When I was a kid we had neighbors who would put out a fake deer at their cabin in the fall, and after deer season we’d go out and count the fresh bullet/shot holes. The fake deer was on a patio.

My dad used to spend time at a northern ER, and the injuries he’d have to treat varied with the season. In November, there were a lot of broken bones. Turns out, most deer hunting accidents aren’t gunshot wounds. People fall out of their deer stands. Alcohol was involved on many of these cases, and some even occurred before the opener; the amateur hunters were setting up their tree stands the day before, climbing up into them, and having a few beers while they contemplated what lay ahead.

I’m not a great hunter myself (though I have hunted pheasant in the past) but I think it’s important to keep that connection to our roots. It helps you understand where meat comes from, and how difficult it was for our forebears. It’s also helpful for keeping the populations in check; with fewer wolves and cougars, the deer are getting out of control. But it saddens me to see more and more hunters getting into it for the wrong reasons. They do it because it’s a manly thing to do, and believing that if they are manly, they will be able to do it easily — so, the wrong motivation combined with a profound disinclination to demonstrate any need for training. So we get idiots getting drunk in their tree stands and falling down. And, once in a while, a really tragic accident.

I took a gun safety class years ago, and part of it included a series of videos to illustrate the dangers. One clip showed what appeared to be a prize buck slowly moving through the woods — but which proved to actually be a prize buck which had been killed and dressed, and was now being hauled out on the back of an idiot wearing camo. There were two lessons in that one: wear blaze orange, and be very VERY sure of what you’re shooting at.

It’s facile to blame video games, but part of me does wonder whether the lack of repercussions in those games doesn’t encourage this sort of “shoot first” behavior, if a person is already of a careless mindset.

Tonight, I go to dine on venison that a relative took up in northern Minnesota. It may not be a turkey, but we can give thanks for it all the same. 😉

Combine-large mammal encounters are common, though it’s usually deer (with humans second?) Two bears in one year may be a bit high, as I don’t think it’s usual to run over bears.

Of course, I’ve also heard that one of the two bears may not actually have exactly been run over by the combine, but there’s been no reporting on this. Just rumors.

Also, if you are interested in poaching in Minnesota at all, there are some pretty disturbing stories in “Poachers Caught!” by Tom Chapin.

Yes, there are idiot hunters. Too many of them. I’ve moved into a ‘natural blind’ and found empty beer bottles. I’ve heard semi-automatic weapons fire (pow pow pow) which couldn’t have been aimed but had to have been sprayed: for us, one shot is all it takes. And I could go on and on.

However, whatever gets written about hunting always seems to mention the idiots, not the vast majority of hunters who care deeply about the environment – usually far more so than the urbanites who read about it in books. It makes me crazy.

I’ve run into a lot of deer because I’ve been driving over 30 years and most of that in deer country. All but one I’ve hit at night – you are zooming along some country road and a deer decides to cross. Most of the time you miss (don’t swerve or you’ll get killed). Sometimes you hit. Many times these were crossing from one open field to another. Maybe there was an unseen predator, but, like I said, all critters seem to do this, hence the large number of roadkill of all species (racoon, rabbit, skunk, porcupine, opossum, turkey, you name it). It may be that they flee predation, but I think they are mostly just going from one place to another and get confused by cars, especially when there are headlights.

Anyway, sorry I misread the post. Whenever I read about stupid hunters – which do exist – my brain goes nuts and I want to point out that the overwhelming majority of us probably would prefer the guy who shot the housewife, or his son, etc., be stripped of hunting rights and, if possible, thrown in jail for criminal stupidity.

As to whether deer hit the roads more or less during hunting season, that depends on the region. You are right that in some cases they may hunker down a lot more and move a lot less. I’ve seen deer moving across roads in large numbers over several days from regions with lots of hunters into areas with very few. There are deer near our cabin that move as soon as hunting starts, right into town and they do a fair amount of standing around in the road.

The fact that you’ve run into so many deer does not give me great faith in your understanding of what they are doing when it comes to crossing the road! In any event, the main point I was making had more to do with wolves and bears moving about this time of year.

Oh, and yea, the idiot who fired his rifle into the home of the woman taking care of her two kids … was an idiot. I assume your intention is not to defend him. Or is this an all or nothing thing? Assume all hunters are excellent at what they do and all hunting practices are just great vs. be anti hunting and anti hunter? Sorry, but if you want polarized unthoughtful opinions about hunting or about gun use or about politics or anything, you’ve come to the wrong place. More importantly, the truth is that I value your opinion, and you have made some good points, but please read the post more carefully and, possibly, avoid presuming the intent before you discover it.

Who knows – maybe chimps are into bonding, or maybe they want some variety, even if fruit is cheaper.

Its great fun to make hunter look like idiots. Regardless, there are idiots doing idiotic things all the time. Like drivers who kill pedestrians, thus proving all drivers are idiots. I’m curious as to how many people are are wounded or killed by hunters vs. urban kids who come across loaded handguns storred in night tables.

This comment stands out:
“And, of course, when the deer are running for their lives you are more likely to run into them with your car.”

Really? I’ve hit four deer with various vehicles and none of those was in hunting season. Deer just run across the road like racoons and squirrels. When they are under threat deer run to cover, not away from it, crossing a road is not a typical flight path. The real danger from deer is a statisical one: more deer means more road crossing means higher probability of hitting one. Ask anybody in deer country.

In much of the US corn (in particular) mono-culture means a 24 hour buffet for deer. Extermination of natural predators and destruction of their habitat means exploding deer populations. The only remaining mechanism to keep the population down is hunting.

I’ve killed about 30 deer in my life. I always feel bad when I do, but they taste good so it passes. I’ve also worked on a farm.

Deer don’t retire to Fliroda when they get old. There isn’t a lot of dying in their sleep. They usually die because they get sick or starve during a tough winter and a predator rips their guts out and starts eating them while they are still alive. It ain’t pretty. So, if I had a choice between living life as a cow on a typical farm (a prisoner), or being a deer (free) I’d take being a deer any day. If I were a deer and my choice was being shot (dead in a few seconds) or having my guts ripped out and eaten alive, I’d pick being shot.

Of course, those of you who think meat comes in a nice plastic wrapped package might disagree.