THEN WHAT I KNOW NOW – WHAT I MAY HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY STARTING MY DEER FARM

By: Gail Veley • Sponsored by WOL

The deep coolness and darkness of night shifts as an eastern predawn sky begins its deep blue transformation to ultimately welcome the sun in northern Louisiana. And while Kristina Rothschild, owner of All in Whitetails in Eros, Louisiana is up and preparing to leave the house for her full-time job, she pauses and looks out at perhaps her most favorite thing – the deer farm she’s shared with her husband Steve since 2017. A sense of contentment is felt about their herd they strive to maintain as conscientiously as they can. From focusing on a smaller herd of 60 to having a farm that’s functional, Rothschild is grateful for all of it. Yet, she remembers times in the beginning when things weren’t always so.

While the Rothschild’s had initially built a barn for handling deer, their runs going into the barn were wider rather than narrower. “We only had four deer at the time, and I told my husband we needed to run these deer,” Kristina, 45, reflected. However, rather than going forward into the barn “one of the deer turned back on us and I ended up on the back of it and rode it about 10 feet.” The very next day the Rothschild’s installed a slide wall for pushing them forward into the barn. “It was a very enlightening experience,” Kris said. “We just didn’t fully understand at first. If I had to do over, I definitely would have looked at more designs and gathered more information on how to process deer,” she said.

The mistakes made in processing deer are realized by every deer farmer at some point in time, and perhaps felt most poignantly with darting. “The very first year we darted deer we accidentally broke the leg of a doe fawn,” Kris shared. “We had the right yardage and right amount of pressure, but she stepped forward the moment we released the dart. Of course, we were devastated and talked to other deer farmers who had similar experiences. We put a rod in her leg. Today that doe is seven years old and uses that leg.”

Should a health situation ever arise for James Clark of Seldom Seen Whitetails in Greensburg, Louisiana, he calls Daniel Thomas of Daniel Thomas Whitetails in Springhill, Louisiana for additional advice. Thomas, who Clark admits was completely responsible for inspiring him to begin deer farming, sold Clark some of his first deer in 2014.

“I picked up a Whitetails of Louisiana magazine and saw his two-page spread and called him out of the blue,” Clark said. “I wanted to see if I could grow deer that big and was all about getting good doe pedigrees.” Those purchased deer, along with others from Bill

Holdman of Elam Woods Whitetails in Winnsboro, Louisiana, were the foundation of Clark’s herd. While he first began his deer farm in Vidalia, he later moved to Greensburg in 2019 and bought enough land to also have a hunting preserve.

Gleaning off the insight of Josh Kaplan of Golden Ranch Whitetails in Gheens, Louisiana, Clark had Kaplan design his entire barn from pen layout to building locations. Looking back, what would he have done differently? “Absolutely nothing,” Clark, 68, said. “I’ve talked to lots of deer farmers and 98 to 100 percent said they would have done this or that differently,” Clark said. “But I can’t say I wish I had done this or that. I tried very hard to do it right the first time. And maybe facilities at other farms are finer, but my stuff operates just fine. I’m very satisfied.”

The Rothschild’s also feels very satisfied with how well their farm is doing today, and also credit Thomas for getting them off on the right foot by selling them high quality bred does. “The biggest thing for us was buying quality deer,” Kris said. “We were grateful to have Mr. Daniel to turn to. Every new deer farmer should have passion for whitetails and turn to those more experienced for guidance. It really pays off.”