For at least the last ten years, we have had a doe that visits our backyard. Michele would go out and talk to her in a soothing voice and she has become more brazen, even walking up on the deck to eat the potted plants that I have brought on to the deck to protect. Then she started bringing her fawns with her. Last spring she even left her two fawns in our ivy. Somehow, it seemed like we had become her babysitters.
Both Michele – I think – and I have mixed feeling about all this. Yes, it is fun having the deer around, but they also do an amazing amount of damage. They eat everything, including stuff that is – allegedly – deer proof.. This morning, when I went out to the garden, there was a large buck just camped there. I snuck back and grabbed my camera but by then he was nervous, jumped up, and left. I didn’t get much in the way of photos, so you will just have to take my word for the fact that he was a magnificent animal.
Hi Steve and Michelle
Welcome to our world. The deer in western Pennsylvania have been devastating forest undergrowth and suburban back yards for years. A half a dozen does and fawns sleep in our back yard at least half the week especially in the fall and winter months. They’re lovely animals, but a pain in the you know what nonetheless. It happens here because more and more development means less and less woods for them to live in. So I think we have to learn to co-exist – after all they were here first.
Arlene
One interesting thing, Arlene, is that the mountain lions are starting to move back in. It will be even more interesting to see if we can co-exist with animals that can kill us.