Killdeer, I hear you about the nasty disposition of the geese. When I went to college the grounds were full of Canada Geese, meeting one on one of the walking paths was not pleasant. I'd just as soon run into a python than a mean, territorial, aggressive, goose.
I'm speculating that a lot of the deer that end up in my meadows live in a swampy lake area to the south. Perhaps a lot of them have had similar unpleasant meetings with the geese?
I was out this morning and saw the same fella mentioned in the narrative. He was travelling with another, bigger deer, he looked like a horse with antlers, another eight or ten pointer. Unfortunately they were about 200m from my treestand. The good news, they were only about 75m from the ground blind mentioned above, and if they were travelling in a more or less straight line they would have strolled right by it.
As I was glassing the two big buddies I saw another 8 pointer in the background. I was going to start with some pre-rut tactics this week, but after seeing three big, mature bucks, all freindly, within 100m of each other. I may hold off for the time being.
JIM
Crecy, Poitiers, Agincourt