During the last few days my wife and I drove across the State and back to visit family and friends. It has just been amazing to us the amount of wildlife we have seen run over along the highways. It is such a shame all those deer that have been hit and were usable were just wasted. I do wish the State of Texas would come up with some way for deer vehicle collisions to be called in and the deer removed for human or even pet food. In this day and time there is no excuse for wasting such a resource. In the last few days I identified deer, exotic deer, and other wildlife by the hundreds, We also saw skunks, raccoons, bobcats, foxes, coyotes and other wildlife flattened on the pavement. We swerved to miss a large turtle crossing the road and the car behind us also missed it so we are hoping he made it across. When I was young all those bobcat, fox, raccoon and coyote would have been picked up and the furs used or sold. My wife and I remember a Thanksgiving trip many years ago, from Round Rock to Colorado City, that we picked up every raccoon, ringtail, coyote, bobcat and fox that we came across. The next day after skinning all those furs I took them to a local feed store that bought furs and they wrote me a check for over $400.00, not bad for a young married couple in the 1970s to get paid for picking up road kill on a Thanksgiving trip. Maybe someday people will come to their senses and remember that God put wildlife here for man's use and start wearing furs and leather again so our resources will have a value. Remember as long as an animal has a value to man, he will strive to preserve it.
While traveling we took time to run by the family place and put a new SD card in the camera we had left set up to take pictures of whatever came in to our supplemental feeder. We have one new camera in the shop so this camera is the only one I have letting me see what deer and other wildlife are showing up at the place. We could not wait to get back and see what was on the camera. We did not have a laptop with us on this trip so I put the SD card in my camera to get a quick look at whatever had come into the feeder for a handout. It is so hard to tell much on the little camera viewer so we could not wait to get home and put them on the PC monitor to see what was what.
The mystery and excitement of the game camera pictures has become as important as or maybe even more so to my family than actually sitting in a blind or stand and hunting. It is also something that can continue even after the hunting season is over. If you are not yet using trail cameras you should consider it as I can assure you it is a lot of fun and you will see wildlife you did not even know existed in your area. Warning, it is addictive, Wild Ed
