Our whitetail (coues) are relatively small when compared to whitetail's of the mid-west or eastern deer. A big buck will weight in at 100 lbs, our Doberman is bigger than most does. They also have a separate place in the B&C record book. When all 4 kids where living at home I would kill the first legal buck I seen. Now that the kids have left and the wife doesn't care to much for venison I have turned into a "horn" hunter. I made myself a promise, 20 years ago, that I would only kill a buck larger than I had the year before. Consequently I have gone several years without any venison, but on the bright side I have 3 bucks that would qualify for B&C if I choose to enter them. This guy comes down into the back 40 on a semi-regular basis and would make the book. However I made myself another promise 20 years ago, I would never kill one on our property and I would never kill one on the mountain if I could see our house from where I was hunting. I have since stopped hunting our mountain side as my legs and back will not permit me to do so anymore. This photo is exactly 65 yards from our back patio.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v603/johnp18/Coues/Jan05CouesBuck003.jpg)
Crap John ya could hit him with a rock! Awesome pic, man I'm jealous!
No wonder they call them "grey ghosts". He blends in quite well.
Quote from: JohnP on September 27, 2009, 10:46:29 AM
I have since stopped hunting our mountain side as my legs and back will not permit me to do so anymore.
Sounds to me you need to amend your promise since it was written 20yrs before back & leg trouble. ;yes; :wink:
I don't believe your promise was about stopping you from hunting.
Yeah, he blends in there real good.
Your property is becoming a sanctuary :yoyo:
That's kinda the way I feel about the deer in my backyard. It just doesn't seem like "fair chase" to shoot one of them. Of course, if a monster shows up and I still have a buck tag I might succumb to temptation. :laf:
Beautiful Deer, I am like you I don't shoot Deer in my back yard ,matter of fact I haven't killed a Deer in South Carolina in over 10 years, I had 7 nice Bucks in my back yard last year, couple of them were wall hangers , I do all my Deer Hunting in Georgia where we have property and been managing it for about 11 years, beginning to see some real nice Bucks and hopefully this year will be a good year. Sure hope the foot get well soon so you can get out more. cc