Annoying Deer & Hunting Questions

My neighborhood is full of deer. I don't live in the country -- I live in a residential area of Austin -- and I am SURROUNDED by deer.

I like deer. I think they're cute, beautiful, fun to watch, etc. But right now, I am very annoyed by them. I planted a tree -- they ate it. I planted a deer-resistant tree, and before I had a chance to put up a fence around it (ugly) -- they ate half of it. Freaking deer!

Many neighbors feed the deer, which is now illegal in Austin. Herds of deer roam the neighborhood, chomping at will. Can I plant a garden? Not without significant fencing infrastructure. Plus, the deer are starting to freak me out -- the bucks are fighting -- apparently this is the time to look for a lady deer -- and they have lost ALL fear.

I have to go into the front yard to make phone calls because I have terrible phone reception in the house -- frequently I have to run away from a deer that is scaring me -- they walk straight up to me -- looking at me with glazed eyes -- I shout at them and they DON'T MOVE. Ack!

My son likes to chase them -- I've told him that it's too dangerous. Deer can charge, and some of these deer have serious antlers.

So, I wonder.....

Can you hunt the deer? (I'm not a hunter, I'm just wondering.)
No. Illegal in the city limits.

What if you didn't care if it was illegal? (Again, I'm not a hunter, just wondering.)
After some research on the Texas Parks and Wildlife page and some deer processors, it seems that you might be able to tag the deer with your hunting license and bring it to a processor. Or, you could just process it in the backyard and no one would be the wiser. Apparently, you have to field dress a deer anyway, so you might as well finish the job.

But if you get caught, big trouble!

What about the deer that get hit by cars? Can you eat them?
Again, legally -- no. You should call Texas Parks and Wildlife and they will send someone out to pick it up. A few days later. There's currently a large trashbag on the side of our street labeled "Do not touch -- dead deer" Yuck. This varies from state to state.

But if the deer broke its neck and wasn't hit in the abdomen or something like that, again, you could sneak the deer home and butcher it. Totally illegal.

And finally, after googling "Deer hunting Texas" "Austin deer feeding" "Hit deer with car" and other such cheery phrases, I started to wonder -- can you save any money by hunting?

Well, it depends.

There's a post on that very topic at Free Money Finance. The consensus seems to be that it costs a lot of money to hunt -- you need a license, a gun, access to a truck (to transport the deer), and may need to pay to hunt on a hunting lease. Also, you have to pay to have the deer processed (unless you do it yourself). One site I looked at charged $70 to process a deer. That did not include making sausage, etc., which was over $2 a pound -- that's from your own meat! I found that sort of surprising.

But, I guess you could buy a license, go to a hunt on public land and borrow a friend's truck & gun and process the meat yourself. That would be a huge money saver. If you live on land with deer (again, not in my neighborhood, but out in the country), you could hunt for free there too.

Cost: Resident hunting license $25
Archery stamp endorsement $7 (interesting)
Hunter education (required) $15 or you can defer for one year for $10
Rifle/ammunition: borrow rifle; ammunition is surprisingly expensive -- maybe buy a couple of shells (is that the word?) from a hunting friend - $5
OR hunt with bow & arrow -- $0 (borrowed of course)
Annual Public Hunt Permit: $48

Total cost:
for hunting with borrowed rifle & deferred hunter education: $88 if you don't have land
For hunting with borrowed bow & arrow: $90 if you don't have land

This assumes you do the field dressing (which you already have to do) and process the deer yourself. I would assume that needs some equipment & perhaps additional freezer space. All in all, I don't think that hunting is a big money saver over buying meat at the store on sale. Of course, I guess you know where the meat is coming from....

So, how much meat do you get from a deer?

According to this site, if a hunter kills a 165 pound buck (field-dressed weight), he should expect 58.15 pounds of meat. So, let's assume that with borrowing all the needed hunting equipment and buying your friend dinner in exchange (or giving him/her some of your meat), it works out to about $2/pound. If you add in all the time you spend hunting/learning/borrowing/butchering, I hope you really like hunting. And that's assuming that you get a big buck.

But wait! C reminded me that you don't necessarily just go hunting once a year. In Texas you can kill 5 white-tail deer/year (3 max. with antlers). That certainly brings down the price per pound. Again -- you need a big freezer! I don't think you could eat enough deer meat to keep up with 5 deer killed just during deer season.

Now, is hunting a green option?
It doesn't seem to fit in with what many urban greenies do -- go vegetarian. But, since one of the big reasons to go veg is to reduce your impact on the earth (meat requires more resources, water, oil, etc. per pound than plants do to produce), hunting deer, particularly in an area that has overpopulated deer (due to the absence of natural predators) seems preferable to buying meat at the store. That is provided that you don't drive hundreds of miles to hunt deer that are fed deer pellets.

Is deer meat organic?
Well, in the case of my neighborhood, definitely not! (But that's illegal!)
In the wild? Hmmm... hard to say, but it is free range (unless fed pellets) and free of antibiotics.

Disclaimer: I'm not a hunter. I've only had deer sausage a couple of times. I think the deer are nice, but I am very mad about my dead dead trees. The deer population is insane in my neighborhood. Four deer in my front yard last night. Crazy.

I was just curious so I decided to do some research.