Oh Deer
 

It took me a couple of days to clear the bulk of the snow off of house and garage and in the process I sort of was a little late putting out some of the critter food. As soon as I walked into the house I looked out the window and there was one of last years fawn's sort of checking over the fence to see if I had misplaced his chow.:D

Better make him some pancakes, he looks hungry.

You just got to love where you live!

Jim

Awwww! What kind of critter food do you leave out for them, Colonel?

New Pet
 

I'm afraid the deer is now taking up permanent residence in your back yard:p


Nice pic !!

Great picture, Colonel.

It looks like, with just a little more snow, he would be able to come over to your side of the fence.


Bandy

COL Jack, in a couple of years, he'll be about the right size for dinner.:eek: Nice sight picture.:D :munchin

We have about 18 or so deer that show up at various times and over 30 turkeys. The deer will eat anything that grows, but they love the cracked corn I put out for the turkeys. Problem is that if the turkeys arrive first then the only thing left for the deer are "snow encrusted bonbons" left by turkeys who do not seem to know that you don't crap where you eat:D So far this winter we have gone thru 500 pounds of corn and about 200 pounds of sunflower seed. At night the flying squirrels hit the bird feeders and I have a pair of grey fox that love to clean up what corn has been over looked. They also are in direct competition with the owls who also go after mice and voles looking for leftovers. Don't have any human visitors here, but I do have critters.

Sir, you might try throwing out some chicken feed for your turkeys. It's just coarse ground corn. The turkeys will pick at it for a long time, and the deer won't hardly be able to mess with it. When it warms up, there's also a matter of a fungi on feed corn that causes Aflatoxicosis. It can be deadly turkeys, in particular the poults.

http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/plants/...aflatoxin.html

1 month till spring turkey season opens here :)

Hi COL.,

We have problems with Elk here in Washington State. I'm not sure I agree with this Mayor. What do you guy's think?

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...quimelk17.html

Sequim mayor says elk should be killed for food bank

The Associated Press

SEQUIM, Wash. -- Sequim Mayor Walt Schubert says he's taken a few shots from critics since he suggested thinning the local elk herd and giving the meat to food banks.

One elk can supply some 400 pounds of meat, and Schubert suggests hunters could share at least a portion of that with agencies such as the Salvation Army soup kitchen, which feeds about 100 people a day in Port Angeles.

"I'm always intrigued with the different ideas that come from people who're trying to help," Salvation Army Maj. Hal Hads said of Schubert's suggestion.

He has worked for the charity in Montana and Alaska, where hunters donated venison and moose meat, but he says more discussions will need to take place before the Port Angeles soup kitchen would start serving elk meat.

"We're certainly sensitive to the unique situation in Sequim ... I admire the elk. I think they're beautiful," Hads said. "So we don't want to say, 'Yeah, bring that on in."'

The mayor said he is not in favor of exterminating Sequim's iconic herd, but some trimming may be beneficial.

"The elk are a renewable resource," Schubert said. "The herd must be kept to a manageable size. Using the meat for the hungry is no different than hunting them for sport."

The elk hunt on the North Olympic Peninsula ends Feb. 28.

I remember the pictures that you posted not long ago of the turkeys and deer together, quite the sight.

Somedays I think I'd prefer the critters to humans. :D

Sir, that is so amazing! The "critters" know a good thing. :o
Thank You for sharing that.

Holly

Got mixed feelings about this. The obvious one is that folks have killed off the predators and have screwed with mother nature's balance in the wild that population dynamics are now a function of human manipulation. So, if the herd is stripping its own food supply and dropping from disease it probably needs to be culled. Howumsoever when you get the folks out there hunting for meat for the general population and not for sport or family you are going to run into a problem with quality control and health for the human consumers. I have to laugh (Hah) remembering when we came across a water buffalo troop being used to transport supplies for the NVA. We wacked the bad guys and the buffalo and the yards went nuts just knowing that water buffalo was going to be on the menu that night. Of course they did their little water buffalo ceremony and brought me the first chunk of liver. In a mixture of French and English he told me that it was good meat because it did not have any spots on it. So makes me sort of wonder how many of those that might be hired to bring in the meat are going to check to see if there are "any spots" before they collect their pay check. :(

He's back with friends
 

He came back this morning and this time with his buddies.

The wildest thing to visit my backyard is a brown rabbit!
Beautiful photographs!