This is nose-high. That means whatever deer left this little tuft behind, jumped OVER it. My height is 5 ft. 3 inches. I just looked out the east window and saw eight of the critters (kind word,here....others unmentionable) just on the other side of our fence. They consume an incredible amount of forage! The meadows are laid flat by the end of winter with their feasting on what should be Marigold's food.
Out here JOTOLR, we "support" a herd of around fifty deer. There is no way we can begin to eat that much venison. The deer are ubiquitous. And, of course, we have all the "goodies" they want inside the fence and close to the house...goodies so tempting that the deer are willing to risk getting scraped as they try to fly across barbed wire.
The WV Dept of Natural Resources believes this is a good thing. Because, it's good for the hunters. I have no objection whatsoever to hunting...In fact, this time of year we could use a few more. I just wish someone in a place of authority in the WVDNR would take it upon themselves to stage a few "clean-out" hunts and thin the population. We need mass irradication! Driving at night is scary. Talk about deer in the headlights! Many a deer accident has put drivers and passengers in the hospital around here. In our little town of Lewisburg, deer are eating the daylights out of people's shrubs and ornamental plantings right in the middle of town.
Deer hunting rifle season begins essentially on Thanksgiving weekend. Shots will ring out for several days out here JOTOLR and it won't be safe to go in our own woods. So, I hope this year some needy families will take advantage of hunting season to add to their meat locker! For those of you who are tender-hearted, I understand. But if you've ever worked hard to plant a fruit tree or a garden or landscape a lovely setting, only to have it ravaged or consumed by hungry hoards of deer, you'll probably feel better about leveling the odds that it will survive their nibbly mouths as we head into Deer Hunting Season 2010.
Posts
Time to but orange ribbons on the dog's collar! I've seen far more deer this fall already than I usually do. Almost hit three of them Tuesday evening. Love the photo today, good eye!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Debbi! Could it be that your GARDEN has brought other worshippers to your back door?
ReplyDeleteElora
My husband is a deer hunter. He killed a buck two weeks ago during black powder season and a doe yesterday - it's regular season here already. For those who object, we eat them and are darn glad to have them. When our children were small and we were dirt poor they meant a lot to our grocery budget. Now that we're retired and it's just the two of us that meat means, once again, a lot to our social security/teacher retirement. I never buy hamburger because we have the venison made into burger. I use it in soups, chili, meat loaf, hamburger, anywhere you would use hamburger. It's lean and it's more healthy than beef. In Arkansas they would overrun us if not for hunters. blessings, marlene
ReplyDeleteMarlene,
ReplyDeleteYou are a dear! And I don't mean "deer"! We, too, eat venison and no beef. At least one DEER came within a whisker of making its home in a quart Mason jar, this morning! Good for you and your husband. Tell him 'good luck hunting' from me!
Elora
A hearty Amen to that, Elora. We're not hunters ourselves, but we are sure glad there are folks out there thinning the herds and feeding their families. Many of my beloved plants have fallen victim to deer's fiendish foraging. It's bad enough when they eat them down to nubs, but they add insult to injury when they yank them by the roots from the ground. We have a program in this area where hunters can donate the deer they kill to the Food Bank (there are processors who process it for free for the Food Bank).
ReplyDeleteGreat photo! With most of their natural predators gone, there's an over population of deer. This is a place where hunting is definitely appropriate, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteGreat capture! We have alot of deer in the valley. I shot a 8 point buck with my camera last Sunday near PHHS! The houses are getting too close together in south county or we would hunt on our land there. The herds need to be culled.
ReplyDeleteI love venison too!
Beth,
ReplyDeleteThat's very cool about the food bank! What a wonderful thing to do!
Vicki, I'll bet the deer love some of your gorgeous landscaping plants! A part of me likes seeing them--especially in the spring--and the other part is pure predator/prey relationship!
Kat, I can't believe you "shot" one right there near PHHS!!! Unbelievable! That's not "the fringes."
And Thomas, on Old Otter Holler blog--great piece of analysis! Where is the "sensible" approach to game management here???
Thanks all!
Elora