Mr. Deer Comes A-Callin'

It's not as if seeing a deer is an unusual sight for us living up here in the Northwoods. This past winter we rarely drove in or out of our driveway without seeing one or two (or six) cross in front of us from one side of the woods to the other.

In the summer, we regularly have a small herd of deer at sunset each night grazing in our little hay field. They look just like a bunch of cud-chewing cows.

The deer were here long before us and we are encroaching on their territory, but without fencing they will destroy your trees, shrubs, flowers and various other attempts at landscaping. Inviting a group of their friends to have a luncheon get together in your garden or to gather in your orchard to prune your fruit trees to resemble walking sticks is something they truly enjoy.

There's hardly a driver in the county who hasn't, at one time or other, had an unpleasant encounter with a deer on the road. At certain times of the year, they seem so thick and intent on jumping out into the road in front of vehicles that no matter how carefully you drive, accidents happen.

We have a 7' high fence around our garden, berry patches and fruit trees. Our poultry pasture which includes our small pond is enclosed by a 4' high fence. I think we know of only one or two incidences in the past when a deer has jumped this shorter fence to visit with the poultry.

But for the past three mornings, this fella (lady?) has shown up inside the fence.

Is it the water that attracts him?

Or the tender new shoots of grass coming up in the mowed pasture?

He took a walk around the perimeter of the pond coming into sight of the chicken house.

The chickens spotted him and immediately set up an awful kafuffle which, in turn, put him on alert.

Then the geese waddled out to see what was going on and when they started screeching, Mr. Deer decided it was no longer a bucolic place in which to spend time. He was up and over the fence in a single bound, high-tailing it (high-tailing it? get it?) into the safe, quiet shelter of the woods.