading right back into my yard

One thing here that really irks me is that people will build on the side of the mountain, and then complain that the deer are eating their plants. Don't build in the deer's backyard if you want fancy plants! A good friend of ours who died last year had built his home about 50 years ago on the side of the mountain, long before others were building their mansions up there. He had 3 or 4 acres, and it was all lawn. He planted the lawn for the deer, and that is all that he ever planted. He said he chose to live in their territory, so he was going to plant what they wanted to eat. He always had baby deer born in his yard every year, and he would spend hours on his deck enjoying them. 20 years or so ago, they started building lots of homes up there, and his neighbors were in an uproar about it, since they all put in nice landscaping, and the deer thought it was an all-you-can-eat buffet! I thought that was so funny!

We're 3 miles from the base of the mountains, and I only know of one deer that has made it's way into our neighborhood. That was last year. So many people between us and the mountains have several acres of wild land, and they know they have deer, but almost never see them. They leave the land wild for the critters, and I really love that! Otherwise, I'd probably be overrun with deer myself!

Ginger, that is SO funny!!!

I just can't stand to SEE an animal hurt. I've been around baby rabbits, cats, chickens and all kinds of other stuff as a child and it just carried over into adulthood.

Welllllllll, Let me tell you my baby rabbit story from this year. Late in July, the man that owns about 50 acres that joins our land decided to bushhog the property after about 4 years of not doing a thing to it. It was grown up big time. We had an invasion of grass hoppers like yo wouldn't believe. It got so bad, that I went out that night to make sure they wasn't eating my daylilies like crazy. They were fine. They ate some but not bad. Well, also displaced were a bunch of rabbits. I don't think it was my family that has lived here for years because the momma built her nest to have her babies the day after the field was cut. She built the nest about 10 feet from my back door. It was also right where I walked and stood to water a group of my pots. I didn't see it because it was in a spot that had some tall grass, leaves and pine nettles around it. So, when I was watering about a week later, I stepped on the nest and a poor baby squealed like crazy. It broke my heart that I had stepped on them. I had to uncover the nest to make sure they were ok. They were so pretty, soft, warm, and sweet and tiny and they were fine as far as I could tell. They still had their little white spot in the center of their foreheads. I had no idea baby rabbits had that spot. I looked it up on google, that's why I found out about it.

I waited about a week and thought I just had to check on them again. This time when I very gently lifted the cover to peak in their nest, one of the babies jumped up and hopped off. Now, I felt worse than the first time. It never entered my mind that they would flee. I just knew my cat would get him or worse, it would starve to death. I saw him every day for about 2 weeks. Evidently it was old enough to eat because he loved my tall fresh green grass that grows around my pots. I guess he was ok because I finally quit seeing him and never saw any signs that the cats got him. They usually take all trophies to the front door!!!

I learned my lesson. I'll never bother the nest again. I knew better, I've always known better but I just had tomake sure they were ok. I have no idea what I would have done if they hadn't been ok???? We do have a local vet that will take in injured wildlife, but they always advise you to leave what we think might be abandoned alone for awhile and with my cats, that sometimes is not a good thing.

Mona, you are a softee. I would have destroyed the nest and those baby bunnies. My garden is much more important to me.

Great, funny stories. Enjoyed them very much.

Awww Mona! So sweet! I'm glad you shared that with us!

I love little baby animals too Mona!!! I have a soft heart for them and hate it when I try to "help" and then it doesnt work out!
I had a litter of kittens born in the wall of the barn, they were about 4 weeks old and we finally got them out and all settled into a stall. Of course the mama left and then when we tried to "save" them they all died! I was heart broken!

I tried to help a turtle crossing the road one day. Evidently, it didn't want to be on the side of the road I put him on, when I drove back, he was smushed crossing back to the other side.

I no longer help them unless necessary. To some extent I believe Mother Nature has to do what she does best.

I will admit that if I hit an animal, I always hope I kill it outright. Sadly, that hasn't always happened. ~Jan

I'm Always helping tuttles Even helped a XXL snaper once He was not that happy BUT,he did get to the river Via broom stick LOL

I have learned my lesson about kitties -- I just leave them where ever... so now we had one in the barn wall... all of a sudden he is gone -- after 8 weeks I have no idea what happened to him. We are praying mom has him stashed somewhere else!