June 12, 1909.] 
FOREST AND STREAM 
935 
Deer Farming in Iowa. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Deer farming in Iowa is limited to one farm 
and to one man. This energetic individual is 
John W. Griggs, who lives some twenty miles 
southwest of Macon City, near the border line 
between Hancock and Cerro Gordo counties. 
Here may be seen a herd of nearly one hun¬ 
dred deer, with all the instincts of the wild life, 
from which they are a few generations removed, 
and here the visitor may spend a half day in a 
delightful outing. 
John Griggs is a typical pioneer, who, as a 
trapper and hunter came to Iowa forty years 
ago. but who, unlike many others of his pro¬ 
fession, settled down upon her virgin soil and 
applied himself to farming, while at the same 
time he surrounded himself with all the wild 
life he could induce through domestication or 
captivity to remain with him. For more than 
three decades Mr. Griggs’ farm has been a 
zoological garden of many native animals, just 
because Mr. Griggs loved animals and wanted 
them for their company and for the inspiration 
they gave him. He has made a success of 
tilling the soil and now, after attaining years 
when the activities of farm life may be eased 
up, he finds ample employment with this inter¬ 
esting side line—deer farming. He has been in 
the deer business for fifteen years, and has 
found it highly remunerative. For thirty years 
he has occupied his spare moments in cultivat¬ 
ing the acquaintance of wolves, wild geese, 
antelope, elk and various other animals, but 
with none has he succeeded so well as with deer. 
Fifteen years ago Mr. Griggs began with a 
pair of Virginia deer, but by careful study and 
experiment and by adding new blood, he has 
built up a herd which consists of crosses or 
true bloods of mule deer, Columbia blacktails, 
Virginia and Minnesota deer. None of these 
breeds, however, seem to do so well in Iowa 
as the northern deer, which vary little in size 
from other breeds, but seem better adapted to 
Iowa climatic conditions. 
The whitetail is a much finer boned, finer 
haired animal than the Minnesota deer, but is 
not hardy; so it may be said that this herd has 
veered around in its breeding in fifteen years 
to practically full-blooded northern breed, of 
many types, and has grown from two to a hun¬ 
dred head. This has been done by careful man¬ 
agement and the prevention of inbreeding, 
which, as with other animals, is disastrous to 
the health of the herd, and in time from beauti¬ 
ful, healthy, agile progenitors, will produce 
mere scrubs. Mr. Griggs thinks that careful 
selection of the^does and securing at intervals 
a buck, caught young in the woods of Northern 
Wisconsin or Minnesota, is the best and safest 
way to keep up the standard of his herd. 
Deer in captivity are generally prolific 
breeders. The mating season is in November 
and the fawns are born in June or May, the 
young does producing one at bir:h and the 
older ones usually twins. As Mr. Griggs has 
it figured, from thirty does on his farm, a crop 
of 50 fawns is expected. The fawns carry their 
spots until fall, when the new coat comes. They 
require 'no attention, only to be let severely 
alone with the does. Years of domestication of 
the parents does not rob the young of the in¬ 
stincts of their wild life. It is impossible to get 
near them for some weeks, and even when prac¬ 
tically mature, if frightened they will charge a 
wire fence at break-neck speed in an eflort to 
get away. For this reason, Mr. Griggs finds 
that woven wire fencing is best eight feet high 
and with posts set close together. 
The natural food of the deer is tender plants, 
shoots, leaves, sprouts, fruit and berries, which 
are generally found in the woods; hence a wood 
is essential in breeding deer. They eat weeds 
but do not care much for ordinary grass, though 
clover and alfalfa are delicacies for which they 
pass fodder, oats, straw and the like. Corn is 
the best grain, and, if the young are to be 
pushed for market, the does must be fed a little 
grain during the summer to keep up the flow 
of milk. In winter the does lose appetite and 
eat little food, thus coming out in the spring 
thin, though not exactly lean. 
Plenty of running water is essential, though 
J. w. G.’s MARTIN HOUSE. 
in the winter time they need no water if snow 
is on the ground, as they eat that. No shelter 
is required save that afforded by a grove of 
trees to break the wind. The coat of a deer is 
water proof, and they will not enter a shed, even 
though accommodation for warmth is supplied 
them. 
There is good profit in raising deer for the 
market, as Mr. Griggs can testify. Deer are 
not as large as an outsider would think, for a 
full grown buck weighs from 150 to 300 pounds 
and does from 120 to 175 pounds. Deer are 
fully developed at four years of age, and the 
fawns, if they come early and the does are 
well fed, weigh at the age of six months from 
70 to 90 pounds, and at 18 months from 120 to 
170 pounds. The demand for venison, is con¬ 
stantly on the increase. The laws which re¬ 
strict hunting and limit the number of does to 
each hunter, have prevented a high price at 
this time for the dressed carcasses in Chicago. 
A buck carcass having a well shaped head and 
a nice pair of antlers brings an extra $5 in the 
market. There is a good demand for does for 
park purposes, and from $20 to $30 is not too 
much to ask. But the work of crating a live 
deer is not the easiest thing in the world. They 
are so small, so timid, so lithe and active tlTat 
it takes power and skill to capture them without 
injury to the deer. 
Elk were discarded a few years ago by Mr. 
Griggs in favor of deer. They are much larger 
than a deer, will eat as much as a steer, and, as 
a rule, are not so reliable as deer when it , 
comes down to bottom facts. The bucks are 
generally docile and harmless, but will bear 
watching, especially during the mating season. 
The does will not attack unless molested when 
the fawns are young and will then fight to good 
purpose and oftentimes without reason. To be 
let alone is a deer lesson the breeder must 
learn, or his deer will teach him. As a rule, 
the loss from various causes is not great in the 
herd. Deer if properly cared for are profitable. 
Self injury when frightened causes some loss, 
and a mad buck may stab a doe with his horn 
during feeding time, making a wound from 
which she is pretty likely to die. 
Robert Page Lincoln. 
[Mr. Griggs has found that when different 
sorts of deer run together in a large lot they 
do not associate with one another, but each 
species keeps by itself. Hybridizing is then 
rare. In order to produce crosses he has found 
it necessary to place a buck of one kind and 
does of another in a small lot, an acre or less 
in extent. 
Mr. Griggs finds that the mule deer does not 
do well in Iowa, but the hybrids from white- 
tail does and a mule deer buck are remarkably 
hardy, good feeders and become very fat. They 
are not so handsome as either of the ancestors. 
The hybrids are reported to be prolific and 
hardy. —Editor.] 
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Although Mr. Hallock devotes a great deal 
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A Woman Game Warden. 
Roswell, N. M., June i. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: I ask the financial help of readers of 
Forest and Stream to continue the good work 
begun by my husband, “Almo,” thirty odd years 
ago. I receive no pay as a game warden in New 
Mexico, but am devoting my time to stopping 
illegal slaughter of game and song birds. 
I desire to employ a man on horseback to help 
me to obtain evidence. Much of my time I 
spend on the river in my boat. Just a dollar 
from a few people will pay a Mexican man. I 
am the. only woman game warden in this coun¬ 
try and find I can do good work where men 
fail. • Mrs. B. R. Buffham, 
Deputy Game Warden. 
