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In personal philosophy, I see my ranch as an animal preserve and this being winter, if a wet one, I wonder if I should be doing more for the animals.
The deer seem to be doing quite well around here. On any given day, I see at least a half dozen, if one less such as the one who I hit last week out on the road.
So-o, do they really need my help or should I just give in further to my personal philosophy of letting the ranch be wild outside the house foot print and not make any changes either way?
Regulations aside (and I would be sure to check them before I put out food or even a trough of water), I am sure that while my intentions are good, of putting out food, it would probably turn into something like this:
"Hey guys, did you hear? Tamara is throwing a party at her place. Get all of your family and all of their families and let's go over there!".....So came the deer.....and then the boar....and then the coyotes.......
Given such a continuous party on my land, I might think my neighbors could have some disagreements.
So is it like that, inviting an over population disaster? Should I just leave it to nature to figure out what the carrying capacity of the region is? Or do they really need my help?
Since I started feeding birds, I know a whole different ballgame, and probably not as rural as you, as I have no deer in my yard. Sunflower seed only in feeders to start with, then chicken scratch later, as my neighbor let his chickens free range. Chickens love to scratch, as fire ants started to build, I would throw some scratch on the hills. Kept under control for a couple of years. Then he got rid of chickens, but I kept throwing out the scratch for the doves and Blue Jays. Then discovered that hawks had found my little oasis for the birds, as I would see one would on dive down every now and then. Then a durned old cat, would dart out from a bush as I walked past, knocking him/her out of a meal. Now crows have laid some claim to a space in my yard. Another neighbor has guineas that free range, they don't scratch like chickens, they pick, I have less ticks now. So, in short, feed your deer, enjoy them. You are far enough away from neighbors, right? They will eat house plants and garden plants, so be forewarned of that.
We are going through about 40 pounds of deer corn a week and about 30 pounds of sunflower seed a week. So we are feeding all kinds of wild life. We are probably helping to increase the wild life population but we are not real concerned since most of my neighbors are doing the same.
We are getting a lot of enjoyment from watching the birds and deer, squirrels and several other types of wild life. I use trail cameras for night time viewing and just yesterday I saw 7 deer in one video eating our corn. And in the same night two different bucks at different times at the feed.
BTW saw an eagle in one of my trees on the south fence line 2 days ago.
Overpopulated deer are diseased deer. Feeding keeps ones that would otherwise have passed due to natural selection alive longer, and it also increases reproduction rates, neither of which are healthy for a species that's already around carrying capacity. It also draws deer to the same location, which increases disease transmission.
I would not make a concerted effort to feed deer for several reasons.
1. As someone else stated over population leads to disease. Google CWD, Chronic Waste Disease. It’s a horrible way for deer to die.
2. The hunters will have a field day during hunting season. Deer naturally travel, no matter how much food you put out, and the hunters will be waiting for them to “ cross the boarder”.
3. It can get very costly. If you really want to help the wild animals, take the monthly money you would spend on deer feed and donate it to the zoo nearest you. Many of them are having financial issues thanks to this miserable pandemic. People aren’t visiting the zoos in the normal numbers so donations are down. The zoos need money for vet care, feed, fence and shelter maintenance, etc. Your money would be much better served in that manner
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That said, we have 25 acres with a grove of trees far enough from the barn that the deer often stop there during their travels; it’s not uncommon to see 9-11 deer early in the AM. When my horses white salt blocks get licked down far enough, we put them in the tree grove for the deer. If the deer want water, my neighbor has a pond or I will see evidence of them coming up to drink from the tub that is in the front pasture.
Everything in life needs salt & water. I would rather the critters have access to fresh water & salt in the hopes it helps keep them healthy but I am not feeding them
The song birds and other birds are another matter. We do keep a feeder full of feed for them and they can get pretty entertaining
Overpopulated deer are diseased deer. Feeding keeps ones that would otherwise have passed due to natural selection alive longer, and it also increases reproduction rates, neither of which are healthy for a species that's already around carrying capacity. It also draws deer to the same location, which increases disease transmission.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Normashirley
I would not make a concerted effort to feed deer for several reasons.
1. As someone else stated over population leads to disease. Google CWD, Chronic Waste Disease. It’s a horrible way for deer to die.
2. The hunters will have a field day during hunting season. Deer naturally travel, no matter how much food you put out, and the hunters will be waiting for them to “ cross the boarder”.
3. It can get very costly. If you really want to help the wild animals, take the monthly money you would spend on deer feed and donate it to the zoo nearest you. Many of them are having financial issues thanks to this miserable pandemic. People aren’t visiting the zoos in the normal numbers so donations are down. The zoos need money for vet care, feed, fence and shelter maintenance, etc. Your money would be much better served in that manner
****
That said, we have 25 acres with a grove of trees far enough from the barn that the deer often stop there during their travels; it’s not uncommon to see 9-11 deer early in the AM. When my horses white salt blocks get licked down far enough, we put them in the tree grove for the deer. If the deer want water, my neighbor has a pond or I will see evidence of them coming up to drink from the tub that is in the front pasture.
Everything in life needs salt & water. I would rather the critters have access to fresh water & salt in the hopes it helps keep them healthy but I am not feeding them
The song birds and other birds are another matter. We do keep a feeder full of feed for them and they can get pretty entertaining
The solution to all of this is to reintroduce wolves. I myself scratched being the ears of an animal that biologically is mostly wolf. It licked me.
The solution to all of this is to reintroduce wolves. I myself scratched being the ears of an animal that biologically is mostly wolf. It licked me.
We still do have wolves where I live
And we have Goldendoodles, two of them on my block. They are indistinguishable from wolves.
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