About
With 26 years of being an independent deer industry resource, we have an abundance of knowledge and a unique perspective to offer the North American deer industry.
Please click here to read an important update from the Deer Tracking family. Although we will still retain our connections and friendships in the industry, we have needed to make some changes which do not include continuing publishing a magazine. This is a sad development but yet exciting as we look forward to new adventures and less deadlines.
Read the update for more information.
The Deer Tracking Family
We are blessed and before we talk about ourselves, we want to acknowledge the One who allows the privilege of living the adventure that is our life. We find that if we start each day counting our blessings, it turns out each day holds many more...or at least we notice more of them! Deer Tracking is just one of the many things we are thankful for.
We are the Deer Tracking family. Editor and bride, Randy and Tara, along with sons Dale, Shane, and Kole, have work together on the magazine and everything else that comes our way. Tara (with a bachelor of education degree) and I (with an education degree and a second degree in English) were both teachers when we began family, deer farming, and magazine all within a few years. We loved what we were doing, but had a hunch that we hardly glimpsed the goodness that God had heaped up for us. Children are heaven sent so we decided to go about life a little backward from what society says we should do. Our goal was to spend as much time together as possible while our boys grew up and less time making and saving money. We'd homeschooled the boys (the two older only until grade 10, when they went to the public highschool, riding a school bus 3 hours a day, for their last 2 1/2 years, both graduating in 2012). Thankfully we could still maintain somehwhat of a trapping lifestyle through winter on weekeds and every day off from school. We are glad we decided to work from home together and perhaps work a career later in life if needed.
Time together is what we've had and coupled with a wide variety of adventure...this is true wealth! We began farming whitetails in 1996, artificially inseminated about 2 out of every 3 years, and raised both breeding and hunt stock.
Despite having followed stringent regulations and management practices, sadly, we lost our herd of 132 animals to government policy on CWD in 2007, but the magazine that began over 26 years ago (1998) continued going strong. Published in northern Saskatchewan, the magazine has been distributed across all of North America and gave our family lots of occasion to travel, taking in auctions and trade shows while touring farms along the way. Our family likes learning and, while we hoped the magazine is entertaining to a degree, it tended toward being a resource for deer farmers. We have a growing list of veterinarians, lab researchers, biologists, nutritionists, etc., to draw on for expertise, but much of the magazine content came from our travels, observations, research and writing.
Our goal: to strive to be an unbiased voice in the deer industry.
I am biased though. I'm biased toward the life that, gratefully, included the magazine, but is not fully dictated by such. We live off grid all year round, but come winter, my family heads further north to a remote cabin on a rather isolated trapline for 6-9 months at a time, about 3 hours by snowmobile from the nearest road. We trap about a dozen different species, home-tan many pelts, sell some for taxidermy, some as home and lodge decor, and turn some into mitts, hats, moccasins, etc.. We also work with some of the boys on a Saskatchewan bear & deer outfitting camp (for guns or cameras) in spring and fall based on our trapline and the northern fringe farmland.. We used to snowmobile out to a phone and computer in order to return calls, and stay in touch with the deer industry. Through technology though, we have been able to work on the magazine through a satellite system -- and a simpler way of life gives us plenty of time for research and writing even while living a trapper's lifestyle. Yes, we do own something other than a snowmobile, and greatly enjoy our industry tours throughout the U.S. So, perhaps we're backwards and backwoods, and I know its not the 'American Dream', but most would agree that we are "living the dream".
We are grateful for so much including the fact that you, right now, are taking the time to get to know us. We look forward to getting to know you, too.
Sincerely,
Randy Barks (Editor)
We are the Deer Tracking family. Editor and bride, Randy and Tara, along with sons Dale, Shane, and Kole, have work together on the magazine and everything else that comes our way. Tara (with a bachelor of education degree) and I (with an education degree and a second degree in English) were both teachers when we began family, deer farming, and magazine all within a few years. We loved what we were doing, but had a hunch that we hardly glimpsed the goodness that God had heaped up for us. Children are heaven sent so we decided to go about life a little backward from what society says we should do. Our goal was to spend as much time together as possible while our boys grew up and less time making and saving money. We'd homeschooled the boys (the two older only until grade 10, when they went to the public highschool, riding a school bus 3 hours a day, for their last 2 1/2 years, both graduating in 2012). Thankfully we could still maintain somehwhat of a trapping lifestyle through winter on weekeds and every day off from school. We are glad we decided to work from home together and perhaps work a career later in life if needed.
Time together is what we've had and coupled with a wide variety of adventure...this is true wealth! We began farming whitetails in 1996, artificially inseminated about 2 out of every 3 years, and raised both breeding and hunt stock.
Despite having followed stringent regulations and management practices, sadly, we lost our herd of 132 animals to government policy on CWD in 2007, but the magazine that began over 26 years ago (1998) continued going strong. Published in northern Saskatchewan, the magazine has been distributed across all of North America and gave our family lots of occasion to travel, taking in auctions and trade shows while touring farms along the way. Our family likes learning and, while we hoped the magazine is entertaining to a degree, it tended toward being a resource for deer farmers. We have a growing list of veterinarians, lab researchers, biologists, nutritionists, etc., to draw on for expertise, but much of the magazine content came from our travels, observations, research and writing.
Our goal: to strive to be an unbiased voice in the deer industry.
I am biased though. I'm biased toward the life that, gratefully, included the magazine, but is not fully dictated by such. We live off grid all year round, but come winter, my family heads further north to a remote cabin on a rather isolated trapline for 6-9 months at a time, about 3 hours by snowmobile from the nearest road. We trap about a dozen different species, home-tan many pelts, sell some for taxidermy, some as home and lodge decor, and turn some into mitts, hats, moccasins, etc.. We also work with some of the boys on a Saskatchewan bear & deer outfitting camp (for guns or cameras) in spring and fall based on our trapline and the northern fringe farmland.. We used to snowmobile out to a phone and computer in order to return calls, and stay in touch with the deer industry. Through technology though, we have been able to work on the magazine through a satellite system -- and a simpler way of life gives us plenty of time for research and writing even while living a trapper's lifestyle. Yes, we do own something other than a snowmobile, and greatly enjoy our industry tours throughout the U.S. So, perhaps we're backwards and backwoods, and I know its not the 'American Dream', but most would agree that we are "living the dream".
We are grateful for so much including the fact that you, right now, are taking the time to get to know us. We look forward to getting to know you, too.
Sincerely,
Randy Barks (Editor)
