Fatal attraction: Illinois family makes money
selling deer urine
27-12-2009 By TOM BARKER - The Southern Illinoisan, bnd.com, USA
DONGOLA, Ill. -- Walking through Kevin and Tricia Cox's living room, one would think the Dongola residents are avid hunters. The walls are embellished with mounted deer, and antlers are more common than picture frames. But when the Coxes started their newest family business about eight months ago, their feelings toward deer hunting began to change.
The family began raising deer at their home in June, thinking it would be interesting to keep the animals as pets and hoping to profit from breeding. They soon discovered that money could be made off the deer in a completely different way: selling their urine.
"This time last year, I never thought I would be collecting deer pee to retail it," Cox said.
Cox began collecting and filtering the urine from his does and selling it in 1-ounce spray bottles, at local shops and to individuals. Nowadays, hunters from as far away as Kansas City are calling up Cox to purchase the fatal attractants' and all of the work put into raising the deer is starting to bear fruit.
"It's just been a straight uphill battle to keep everything in line, but now it's starting to pay off," Cox said.
Drop Tine Creek Whitetail Deer, as it is called, started with just three fawns in a pen and has grown into a three-acre operation with 14 deer, including a 25-point buck. Cox sells two varieties of doe urine, but will soon be selling two kinds of buck urine as well. He also plans to launch a new Web site to allow online purchases after the first of the year.
The greatest part of running the deer business, he said, is that his whole family, including two children and a grandchild, gets in on the fun of raising the fawns.
"The best thing about it is it's something we all do together," Cox said. "It's a release for us, to be able to go out there and relax and be with the animals."
Having bottle-fed the fawns five times a day, the family has come to view the animals as pets, not just as livestock. Several of the deer will be able to stay for urine collection, but others will be sold, something Cox said will be difficult to do if the family stays so attached to them.
"Each one has its own personality and if you've ever raised deer, you know that they're kind of like a family pet," he said. "I haven't crossed that fence yet, but that time is to come."
Each animal has to be registered with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and each is legally tagged by the ear. If the does give birth to twins this summer like they did last year, Cox could have close to 30 deer come July.
"It's a really good deal, and there's not any part of it that we regret," he said. "And I don't see the business doing anything but growing."
(Bron: http://www.bnd.com/)
(Bron foto: http://www.cabelas.com/p-0046637418223a.shtml)
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