Suburban Deer

[Q_Sertorius]

I didn’t see another thread on deer in the suburbs, but I thought it would be funny to post a few pictures of some of the deer from my neighborhood. It’s legal to hunt in my city with a crossbow or bow, but after considering what happens if it doesn’t go DRT, I refuse to do it. But I have been sorely tempted to…

In August of 2022, I was minding my own business when I heard a snort in the woods behind my backyard.

Last September, I was packing my car to take my nephew down to the farm for some squirrel hunting, when I saw these two beautiful bucks in the front yard.

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[wildwilderness]

Nice. I would absolutely hunt there if given the chance. Since it’s legal, talk to the adjoining property owners in case you need to track one.

Only take good shots. I have had good luck with large mechanicals and deer not going far. I guess you can take a spine shot but can’t recommend that with how tiny a target that is and the amount of energy to do so predictably

My son watches some YouTube show with urban deer hunters

 

[Q_Sertorius]

My brother lives in the same town and has a larger piece of land than I do AND he has fewer and more understanding neighbors. He also has a couple of game paths that run right across two parts of his property. He usually gets at least one deer in his backyard with his crossbow.

I had one deer rodeo while using his crossbow and swore I would never touch the damn thing again. It might have been my fault for not practicing enough with the crossbow, but it looked to me like the bolt punched right through the deer just behind the shoulder. I fired, watched the deer stagger, saw the bolt hit the ground well past the deer, and then the deer ran off. I never found any blood, just some hair. Never found the bolt either. I searched for the deer all damned day and hoped that I had simply skimmed the top of its back or something. But it sure looked like I hit it square. All in all, it was a terrible and weird experience traipsing through neighbors' yards and nearby woods looking for the damned thing. Worst feeling I have ever had hunting.

When I was a kid, I shot a couple of deer with arrows sticking out of their hindquarters (a couple of my neighbors had no business bowhunting) and it always soured me on bowhunting in general. I have nothing but respect for those who practice and become proficient, but my rule for years was to stick to firearms. I broke that rule for the one shot on the deer with the crossbow and I'll never do that again. And I will stick to hunting on my farm where if I ever end up on another rodeo I will be going through my neighbors' fields and woods, not their yards. That just felt super weird.

 

[EvanG17]

That’s awesome!

 

[Ferrulewax]

Attach some dynema cord to your arrow, tie it to a tree, and then when you shoot the deer he can’t run away! What could go wrong?!

 

[Q_Sertorius]

Attach some dynema cord to your arrow, tie it to a tree, and then when you shoot the deer he can’t run away! What could go wrong?!

I'd have to change my name to Ahab.

 

[Fireflyfishing]

We have giant whitetail bucks in the city of Missoula. I don’t take photos of what I cant have…

 

[Long Cut]

The risk isn’t worth the reward anymore.

One poor shot and the deer ends up on the news, then the groups targeting us hunters to remove our rights to hunt will use that as a focal point.

Years ago I bartered landscaping services for hunting permission on a 10 acre woodlot that bordered a farm, just on the outskirts of City limits. Big bucks, tons of deer etc.. Only catch is, it was in a subdivision with houses all around.

No matter how many times I hunted that place, I was always “on edge” if a neighbor saw me or God-forbid I made a poor shot and lost an animal on a neighbors property.

I ended up ditching the property and went back to hunting public land and other leases. I hunt to avoid stress, not put myself into stressful situations.

 

[Throwin Darts]

My neighbor has a came cam out behind his house. 50 yards from about 20 different houses. He has had 180 inch bucks, double drop tine bucks, a bunch of 150+ inch bucks. These deer don't get hunted and are care free and happy as a clam. As a deer hunter, I would love to find a way to run an arrow through one of these giants. It pains me that I chase deer all over the woods but the biggest bucks I see are in my neighborhood. LOL

 

[IW17]

Not my neighborhood, but these two strolled by the jobsite fall before last, just outside of Cleveland. Both were no more than 20 yards. I'm a law abiding man, but I'd be lying if I said bad thoughts didn't at least enter my mind.

 

[IW17]

Last year this buck made multiple appearances in the front of our shop. Ended finding the dead head that spring.

 

[Long Cut]

Similar side tangent story;

In college a roommate of mine grew up on a family farm, they had well over 7,500 acres with something like 3-4k acres in row crops.
Every summer, they were issued Crop Depredation permits by the Georgia DNR to reduce deer browse damage on their soybean, peanut and even cotton crops. This is a DOE ONLY permit during the summer months- July-September I believe.

One night, we were out shining for deer & hogs and we came up on a buck that went easily 180”. I’ve seen plenty enough 140-150” bucks on the hoof, and this guy dwarfed them all.. at 100+ yards at that.
Could we have shot him and got away with it? Absolutely, we were out in the middle of nowhere. But we let him walk, hoping one of us would get a chance at him that November.

Now could I legally shoot a buck out of my back door? Absolutely.
But just like that ~180” buck, I refuse to because it’s unfair and in my opinion, there is no “chase” or sporting to it. I could never look at that Euro or Shoulder Mount and feel any sense of accomplishment. It would be more like a participation trophy in my eyes.

That’s my unsolicited .02, end rant

 

[Fireflyfishing]

Best way to get a “town deer” here is wait for someone to whack one with a vehicle and get a salvage tag.

 

[TFrank]

I checked this thread to see if chevy was making a new model vehicle.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

My brother has a friend who jokes that his only goal every year is to kill more deer with his weapon than his wife kills with her Suburban.


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[wildwilderness]

Best way to get a “town deer” here is wait for someone to whack one with a vehicle and get a salvage tag.

I picked up a nice buck that way. On a Sunday even which was closed to hunting in VA at the time!

 

[chanson_roland]

Several of the biggest deer I've ever seen in my life are in Ft. Davis, on the border of Washington, DC and Maryland. Federal land within city limits, and tons of white oak trees; the ultimate cocoon of safety.

 

[copenmechanism]

I do a lot of suburban archery hunting in the northeast. Kind of weird being in a tree and hearing cars go by, lawns being mowed — but, there are a lot of deer and a lot of folks are tired of ticks, of their flowers being eaten, of collisions. I’ve found most people I ask, even if they aren’t open to me hunting their property, are at least nice about it (and often let me do some shed hunting post-season). Even when I’ve had to track animals through neighboring property, I haven’t had issues as long as I was open about it (it does help if you can change out of your camo first tho — ha!)

 

[chanson_roland]

My brother has a friend who jokes that his only goal every year is to kill more deer with his weapon than his wife kills with her Suburban.


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My phrase is that for these suburban/urban deer with the lack of predators, their only natural enemy is...the minivan.

 

[nettereo16]

I shot a deer (legally) in Greenwich Connecticut surrounded by multimillion dollar mansions. Boy that was an experience dragging it out to the truck