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I like seeing them, but not real close to the house.
One night a couple mule deer bucks got into a kerfuffle with each other during rut. They bashed into each other and the side of my house. The cupboards doors in the kitchen flew open and they did almost $1000 in damage to the steel siding. And that was a stout house.
A friend had an elderly, darn near blind, pekingese, it had been his wife's and he doted on the little dog. He let it out one night before retiring and a doe perceived it as a threat to her 4 month old fawn. Doe stomped the dog. It died.
Another friend, a nurse, let her dog out without checking her yard. A buck, during rut, ran it through with an antler tossing it about as my friend was helpless to save her medium-sized pet.
We don't let kids play outside unattended during rut.
They do devour gardens, which doesn't concern me too much as I don't have time for one. I don't begrudge them the tons of hay they eat year round. I'm happy to keep water open for them in the winter. But, I try to discourage them from being comfortable enough to hang around the house. I use a predator scent.
I love watching deer. They've visited our yard for 25 years, and I have yet to see or step in deer poop. They are inquisitive creatures, peaceful, and quite beautiful in my eyes. They don't get in our garden because we fenced it to keep them out. They are welcome here anytime.
Please be aware that with deer come deer ticks. It's good to get in the habit of checking yourselves, and your pets for ticks. Deer also draw predators such as mountain lions, coyotes, bears, wolves, and more depending on your location.
I have the suspicion that coyotes aren't so much to blame but that a lot of the forests have reached climax phase and can't support as many deer coupled with a lot of farms reverting to scrub land. Where there are still a lot of farms you'll still see a lot of deer. That and subdivisions being built,
I am very suspicious of our Game Commission reports about the deer kill. I know that it is hard to compare apples and oranges. But I grew up during the time that any kid that did not hunt was looked on as 'strange'. The first day used to sound like war broke out. There were several places that I could go and count fifty or one hundred deer in orchards and fields. As a truck driver, when I gave up hunting about twelve years ago, I could travel 300 miles across PA and then back without seeing deer most of the time (not all the time). Deer used to be grazing peacefully along side of our Interstates; then they disappeared.
Other than some nature watchers that love to see deer; deer do not have too many friends. Many home owners hate deer because of the damage they do to their gardens and shrubs. Some people worry about deer ticks and our deer really got bad rap because the grey squirrels are a bigger culprit. You have loggers and some environmentalist that blame our deer on forest destruction. I would argue that the coal fired plants that contributed to acid rain weakened the forest where the vegetation eaten by our deer then took an abnormal toll on our forest. Then we have the insurance industry that pays out millions every year for deer collisions. They could pocket so much more money without deer.
I just feel that all of this puts pressure on our GC to keep the herd numbers down. Besides the coyotes; our GC 'combined season' has increased the harvest. They use to protect our doe years ago and now they have bought into protecting the bucks; supposedly to increase antler size. I remember back in the 1960's where we had no doe season to increase the size of our herds. Their numbers just do not add up in my head; I think there are far fewer deer in our State than they claim.
I am very suspicious of our Game Commission reports about the deer kill. I know that it is hard to compare apples and oranges. But I grew up during the time that any kid that did not hunt was looked on as 'strange'. The first day used to sound like war broke out. There were several places that I could go and count fifty or one hundred deer in orchards and fields. As a truck driver, when I gave up hunting about twelve years ago, I could travel 300 miles across PA and then back without seeing deer most of the time (not all the time). Deer used to be grazing peacefully along side of our Interstates; then they disappeared.
Other than some nature watchers that love to see deer; deer do not have too many friends. Many home owners hate deer because of the damage they do to their gardens and shrubs. Some people worry about deer ticks and our deer really got bad rap because the grey squirrels are a bigger culprit. You have loggers and some environmentalist that blame our deer on forest destruction. I would argue that the coal fired plants that contributed to acid rain weakened the forest where the vegetation eaten by our deer then took an abnormal toll on our forest. Then we have the insurance industry that pays out millions every year for deer collisions. They could pocket so much more money without deer.
I just feel that all of this puts pressure on our GC to keep the herd numbers down. Besides the coyotes; our GC 'combined season' has increased the harvest. They use to protect our doe years ago and now they have bought into protecting the bucks; supposedly to increase antler size. I remember back in the 1960's where we had no doe season to increase the size of our herds. Their numbers just do not add up in my head; I think there are far fewer deer in our State than they claim.
I don't know if there are fewer (I seem to see the same numbers when I go back) but that a lot of the habitat where you, and I, used to see deer just can't carry as many as was common 50 years ago.
We used to live in the woods and had deer all around us. They did not bother my plants, we and our dogs did not ever get deer ticks. It was probably because we were surrounded by enough unspoiled woods that they had all they needed without encroaching on us humans.
I don't know if there are fewer (I seem to see the same numbers when I go back) but that a lot of the habitat where you, and I, used to see deer just can't carry as many as was common 50 years ago.
Which leads to my speculation that the counts do not add up!
Even though everybody blames our deer for the habitat destruction; I still think it wasn't their fault. The large soft coal fired electric plants in Ohio and the mid-west dumped acid rain on us for generations. That leached the limestone out of ground. As it was; the tops of our hills and mountains never had a lot of limestone in the first place. As the soil became more acidic; the plants/trees grow slower - some, that love alkaline or natural soil, simply don't grow. Even today there is a great difference on how fast vegetation grows in the valleys, that still have some limestone, and the higher elevations. Canada even tried to sue our coal fired electric plants but I do not think it went too far. It is so much easier to blame the deer (they have rotten lawyers).
I am not saying that there are no deer around. They do have some strongholds that our coyotes have not found. Their numbers do change quick when the coyotes move in and a coyote can smell a deer a mile away.
You do not even see the rifle hunters you once saw. Years ago they would pack the State Game Lands for the opening week. Of course it is comparing apples and oranges because many deer are now taken with a bow instead of a gun; so we do not hear the hunt like we use to fifty years ago.
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