What to raise...whitetail or mule deer

ND, I also farm and I go thru the pens first thing in the morning and mark or chip any new ones so I know who they are out of and then when I get home that evening, I go thru em again and then sometimes if they are really popping out I'll go thru em at midnight or so, I'm a night owl anyways. I usually tag and vaccinate in the evening, thats when mine are the calmest. You would think deer would be more spooky at night but they are SOOO much calmer after dark. I usually have about 12-15 does per pen and it usually happens that I will have about a doe have fawns every day per pen and maybe 2 every other day if they are buck bred, AI bred does will be alot closer together. You just have to be able to read your deer and they will tell you when they are close and you need to get em tagged or chipped soon there after in case another doe fawns also, the doe will hide em and sometimes act like shes not them mother at all and if you dont have em marked it's easy to loose track of who is out of what doe which is important for your records so you know your deers pedigrees. If I have alot going on, I make sure I put a microchip in the ones and mark it down in my book so I can tag it later and know who its out of. Putting a chip in takes about 10 seconds, then when you get time you can go back and tag em if you have something(farming stuff) that you really need to get done. Don't wait more then a couple days though unless your a track star, they are tough to catch after about 3 days old and a pain to hold still while you tag and vaccinate em!

Why do you chip them and tag them? Where does the chip go?

Oh and another thing, if I live by a highway do you think the deer will be scared?

You have to have 2 forms of ID on your deer so Big Brother can keep tabs on you and your deers every move. If you raise deer you have to keep track of an inventory of every animal you have and they are required to have 2 forms of ID, one has to be "official'" which is the 9 digit microchip and a visible plastic ear tag. Ya know ID's, kinda like all the illegal aliens are supposed to have, oh ya that's right, they don't need any kind of ID for anything or it would be discrimination. I think we being deer farmers and being the ONLY livestock producers that are required to have our animals marked is BS, if that isn't discrimination, I don't know what is.... They also come to our farm every year and go thru our records and inventory. We are lucky and have a great bunch of people to work with at our Animal Industry Board, which is who we deal with for our states cervid farms. Oh, and I put the chip at the base of the tail, some put it behind the ear I think. It comes in a syringe and you insert it just under the skin probably an inch or so from where you insert the needle. Its about the size of a grain of rice.

Wow. We don't need to have chips up here or atleast they didn't tell me u had to. So what about me living by the highway?? It's not a busy one but there is traffic on it regularly. Will the deer be spooked?

You'd better check on that about the ID's, we also don't "require" chips but I'd personally rather have one chip and one tag rather then 2 ear tags. Almost all states require 2 ID forms in case one is lost or a tag falls out. Don't count on what the lady in the office tells you, GET THE RULES. The chip is a great way to go, you can't see it and it's simple to put in. They should get used to the highway but they will spook if you have some dipstick stop and run up to the pen to check em out which is pretty much certain to happen, especially if you have antlered bucks that are visible from the road. It may also spook em if a loud snow plow or something on that order comes by, just depends. My pen is right on the edge of a neighborhood with dogs barking and all kinds of other noises and they get used to it pretty fast but I also have my pen situated on a hill so if something spooks em on one side they head to the top of the hill or to the other side. This way nothing can "circle em", they can always feel like they can go to the other side of the pen for safety. If you can, I'd put them out of sight from any road but thats just me. Some people are just dumb and don't think anything about what could happen if they spooked em, most would figure just because they are in a fence, they are tame, wrong. Even bottle feds spook if something new scares em, whitetails never loose that flight instinct. It never fails, if someone does spook em into the fence, your best ones will be the ones to break there necks or get hurt the worst.

sdbigbucks said:

You'd better check on that about the ID's, we also don't "require" chips but I'd personally rather have one chip and one tag rather then 2 ear tags. Almost all states require 2 ID forms in case one is lost or a tag falls out. Don't count on what the lady in the office tells you, GET THE RULES. The chip is a great way to go, you can't see it and it's simple to put in. They should get used to the highway but they will spook if you have some dipstick stop and run up to the pen to check em out which is pretty much certain to happen, especially if you have antlered bucks that are visible from the road. It may also spook em if a loud snow plow or something on that order comes by, just depends. My pen is right on the edge of a neighborhood with dogs barking and all kinds of other noises and they get used to it pretty fast but I also have my pen situated on a hill so if something spooks em on one side they head to the top of the hill or to the other side. This way nothing can "circle em", they can always feel like they can go to the other side of the pen for safety. If you can, I'd put them out of sight from any road but thats just me. Some people are just dumb and don't think anything about what could happen if they spooked em, most would figure just because they are in a fence, they are tame, wrong. Even bottle feds spook if something new scares em, whitetails never loose that flight instinct. It never fails, if someone does spook em into the fence, your best ones will be the ones to break there necks or get hurt the worst.

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So what does the chip do? Do u go to your computer and put something on the computer to track it or something?

ndwhitetails said:

So what does the chip do? Do u go to your computer and put something on the computer to track it or something?

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Every year your vet or a state vet will have to come in and inventory your herd. If you put a chip in them as a form of id, They,You or both will have a hand held reader..Kinda like Wal-Mart when they scan your item with the hand held reader.. Thats one way they,you can keep track of your animals.

You will also need a farm tag im sure as a form if your state says you need 2 forms of animal id.

I talked with the president of the nd deer association and he said you only need 1tag but he uses 2, one for cdw tag and the other for registering I guess. I also thing I'm going to lean towards getting whitetails and not mules because there isn't very good genetics out there yet.

Years of AIing would be the only thing to improve genetics.....ND doesnt let anything come in.

weber195 said:

Years of AIing would be the only thing to improve genetics.....ND doesnt let anything come in.

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What do you mean they don't let anything come in? You can't have semen come in from another state?

I mean live animals, sorry should have said that in post

How many whitetail does do u want too keep in a smaller operation?

Is there a market for does?