Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,503
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Post by Sabre52 on Jul 30, 2013 17:17:34 GMT -5
Howdy folks, Things are drying p a bit here on the ranch so now the critters are coming in a lot more for food. These are a few of the fifty or so whitetail and blackbuck that came by for a meal this afternoon. We've got some dandy big black buck this year...Mel
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Post by bobby1 on Jul 30, 2013 18:12:09 GMT -5
Lotta deersies. Last night I went down to my shop to lock it up and there was two small bucks and a doe eyeballing my garden. This year is the first that I have had any deer in my yard. Must be the drought drying up their food so they are moving more toward civilization to feed. Bob
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garock
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since February 2006
Posts: 1,168
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Post by garock on Aug 1, 2013 18:20:27 GMT -5
Beautiful Animals Mel !
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 1, 2013 19:07:13 GMT -5
looks like a pretty massive 3.5-4.5 year old whitetail back there. Is the sun sheening on him or is he also a color mutation? He looks like a different color than the 1.5 year olds closer to the camera.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,503
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Post by Sabre52 on Aug 1, 2013 20:58:03 GMT -5
Scott, Coming from blacktail territory, I'm not super knowledgeable about whitetails but the older bucks here tend to be silver gray and the younger ones quite red. The big one in the pic is not even close to the largest we have come in to feed. We have a couple of eleven/twelve pointers. Of course they count both sides on whitetails. Tiny deer compared to what we had on our California ranch though. The blackies in Hornitos were bigger laying down than these little boogers are standing up. Bet the largest bucks here don't weigh 180 dripping wet. We had monsters on our California place.
Got to say we have some nice blackbuck this year though. Two of the big'uns were fighting yesterday and man those were some fancy bucks. Horns probably like 20-21" long. Nice cash crop when we sell some of them. They bring in as much as one of our nicer steers and don't cost anything to raise up. That dang mountain lion is still killing a lot of the does though. Found the first deer he's killed while I was out riding the other day and sure wish he'd eat deer instead of blackbuck..Mel
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Post by beefjello on Aug 4, 2013 17:07:28 GMT -5
So that's where Santa's sled team holes up for the summer
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,612
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Post by jamesp on Aug 7, 2013 12:57:52 GMT -5
Please do not let your pets w/horns that big loose in Georgia. They are beauties Mel.
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Post by rockpickerforever on Aug 7, 2013 13:39:25 GMT -5
James, would you rather have these guys wandering around the old homestead? We usually see some wild turkeys whenever we go up to Alpine. Took this pic a couple weeks ago. This time, I just happened to have my camera in hand. Must not be hunting season, they know stuff like that.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,503
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Post by Sabre52 on Aug 7, 2013 16:49:29 GMT -5
We love the wild turkeys. We have a horde around the yard everyday and during the winter when they really flock up, WOW! You could get trampled out there at feeding time. Right now we have a lot of babies too, running from pigeon sized to chicken sized....Mel
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 7, 2013 18:01:19 GMT -5
I do not see much to scale them by but it looks to me like you could put a couple of those inside of one mule deer up in Montana.
Jean, a lot of people say that turkeys are stupid but from my experience they are as smart as a rock. The only thing they are good at is keeping me from sneaking up on them. I was driving down a highway and there were a couple of vehicles ahead of me. We came upon a flock of turkeys and the first vehicle hit two of them. The damn things kept coming and the second vehicle hit one. I got stopped soon enough to let the rest of the flock wander across the road. I had time to get out of the Jeep and cut off a couple of tails with a really dull knife before any other vehicles came by. I think that the only reason they have survived so long is because they roost up in the trees where the night predators can not get at them. Well, that and the fact that they have really good hearing. Jim
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,503
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Post by Sabre52 on Aug 7, 2013 19:11:22 GMT -5
Jim, you are dead on. These deer often have big antlers but they are itty bitty deer compared to the mulies out west. Once the antlers get hard and the velvet is off, they are something to watch out for though, as when they get peckish, the dang antlers are right at belly button level for me and needle sharp. Our turkeys, like everything else here are big pets and often wander the yard right while we're out there working....Mel
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 7, 2013 21:02:31 GMT -5
I imagine those little dudes are really quick and could be on your butt in a heart beat though. Jim
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 8, 2013 15:18:37 GMT -5
UC Davis & Stanford University both have turkeys wandering all over campus. It was amazing to see!
Thanks to everyone for all the pix.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,503
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Post by Sabre52 on Aug 8, 2013 15:46:01 GMT -5
Yeah, the old ranch we owned up at Hornitos, CA was full of wild turkeys too Most were same as here, the Rio grande subspecies, but we also had some real black ones. Not sure what they were, either Easterns or Meriams maybe, but they sure were big pretty birds....Mel
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Aug 8, 2013 20:15:11 GMT -5
We have Osceola and Eastern. Maybe one more. The Osceolas are like chicken sized and the Easterns get large. The ferneries in Florida like them for bug control. I mean really like them. May see over 100 in a flock just walking thru Pierson FL fern capital of the world.
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