Are NY Deer smarter than PA Deer ?

[GIMNEPIWO]

After a 2 day roadtrip up into New England ... one DD and I noticed the inordinate amount of road kill deer in Pennsylvania versus only a handful through New York State ... DD first theorized that New York deer must be able to read the deer x'ing signs and therefore knew the safe places to cross the interstate ... I deduced that PA DOT must be having budget cuts and figures that the buzzards, Chinese Restauranteurs and continued traffic will eventually rid them of the messy problem ...

[DonnieS]

Dont know what the deer in PA look like, but the deer in NY/NJ are skinny and ribs showing (not upstate, this is NYC suburbs).

[GIMNEPIWO]

Both the PA and NY deer ( adjacent to I-81, I-88, I-90 & I-87 ) seemed to be pretty good size albeit a little smooshed ... Been many years since I lived in NJ near Doris Dukes Estate, 3500 plus acres of game preserve ... Central NJ ... and the deer there were typically larger than what we see in Central and Southside VA ... Guess the ones near NYC don't have the neccessary forage ...

[DonnieS]

NJ near Doris Dukes Estate, 3500 plus acres of game preserve ... Central NJ ... and the deer there were typically larger than what we see in Central and Southside VA ... Guess the ones near NYC don't have the neccessary forage ...

The sizes of PA deer that I hear about are incredible compared to Texas deer. Here they are all horns - to me, anything you cant put in a tortilla is worthless. 57 years old and I still havent killed one for the horns. So hard to chew.

[GIMNEPIWO]

NJ near Doris Dukes Estate, 3500 plus acres of game preserve ... Central NJ ... and the deer there were typically larger than what we see in Central and Southside VA ... Guess the ones near NYC don't have the neccessary forage ...

The sizes of PA deer that I hear about are incredible compared to Texas deer. Here they are all horns - to me, anything you cant put in a tortilla is worthless. 57 years old and I still havent killed one for the horns. So hard to chew.

Well ... in theory ... for game populations it makes more sense to cull the smaller animals and leave the larger ones for breeding ... so 'trophy hunters' are actually being counter productive to their own interests ... I remember reading in a bass'n magazine years ago how lakes in Canada were reversing the size limit on keepers ... gotta take the small ones throw back the big ones and the results were more larger fish being caught ... and released ... In PA's case I just think they have so much food in the open spaces and forests that they deer eat well ... VA deer are improving in size and I believe it is because fewer tobacco farms and more cattle farms, hence more grass and grains being raised ... also, some of the 'truck & dog' hunting has been curtailed ... instead of the deer spending their summers running from roamaing 'deer dogs' ... they get to enjoy a meal and grow ...

[DonnieS]

Well ... in theory ... for game populations it makes more sense to cull the smaller animals and leave the larger ones for breeding ... so 'trophy hunters' are actually being counter productive to their own interests ... I remember reading in a bass'n magazine years ago how lakes in Canada were reversing the size limit on keepers ... gotta take the small ones throw back the big ones and the results were more larger fish being caught ... and released ... In PA's case I just think they have so much food in the open spaces and forests that they deer eat well ... VA deer are improving in size and I believe it is because fewer tobacco farms and more cattle farms, hence more grass and grains being raised ... also, some of the 'truck & dog' hunting has been curtailed ... instead of the deer spending their summers running from roamaing 'deer dogs' ... they get to enjoy a meal and grow ...

I have tried to explain that very fact to my hunter brothers, sons, and brother-in-law, this same thing. I dont consider myself a hunter per se - I am a killer, I kill animals that I like to eat. I kill hogs, I kill deer, but I prefer does or young bucks, I do not kill things to put them on my wall though I basically dont have a problem with that. I dont hunt doves, they are fun to shoot, like clay targets with feathers, but I dont like to eat doves, dont like the taste, but quail are very tasty. Will kill geese, but not duck.

Regarding the killer description, my daughter called me that. We trap hogs on the ranch, then we can sell them to others or we kill and butcher them, which is what happens most of the time.
A large herd of hogs destroyed a part of my brother's pecan orchard so he and I killed a bunch (7) of them - daughter saw a picture which I shouldnt have taken and now I am 'daddy the killer ' or 'daddy the murderer'. But she doesnt complain at the table - though I usually lie to her about what I have cooked.

[jofus]

You guys need to be careful, you're giving the few libs around here even more "ammo", talking about killing all of those innocent animals like that

After all....aren't all of them vegetarians that don't wear leather shoes, etc?

[GIMNEPIWO]

You guys need to be careful, you're giving the few libs around here even more "ammo", talking about killing all of those innocent animals like that

After all....aren't all of them vegetarians that don't wear leather shoes, etc?

I was a full bore herbavore for many years ... my mate still is (with the exception of wild caught seafood ) since after she visited either a Tyson or Perdue processing plant back in college ... I now eat wild game, wild caught or free range ... neither of us see anything wrong with hunting ethically ... I see something terribly wrong with a living thing being treated like garbage, pumped with growth hormones, filthy conditions being over looked by FDA inspectators on the take ... American Family Farmers being forced out of business by factory farming and fast food restaurants serving people meat from over seas whose producers don't have to comply with any regulations ... little things like that while I'm wearing my Gortex boots ... BTW ... on the way back from a Bluegrass Festival in the Northern part of WV ... I saw the biggest buck I have ever seen .... do you have 'mule deer' there ? ... or just white tail ?

[jofus]

No mulies, only white tails.

[GSB]

NJ near Doris Dukes Estate, 3500 plus acres of game preserve ... Central NJ ... and the deer there were typically larger than what we see in Central and Southside VA ... Guess the ones near NYC don't have the neccessary forage ...

The sizes of PA deer that I hear about are incredible compared to Texas deer. Here they are all horns - to me, anything you cant put in a tortilla is worthless. 57 years old and I still havent killed one for the horns. So hard to chew.

That wasn't a deer you saw in Texas. It was a Texas mouse. I believe they are a bit smaller then a PA deer.