Large not white tail deer (exotics)

[FredC]

My neighbor rebuilt a feeder behind my house last week. I pounded in a T-post to mount a game camera this afternoon and got tied up with a phone call and did not get the game camera set up before the feeder went off. Went for a looksie with the binoculars later and saw something huge and much darker than the other white tails. This thing had a long floppy tail unlike anything I have ever seen. When he lifted his head and turned broad side, he was huge. He had an impressive rack and had to weigh at least twice what the white-tailed bucks next to him weighed. If they were the usual 120 to 130 pounds this exotic buck was 200 to 250 pounds. Described him to the neighbor and he had no clue.

Hope to post phots soon. I looked up photos of exotic game and saw nothing close. I will check the feeder with the thermal thingy and if nothing is out there later, I will put the camera out there tonight.

Just peeked out there and 3 does were still at the feeder.

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[Old Soldier]

Would it be legal to pop it?
We have Mule deer and white tails in AK now. Global warming don't you know. It is legal to shoot them, no season, no limit. Afraid the'll bring Chronic Waisting Disease.

[butlersrangers]

I don't know Fred. Any water or copper in the area?

I'd go with Mishipeshu. Careful Out There!

[FredC]

Oldsoldier,
Same here exotics are treated as non game animals. Quite a few axis deer have escaped from game ranches and other exotics also. I think you do have to have a regular hunting license. I have not gotten one in years, so I probably need to do that anyway.
Was curious if any could identify this critter from my description. I will put up the camera during my lunch break. I glanced that way this morning and there were fifteen plus deer in that spot, that I could see without getting closer.
The new ranch owner wants to thin the does drastically on the open days for does. Some of the ones that hang around the shop and house will probably end up in the freezer, but it needs to be done. I guess I can still talk to them as I eat them

Plenty of water around Br. A little brass scrap is in the metal pile, not sure if that counts as free copper.

[butlersrangers]

Fred - It is good for us to know our Demons, and act accordingly. The ones from Michigan, get around!

[RickyG]

Sounds like maybe a mule deer like we have here in Arizona. They are much larger than whitetail

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[FredC]

I am thinking big boy is not an exotic after all. Checked the camera today and had 200 photos in 24 hours. There always has been some darker whitetails here. Had not noticed that they were bigger than the normal "grey" ones. The Big one I saw the day before was with the normal white tail bucks. Several of this local dark variety seem larger than the more normal grey ones. Please excuse color blind me if the normal ones are not grey.
Some of the deer showing up are not from here. I have never seen the doe with the ribs sticking out here before. Most of the does that hang out around the house or the shop had twins this spring and were a lot better looking than Mrs. Ribs.
Had to get back to the shop and did not take the time to really look at all 200 photos to see if Bruiser Buck was there.

These bucks have black spots all over them not sure if they are flies or something else. I will talk to the neighbor about a fly control rub for them.


Edit, I looked at the photos of regular whitetails again, maybe they are tan colored and not grey?

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[butlersrangers]

If domesticated cats were larger, we'd all be dead meat, hidden in a tree, somewhere!

[Mike4MSU]

They’re out in strong force here in New England. This past weekend I had a campfire in the backyard and look who wandered in just a few feet behind the fire to check things out. Must have been there for a good ten minutes before he finally wandered off.

[FredC]

Yeah, white tails can get pretty gentle. I have walked up on them almost at the front door to the house. I have a photo of a whole herd next to the shop, caption would have been "They were applying to work the night shift".

The feeder in the photos is less than a stones throw from the house. Since the neighbor repaired it and filled it up with corn there are a lot more deer hanging around that do not look like the usual neighbors.