SUPERSTITION?

[killitnfillit]

Is anyone superstitious like this? I got 10 bucks in during our archery season. In the early muzzleloader season, I took in an albino button buck. Still had 4 weeks to go in archery and didn't even hit the rut yet. Get this. Not 1 more deer came in during the rest of the season. Was that just coincidental? I don't think so. Listen to this. According to the amount of deer I got in archery, I should have gotten at least 60 during rifle season. Total deer for rifle season,......ZERO!!! Don't know if that's just the way things were supposed to go this year or not, but it really seems weird to me. Well, off to look for a part time job. Gotta pay th bills.

[Hammer]

How many do you usually get in a year? That sucks I feel for you. Good luck

[Steven .B]

How many do you do a year!! I know things are down but our intake was up from last year But I noticed you are from pa and i said it before and I'll say it again there is alot of Taxidermist in pa Like 2 on every block!!

[George Roof]

That "superstition" is contrived from some nitwit claiming that the American Indian considered the white deer sacred.  BULLSHIP. It was the American plains Indians who held the white BUFFALO as being sacred.  Many Indian brides wore white buckskin robes during their marriage ceremonies.  White deer, white rabbits, and white weasels were all the same. 

I had a guy in the shop last week who asked me if i thought the deer was bad luck.  I related an old cartoon by Larsen where he had two bucks together.  One buck had a white patch in the middle of its chest that looked just like a target and bullseye.  The other buck was looking at it and saying, " Bummer of a birthmark, Hal."  That matches how i feel about white deer.  It's only unlucky if you happen to be that deer.

BTW, I've taken in 3 'white" deer this year so far and mounted the last one last night. I've taken in the same number of deer as last year,so the only bad luck possible is that these last two white ones I have on the wall will be abandoned.

[killitnfillit]

Well my first year I took in 9 overall, second year I took in 17, 3rd year I think was 26 and this year? Well, 10. I like to think my whitetails are getting better, so that should not be an issue. Whats really weird is that "all" of them came before the white one. I got "0" during rifle season. That just seems odd. I know competition is tough here, but come on already. Well the life-size albino will be out the door in about 3 weeks. Lets see how spring gobbler goes. NO WHITE BIRDS! LOL!

[Matt]

Hopefully some guys are just dragging their feet, and you will see some more. This year was scary in the begining of the season. I wasn't seeing that much come in, then nothing for a week or so. Then all hell broke loose and it has just let up so I can get back to work. Hopefully it gets better for you.

[DL]

I'm not Superstitious just a Little Stitious.

[Mason(Ron&Linda)]

   Not superstition Rick,

           It's all thats left "IN SOME AREAS" of PA.
   But, hopefully. There are a bunch of folks up that way. Hangin on to them in their freezers till income tax time.
Hope Ya get a bunch of em,

Ron

[stargazer644]

My region of the UK is steeped in superstitions; we had a white blackbird (forgive the anomaly) in our garden last spring. The sight of the bird was greeted by mixed reactions. The older folk stating it was bad luck to see it. The same strange conclusions are reached with mammals to a greater degree however. The larger the species, the greater the 'bad doings' that fall upon those who see or come into contact with it. Many years back our local TV station reported the whereabouts of a white badger on a farm on the eastern edge of Dartmoor near Ashburton.
The animal was filmed, amongst other badgers, foraging and living peacefully. The farmer and his family members spoke of the badger being seen in the summer months as a cub; born to one of the population in the area. Other locals, interviewed about the badger's presence, said it would bring 'ill fortune' and a series of problems ranging from TB to failed crops and even ill health or worse to the farm and its owners.

 Within a few months of the programme the creature had vanished; never to be seen again. I can only guess it's fate. No body was ever found on the lanes that run through the area, so I cannot reasonably say it was struck by a car as happens regularly with all the mammal species of that area. And I am fairly sure someone hitting this white badger would have let someone know.

A white fallow buck, one from a local herd in the Plym valley and one I posted about recently, was hit by a speeding van on a woodland road. 'White van man' blamed the deer. Not for being in the wrong place at the wrong time I might add. No, because it was a 'jynxie deer' a white deer. The bringer of bad luck. An opinion shared by quite a few others in my area. Based on nothing more than old wives tales and pub talk. Never mind the fact that a forty mile speed limit was in force and the road was sign posted with deer warning signs. It was calculated this idiot was doing over sixty miles an hour!
'Bad omens'. No, every day accidents with wildlife which mostly are beyond our control.  
Just my thoughts, stargazer.  

[spy7575]

up in our neck of the woods we had a lot of deer die from some sort of gnat bite.A deer farmer had like 80 die,an we were finding them dead in the woods.

[killitnfillit]

That may be part of the case. I know here in Johnstown the unemployment rate including "welfare" is around 30%. Sounds high, but everyone knows that 1/2 the people the people they know are getting some sort of government funding. I think maybe some guys just want to see their antlers on a deer head on the wall and aren't really concerned in the quality. I know a relative of mine decided to go to someone else because they would do it for under $300. I'm sorry but my stuff is way better than $300 quality. I seen his last buck he had done. Waxed nostrils, round eyes "no" earbutts and the eyes were just airbrushed in a dark brown. That's just for starters. Just no details. When I approached him about it he said he couldn't afford my prices. I was giving him a deal at $400. My norm is $450. Yet he asked me if I would mount a squirrel for him. (before) he told me about the deer. My squirrel prices are $175. He thought I would do it for $50 with a panel. I need to move to Texas I think. LOL!

[trappermatt]

not sure about the deer but crows on the other hand... bad luck i caught one a week ago and havent caught anything but two really rubbed coons that werent worth the trap they were in and another crow! i should have let the 1st one go, but i wasnt gettin pecked lol and its foot wasnt the best of shape

[Trappersteph]

One of my totem animals is the coyote and last year I tried to trap a coyote and I ended up with mink running around and either missing my traps or actually refusing them. So far this season- same stream, set for mink dec 18, had one around 2 days ago told in the snow, still no mink caught. Also the coyotes are running the red foxes out and I have less reds to trap. I'm told that if I try to trap or hunt my totem coyote that it is bad stuff. Not sure if shooting the other totem, the deer, is good or bad, but I am guilty of  shooting 2 whitetails so far.

When I was 17 I predicted that if I ever found a shed antler that armageddon was near LOL. At that time I had tried to find 1 in several walks over a couple years, but no luck. In all years since, all I found was a broken antler without the base that had been run over by a tractor. No base meant no way to know 100% if  it was a shed. So last year in march I started walking in some areas I had never walked and using the "mowing the lawn" method of walking and scanning. I found 5 shed antlers all in the same little area after walking it two different days. The # of points of all of them totals 17. The spikey one is currently in the mouth of a mounted black coyote. Should I buy an AK or an AR?