Quick, where's my shotgun?

About a month ago I was looking out my front window at about noon on a bright sunny day and a full-grown buck went walking down the middle of our street. We're talking a suburuban development here in a major metro area. They aren't afraid of people anymore.

I grew up in WI, not a surprise that they are way up there, lots of deer and big ones too, 200 LBS not all that uncommon.

I live down on the gulf coast now, surprise to to MS NR.1 maybe it just means nobody lives there. LOL

I did hit a deer with my Toyota truck a few years back, about 2AM on a really cold Jan night, I was on my way home from a SC as it turned out. :-)

Not really a big deal because it was one of those little AL deer, just a little grill and bumper damage, had it been a big WI whitetail I probably wouldn't have been able to drive away, hell might have frooze to death out there LOL.

As was said above yes in AL it is like fishing season, deer hunting goes on for many weeks and after you get him home and cut hime up you can go out and get another one.

AN: I'm actually from the eastern side of NY, between Binghamton and Albany. My wife actually grew up right next to Fredonia, in Westfield. I'll be up there in another week or so... I've actually checked out your reviews of a club in Fredonia, but the odds of my getting to it are pretty slim. (Yeah honey, I just need to run to Fredonia for a couple of hours, don't wait up! LOL!)

travelingthrough, I agree there is virtually no excuse to go to Fredonia. I know Westfield, or at least I've driven through it many times.

AN, I live in PA near Wilmington, so Baltimore isn't very far away. Most of my regular clubbing experiences have been in the Baltimore-Washington area.

FONDL, I've heard that a lot of the north central has been overhunted now. Never heard much about the northeast, but I could see how that would be good hunting.

I assumed you were in the Baltimore area for some reason.

HAVE to watch out for animal carcasses? Here in Southern Illinois, one of our bigger local newspapers ran a front page story, one year at the beginning of season, on issues relating to safe retrieval, dressing, storage, preparation and consumption of road kill. (typically, a deer that you "Bagged" with your SUV instead of your shotgun)

I am not making this up.

I don't know if PA is the same as South Carolina, but here you have to watch out for dead animal carcasses on the road late at night as well as the live ones. Hitting a pound of flesh and bones at 55 or so is not good for your vehicle unless of course you have a monster truck and don't care. I don't trust the deer census someone seems to estimate. I mean if the deer don't show up to be counted, it seems like someone might get their estimates a bit off.

I'm from eastern PA and most people around here would argue that the best deer hunting in the US is in the north east and north central parts of the state. Somewhere recently I read that there are more deer in PA than any other state - don't know if that's true or not but there sure are a hell of a lot of them.

AN, neither of my muskets work, they're just for decoration. In any case I've never been a hunter but I don't have any problem with people who are. As long as they do so responsibly, which isn't always the case. I bet the strip clubs in the Poconos (of which there are a couple of really good ones BTW) love deer season.

Good topic. Putting more dirt on the graves of RL threads.

Travelingthrough, which part? I'm also sort of from the Buffalo area. Know of Fredonia? I've always thought that upstate NY (which some feel is anything above the GW bridge, but I'm thinking more like Corning, Elmira, and parts west) had more in common with western PA than New York.

FONDL, actually you'd have a much better chance with the musket. As I recall they're rifled, about .60 caliber, and shoot accurately to at least 2-300 yards.

You are all making me homesick! I grew up in rural upstate NY, and all the same things happened there. We didn't have school on the opening day of deer hunting season, venison was a staple food for many poor families, and there were more deer than could be easily culled by normal hunting. Nothing like looking out your window and seeing whole families of deer wander by each day. I have had more "near misses" with deer than I would like to think about while driving at night.
I did have a friend who hit a black bear in my hometown though. It totaled the car and then lumbered off. I'm glad I missed that one!

PA is far more rural and agricultural than most people know. Also we do have a high proportion of rednecks, but as I said, they're our own breed. One more point, Pittsburgh is not as remote from the "Alabama" part of the state as you'd think. It fits into the redneck culture of the west very well if you scratch the surface a bit.

I was in Pittsburgh a month ago...drove from St. Louis there...a drive that is simple, but not easy...eight hours on Interstate 70. You are so happy to get out of the vast state of Ohio into W. Virginia, but then W.V. disappears as fast as it appeared. I had a remarkably easy time getting into Pittsburgh during rush hour on a Friday morning, but a hell of time finding my way out on a Saturday afternoon.

I have heard PA described as a state with Philadelphia to the east, Pittsburgh to west, and Alabama in the middle.

I was going to say we'd managed to go pretty far off topic, but now I see that amazingly we are still pretty close. Given that, here is an e-mail I got from my uncle. It's the Jeff Foxworthy "you might be a redneck" style, but for Pittsburgh. Just a bit of information, in western PA we all say we're "from Pittsburgh" since that's about the only town there anyone outside the area knows (other than Erie) and we just don't feel like explaining. You can substitute western PA for Pittsburgh if you like, it is accurate.


If you consider it a sport to sit in a tree stand
all day long with a bow or a gun just to put food in
your freezer.. you might live in Pittsburgh.

If you're proud that your region makes the national
news 96 nights each year because Bradford is the
coldest spot in the nation, you might live in
Pittsburgh.

If your local Dairy Queen is closed from October
through March, you might live in Pittsburgh.

If you instinctively walk like a penguin for five
months out of the year, you might live in Pittsburgh.

If you have ever worn shorts, sunglasses and a parka
at the same time, you might live in Pittsburgh.

If your town has an equal number of bars and
churches you might live in Pittsburgh.

If you are in church and your priest or minister asks you to pray for the STEELERS, and wants to get you all home for 1 p.m. kickoff you might live in Pittsburgh.

YOU KNOW YOU ARE A TRUE Pittsburgher when:

1. "Vacation" means going up north past I-80 for the
weekend.

2. You measure distance in hours.

3. You know several people who have hit a deer more
than once.

4. You often switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same
day and back again.

5. You can drive 65 mph through 2 feet of snow during
a raging blizzard, without flinching.

6. You see people wearing camouflage at social events
including weddings.

7. You install security lights on your house and
garage and leave all the doors unlocked.

8. You carry jumper cables in your car and your wife
knows how to use them.

9. You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit
over a snowsuit.

10. Driving is better in the winter because the
potholes are filled with snow.

11. You know all 4 seasons: almost fall, winter,
still winter and road construction.

12. You can identify a southern or eastern accent.

13. Your idea of creative landscaping is a concrete
statue of a deer next to your blue spruce.

14. You were unaware that there is a legal drinking
age.

15. Down South to you means MORGANTOWN WV.

16. You find '0' degrees "a little chilly."

17. Your neighbor throws a party to celebrate his NEW
FORD F150.

18. You go out to fish fry every Friday and bingo
every Wednesday.

19. Your 4th of July picnic was moved indoors due to
frost.

20. You have more miles on your snow blower than your
car.

21. You actually understand these jokes, and you
forward them to all your Pittsburgh friends

There are separate pistol and bow seasons in Illinois, in addition to rifle season.

Hunting accidents happen all the time. If a PETA Chapter president in a Third World, handloomed, unbleached wool parka and Birkenstocks should get drilled a time or thirty by an errant hunter, that's just one of the risks of being in the woods during season...the dates of which are, of course, public record.

Chitown, I'd guess one other reason it's popular is that they allow rifle hunting as opposed to shotgun and slug. I can understand the shotgun laws in populated areas like around here. I will also agree that if any "activists" tried that in western PA, well first of all they'd have to bus them in since no native in their right mind would do something so stupid, but they'd meet a similar fate to what you imply. After all, there are at least a dozen or so hunting accidents per season and these grenhorns weren't wearing blaze orange, I mean what can you expect?

So maybe he was taking an extra fee for butchering?

One of the aspects of the culinary landscape in this area is church dinners/suppers on Sunday, and it is not uncommon for those dinners to include homemade sausage, sometime venison, sometimes from other meat. That is actually the only context in which I have had deer sausage.

The band at my high school used to raise money by selling homemade sausage. Having heard the stories of the conditions under which it was made (on a Saturday, in the school cafeteria), I am shocked that no one ever died from it. Somehow I suspect that this particular fundraiser is no longer available...

Chitown, you are right, my old stomping grounds is a depressed area, and a lot of people do like the meat to stretch a budget. Funny you should mention sausage. The butcher in my home town got into a little scandal. It turned out that his sausage contained quite a lot of venison. Nobody cared about the fact it had vennison in it, they were suspicious because he butchers most of the deer, and the amount of venison seemed to be a bit too much to get from trimmings.

Actuslly, I couldn't get into that agreement, since I don't hunt, either. I just am repeating something that I heard a couple of years ago based on a US government department's study that supposedly was based on total deer population, fecundity, and other factors that mean nothing to me. It's all hearsay from my point of view.

I wouldn't have the heart to kill something that close to me on the evolutionary scale, but for me it would just be sport. I'd be just as happy hiking through the woods, as long as I didnt' have to worry about someone thinking _I_ was a deer, and sending me home to Jesus.

Chitown, we could get into a serious disagreement on where the best deer hunting is, but I'll defer since I don't actually hunt. (Many friends who travel to hunt swear by western PA) I assume both these areas have something in common, agriculture, and hence grain fed deer. Where I come from a lot of people view deer as big rats with long legs, albeit tasty ones.

Another issue at play in much of southern Illinois, and probably in some places in Western PA...a lot of those [people aren't hunting for sport. Those are poor areas, and some of those people hunt in December so they can have meat through the winter, and/or sell the venison sausage and other products they make from the deer.

I hail from western PA origionally. That is deer country and hunting country. All the schools are closed the first day of buck season. They finally realized that it wasn't any use opening since 3/4 of the male population over 12 wouldn't show up. I never hunted, love shooting but the killing I found unnecessary. A personal judgement, not a moral one. I will say however that where I live now they are clueless. Activists organized to follow hunters clanging bells, etc to make sure they couldn't hunt. They succeeded in shutting down deer hunting, but the past 5 years the county has had to hire professional sharpshooters to cull the herd because the deer population was getting out of hand.

I hail from Southern Illinois, and am about fifty miles from a couple of counties that are considered the best deer hunting territory in the US. No cases set for jury trial during first deer season (or second, if the State declares one that year), since very few people of either gender would report for jury duty.

If any "activists" were to follow those hunters with cowbells, I suspect it might be their last trip out.

Two people have been killed around here in separeate deer-related accidents in recent years. In one case that I recall, a car hit a deer and knocked it through the windshield of an oncoming car, killing the driver. I've come real close to hitting deer on several occasions, including once when I had to slam on my breaks while another car was tailgating me - I guess he figured out why I was going fairly slow through that area.

But I guess it's even worse in Maine. I know a woman who hit a moose. It totalled her car. The moose got up, shook his head, and walked off.

Never, however, have I had a case involving injuries arising out of a motor vehicle/aircraft collision. That was a new one on me. I've never understood why the people on the SW side of Chicago think it's such a hot idea to have an airport in the middle of a heavily populated area.

They're good for business. I get a deer case every couple of years. I tried the last one that I got...my lady hit a deer, spun into the oncoming lane, and collided with the guy who sued her (who, coincidentally, ended up being treated by my wife the night of the accident). Verdict for the defendant. Unavoidable accident. I would say that they should make deer carry insurance, but that seems cruel under the circumstances, since the deer
"paid the ultimate price."

I've also had some motor vehicle/cattle cases, including one that just resulted in a malpractice case against one of our big plaintiff firms. Two deaths (three, if you count the steer), one personal injury (the driver of the Camaro, who I was defending). Nobody id'ed the owner of the steer until, to weeks before trial, he came forward on his own, long after the limitations period had expired.

one deer down, only 1.9 million left to go. Just joking, I wouldn't be surprised if the deer population is close to the human population in some areas.

I ran into a deer once on my way back home in SC. My car totaled, deer died and flew off to the side of the road, I can't believe it didn't fly up and hit the windshield. Lucky to be alive.

I could have killed dozens of them if I had a gun with me and shot one every time I saw one standing beside the road late at night. However they are usually not alone and I don't want any return fire especially when my car might get hit.

Even worse than seeing one stand beside the road and hoping they stay there is one that darts out in front of you that you did not see. The last time I saw that, I was grateful no one was behind me because I stopped my car in the middle of the highway looking for more and would have hit the second one if I had continued as normal. The third one that came out a few seconds later stopped when it saw me sitting there with my bright lights on.

I keep waiting for a fat guy in a red suit to go chasing after them but so far nothing. I hate driving after dark around here at this time of year when they're horny and running all over the place. It's a real hazard.