Hello!

Well, I'm new to the forum and joined up looking to learn as much as I can!! Wife and I are considering starting up our own deer farm and raising hunt bucks. We are located in Saskatchewan and I'm realizing that this industry is 10x larger in the US than it is here. ha



Lookin' forward to reading lots, and if there's anyone in SK, get a hold of me, I'll be looking to tour a farm or ten this spring once the snow melts a bit...if you'd be willing to have me.



Have heard of a couple of farms in the past couple years here being wiped out after CWD was found...so that has been a concern for us...hate to get started and then have everything blown once we've got started and then have an irrepairable reputation for selling deer off the farm.



I'll have some questions on things I'm sure...handling facilities, darting, pens, etc etc etc.



Our plan is start to with 3-4 bred does, then AI the first year or two before picking up a breeder buck etc. Seems like a sensible way to start and see what genetics we've got, and go from there. We'll top out at 50-60 deer eventually and hopefully sell 6-9 bucks a year. Nothing crazy at all.



Will be trying for 200" genetics @ 2 with a wide-ish typical frame and a little junk here and there. Seems to be what most hunt preserves here in SK are looking for.



I'll also be looking to start making contacts with some hunt preserves here in the province...if anyone has any info etc they'd be willing to share, let me know.

Welcome. I Love your plan, sounds like a great way to start, there are a few guys from Canada that occasionally come on this site, Curtis Lloyd was always one that frequented, but I haven't seen him post for a while. I hope they see this and can help you out. Any questions you can think of just post them on here, we'll help you out, I just can't really tell you anything about your game laws in Sas. because I am not familiar with them, but any other questions on raising deer in general just ask.

When it comes to darting look no farther then Pnue-dart. Hands down best available in the world. Great product great people. Get yourself An assortment of different size darts and an Excalibur rifle. If you have a few extra dollars maybe the x2 and/or blow gun. Check out their website no matter what your darting needs are they have you covered.

Sapphire , I like your plan as well except the idea of buying a breeder buck within a few years. Why not just keep AIing and come up with your own back up breeder buck and continue to AI ? Also why not buy a chute for your AIing , testing ,and treating sick or animals you need to look at for something or another and forget darting them for those purpose. You may think a chute is costly but it's allot cheaper then the drugs and darts you will end up useing in a few years and much much cheaper than buying that breeder buck ! You can buy allot of semen for the price of a really good buck plus you can use several different bucks that better match your doe's than useing just that one breeder . I hate darting but it doesn't bother me to run a deer through the chute, heck they get used to it !! Just my opinion .

Thanks everyone...a handling facility will definitely be in the plans!



WoodenAcres....breeder buck just seems a little easier than trying to AI everything every year...am I misguided on this? Using one of my own bucks as a cover buck would be sensible I think....true.

Sapphire I only run between 10 and 15 doe's here and I like to AI them all ! I'm thinking if your going to do 4 or 5 you might as well do them all ! This year we AIed 12 doe's in 30 minutes and they are easy to handle in the facility so why not do them all ? Last year we AIed 15 doe's in 45 minutes ! If you split straws you can AI your doe's to pretty decent bucks with nice scores and pedigree's for a reasonable price. Until I get a back up or breeder buck that outscores and looks better than the semen I can buy I will AI all my doe's . I like to breed for size but antler shape and looks are very important to me as I only deal in the shooter markets. I also want bucks that my buddies think look neat as they are all hunters and the shooter market is hunters. If your wanting to get into the breeder markets where the price of semen to do so is much higher then you might want to AI just your better or best doe's I'd think. I can get by with semen under $2000.00 per straw,or $1,000.00 per doe and thats been my upper limit , breeder markets you may need to get into semen costs 5 times that high . Sometimes you can get a straw of semen from a buck that produces good shotters for $250.00 but do you want the doe fawns from that breeding ? Thats just my opinion , everyone is different !