Deer Fever
Phil Taunton
Friday, November 30, 2007
If schools and employers have noticed a significant amount of absenteeism from their ranks in the last couple of days, Deer Fever has swept through our area and might just be the cause.
I wouldn’t be alarmed. The fever isn’t a long-lasting malady brought about by cold weather, ticks or another form of pestilence.
Most likely, the fever came about as a result of the opening of deer season last Wednesday. The 2007 firearm season will run through Dec. 9. An extended firearm whitetail antlerless deer season, where only antlerless deer can be taken, will run Jan. 1-6.
In years past, the fever caused by the opening of deer season and its tradition has reached such epidemic proportions in our northern states, some schools and some businesses closed down completely. I had never hunted deer until last year when I took part in a youth deer hunt sponsored by the Wolf Creek Nuclear Corporation’s Green Team. Believe it or not, Kansas never had a population of deer large enough to sustain hunting when I was a kid.
The first native deer I ever saw was a majestic buck and four does going up a bank on the Republican River one morning when I was checking my throw lines for catfish. The sight was a setting for an Ansel Adam’s painting if there ever was one: the early morning sun filtering in through the trees, the smoky mist on the river and the mystic woods lay before them.
I wouldn’t have been more surprised seeing them if the deer had been dinosaurs that early dawn! The abundance of deer in Kansas is another wildlife management success story. Nearly exterminated from the state at the turn of the century, their numbers have grown through protection, regulation and habitat improvement. The first modern deer season in our state was held in 1965.
Lloyd Fox, the big game biologist for Kansas Wildlife and Parks, told me the prospect for harvesting a really big buck in Kansas this year is excellent.
“There are a lot of really nice deer out there for the taking,” Fox said.
But do you really need a trophy buck to have an enjoyable hunt? Female deer, or does, need to be harvested to help control the herd and keep crop damage and deer-vehicle collisions down. Hunters provide that necessary management tool in a cheap and efficient way.
Other than the Wolf Creek youth hunt, my most memorable deer experience was the morning I called my father to see if he wanted to go quail hunting. He said he was going to clean a deer. I knew he never had a deer permit or even hunted deer so I asked him where he got such a critter.
A friend had given it to him and he was going to clean it and give me the meat. I told him to hold his horses and I would make the drive to Junction City, since I had never cleaned a deer and wanted to learn.
The donor had been so kind as to field dress the animal and all we had to do was skin it and debone it. We also had to decide what cuts we wanted to make.
Pop told me the last deer he had cleaned was about 60 years ago on the family farm in Alabama. I told him I thought the two saws and seven knives we were trying to use hadn’t been sharpened since!
We ended up fileting the entire deer into strips for jerky and chili meat with a Rapala fishing knife. Wifeus and our daughters enjoyed several meals until I told them they were eating deer. That was the end of that!
Legally, any game given to another person and in their possession must be accompanied by the donor’s name, address, license and permit numbers (if permit required), and signature, as well as the date of donation.
Earlier this week, Vivian Prose called and said her father Richard Schmidt of rural Hartford had come across a couple of bucks whose antlers were locked in a death match. One was already dead, the other, very fatigued and exhausted. Mature bucks are spirited animals and will fight at the drop of a hat when they are in rut. Nature can be cruel.
Anyone coming across this situation should contact the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks. Sometimes one or both deer can be saved, sometimes not, but a Natural Resource Officer or a KDWP employee must be called to the scene in order to make that decision before any action can be taken. In order for you to possess the deer, its antlers or any venison, a salvage permit must be secured and issued by an agent of the Department.
Good luck with your hunting, and don’t hesitate to let me know of your Outdoor Adventures. You can contact me by e-mail at ptaunton@cableone.net or call 342-5016.