We have deer everywhere lately.
They seem to congregate heavily in our little valley, possibly because no one hunts around here. (Many of our neighbors are hunters, but no one hunts in his backyard.)
This means that while the animals are cautious, they're not skittish.
We've walked easily within 20 feet of the deer – with Mr. Darcy, no less – before they scoot away. It's rather nice.
We haven't noticed any fawns yet, but then we don't normally explode with youngsters until mid-June.
The deer here will get within a couple feet of me. No predators, so what do they care? When I feed my local feral cats, I have to try the scare the deer away because they're always there waiting for some free breakfast.
ReplyDeleteI'm rural too and we have a ton of deer. I walk my deer chihuahua 2x a day & the deer are used to us. One day a mama deer walked right up to us, bent down and my dog & her touched noses and smelled each other. The look the deer had on her face was pricless. It was a look that said "why, little deer why are you on a leash? Don't worry, one day you'll grow up and be free like us." It was quite a surprise and one I will always treasure.
ReplyDeleteWe call them stomachs with legs because they eat our gardens. Our yards aren't big enough for deer proof contraptions that are eyesoars to the landscape. We just grow deer/drought resistant plants now. They are amazing to watch across the street, sometimes 3 or 4 at a time when it is pear season. Bucks, probably brothers and the does and fawns. The neighbors don't want the pears so all the wildlife come out of the nearby greenbelt to feed. The pears don't get spayed so they have worms so unfortunately no one else wants them. Too bad, the pears are good. I pick some early on some years.
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