Rant against deer

Grrrrrr...

I just have to vent.
Our neighbors are away for a quick vay-cay. They have a young peach tree still in a pot that they have not decided where to put in the ground. So they gave it to us for the week to keep watered.
It had 4 lovely peaches growing on it. Two were nearly ripe. Ohhhh....every day, I'd water that tree and gaze at those young peaches, filling out...looking oh-so-lovely. That's one of my summer faves - a juicy fresh peach.
This morning.....as we left for work, I checked on their progress.

GONE!!! :eek: :eek:

All four - even the green ones! Leaves surrounding them, nipped away!!
It was those dam deer!!! A peach pit lay on the ground, adding insult to injury.

Ooooohhhh....I hate those peach eating yard rats. When we first moved in...I thought they were so charming. Cute doey eyes. Fuzzy muzzles. A little bit of nature in our own back yard. But they are evil.
WHY, WHY, WHY can't those stupid deer eat the weeds (lord knows we have PLENTY of those!! :rolleyes: )? Why do they eat my neighbor's peaches????
Aaarrrrgggghhhhhh!!!!!!

Okay. Rant over.

Very cute, those pesky deer, but also very destructive! It's amazing what they can mow down in one night. I wish they would munch on my lawn instead of the fruits and flowers. Heaven knows I need help with the mowing. But my rose bushes would really love it if they could be allowed to bloom just once this summer!

We've always had deer here, but the population is booming! This area has had about the same human population for years, so I don't think the deer are being driven out of their homelands by new development. They just have a very high birth rate. I don't mind them so much...until they eat my favorite flowers or jump in front of my car (or worse yet, my bike!).

I'm very sorry about your peaches :(

Sorry about the peaches :(

Yes, they are beautiful animals, graceful, powerful, awwwwww cute little fawn twins, powerful bucks with horns, each doe eyed beast an essential part of natures plan and the enviornment, delicious as grilled chops or roast but oooooooh so hard to garden around. :p

Where I grew up we had plenty of deer.

At first my parents tried to garden around them, find things they don't like, roses :: gulp ::: lemons with thorns :::: burp ::: quince that even people can't eat without tons of sugar :::urp::

Individual fences around plants or sections they gracefully leaped, they scoffed at mountain lion dung, they laughed at our dog...well, you would laugh at a Welsh Terrier too if you were a deer .... you name it we tried it.

When the hills above got brown and they were driven down the hill to get water they eat anything, when they hills above are green they eat your best plants.

Eventually a solution, 12 foot high redwood fence and gate :cool: and the garden flourished :p :D :)

And then what to do about gophers from below? ;-)

Deer do what deer do.
DOH!

The deer ate my tomato plants, all of them.:mad: :mad:

They like to sleep in the mulch pile right outside of my front door.

I do like venison however.

Your're running a Sandals for deer. Fresh food, fine soft bed, whats not to like?

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Originally Posted by zencentury

Your're running a Sandals for deer. Fresh food, fine soft bed, whats not to like?

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Next I'll be out there serving them drinks and giving them a massage.

Don't work too hard for them, notorious bad tippers

they may not leave money but they do leave me a lot of what looks to be chocolate covered almonds.:eek: :eek:

With the endlessly expanding Washington Metro Area, the deer and other wildlife are being invaded from their habitats. I'm sorry, but I feel bad for the animals. It really bothers me, the way this area has changed in the 20 years that I've lived here.

I do feel sorry for the critters (sometimes).
We live in a 40+ year old house alongside the Rachel Carson Greenway - paradise for deer. At one point, we counted a herd of 12 in our backyard. That kind of density is incredible.

And don't even get me started on the gopher/woodchuck!!!
I was amazed when that tubby little varmint squeezed through the end of a chainlink fence - a space about 2.5" wide! And this guy was a fatty!

Fortunately, I'll likely just get a sympathetic nod or a resigned shrug from my neighbor when I tell him of the lost peaches.

We have so many deer here that at least once a week some deer suddenly leaps out of the bushes and crosses us right in front of our bikes at 30mph or so. One day I suspect we'll have a collision and someone will be hurt. :(

Hey Regina--Believe me, I know you aren't one of the mcmansion/infill tacky home types. :D If you were, you wouldn't be posting here or be out on your bike. Instead, you'd be driving your Lexus SUV or Chevy Suburban to the day spa. LOL.
We have a lot of foxes, raccoon, and possums in our neighborhood. No deer, but I've seen a lot of them in the W&OD corridor along Rte. 66 (Arlington & Falls Church) and in Arlington, north of Lee Hwy. Something, oddly enough, ate our sunflower. It hadn't yet become a flower, though. All that's left is the stalk & leaves. My husband thinks a squirrel must have climbed up and nabbed it.

My garden, too, is being decimated by deer this year. I live in suburbia, and one wouldn't expect quite so many of the critters in my yard. This week though, we looked out to see this young fawn and its mother - they'll likely eat the only apple off my apple tree in addition to all of the flowers... Hard to be angry with something so cute though.

SheFly

SheFly...
Look at those eyes. You can TELL that little thing is just plotting against your garden! :p :cool:
"Hmmmm...", it's thinking. "Is that camera good to eat?"

LisaSH....when I was comparing that Trek Madone 5.2 vs my Seven (see Bikes forum), I was doing ~2 mile laps through my neighborhood. I came bombing down this one hill on the Trek, and a deer (one of 3 in my neighbor's front yard that I had been keeping an eye on) ran out in front of me. I missed it by about 2 feet! I would have had a hard time explaining that one away to the LBS owner if I totalled his brand new Madone on a deer! :eek:

And, VB....something has been chomping on the Sedum (sp?). When it was by the garage...untouched. But we split it and moved a hunk to the perennial garden. Now it's dinner time!

They ate 37 azalea (sp) bushes in our yard in one night. Down to the sticks.....cute....I think not.

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Originally Posted by rocknrollgirl

They ate 37 azalea (sp) bushes in our yard in one night. Down to the sticks.....cute....I think not.

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I broke down and got some Deer Off to spray on our azaleas, euonymous, day lillies, tulips, sedum, hosta, and all the other deer candy in our yard. Seems to work great. Didn't think they would eat peaches off a tree, so I didn't spray it (I think this stuff is rated safe for food crops).

Hopefully, the azaleas will rebound and flower next spring.

I grow broccolli and cauliflower stubs every year myself. If you don't want to put in a high fence, try this http://www.contech-inc.com/products/scarecrow/.
Click on the demos. Someone at work recommended this to me - I haven't tried it personally yet but I'm going to get one for next year.

We have a terrible deer problem, also. I live in suburbia, but it's sort of "woodsy/rural" suburbia. We share our driveway with one other house and they have a veg. garden surrounded by a fence. The deer still get in there. They are eating some of our new plants and shrubs as we are rehabilitating the landscaping in our house that was neglected for 20 years by previous owners. I have had deer jump over me as I was descending down my street at almost 30 mph; a very scary situation. About a month ago, a deer hit my husband's car (a Lexus SUV btw, we are not all evil) as he was on his way to the airport at 5:30 AM. This was on Lowell Rd., near the Concord River, for you NE people. Two deer crossed in front of him and then the third one darted out a few seconds later. We are still dealing with the fallout from that accident, as the body shop has done a terrible job of repairing the damage. But, they did say that if it had been a small car, it most likely would have been really bad damage. So, while the deer look cute, they are a nuisance. Oh, and we also have a flock of turkeys that live in my neighborhood. They do not move very fast and I have had them stroll across the street in front of me, while riding. The first time I saw them, I had no idea what they were at first, because they are so ugly.

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Originally Posted by Regina

I broke down and got some Deer Off to spray on our azaleas, euonymous, day lillies, tulips, sedum, hosta, and all the other deer candy in our yard. Seems to work great. Didn't think they would eat peaches off a tree, so I didn't spray it (I think this stuff is rated safe for food crops).

Hopefully, the azaleas will rebound and flower next spring.

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I used some of this as well. Problem is, that when it rains, I need to respray, and I sometimes forget...

My B-I-L is a barber - apparently human hair will keep them away. He saves it for people who come into the barbershop for that very purpose.

Robyn - sorry to hear about your hubby's deer encounter, and so close to home :( .

SheFly

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Originally Posted by SheFly

I used some of this as well. Problem is, that when it rains, I need to respray, and I sometimes forget...

My B-I-L is a barber - apparently human hair will keep them away. He saves it for people who come into the barbershop for that very purpose.

Robyn - sorry to hear about your hubby's deer encounter, and so close to home :( .

SheFly

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I tried hair. I think the deer ate it! :rolleyes:
I've found the Deer Off lasts through one or two light rains. 3 weeks without rain (like, um, now!) :( . It also seems to last longer than my homemade conconction of Tabasco, garlic, dish soap, and Hing (a really nasty smelling Indian herb in powder form that my neighbor recommended).

One somewhat related response, one cycling story involving deer ...

A landscaper we spoke to said the best way to deter the deer is the "mark" the territory yourself. He suggested my husband slip out after dark and relieve himself around the perimeter of the flower bed. :) Okay, maybe not the best way to make friends with neighbors, but we got a laugh as we considered the idea.

As for me, I love the flora and the fauna, but I love the fauna more. (Which shows that I'm not much of a gardener.) I've said I wouldn't mind the deer eating my hostas if they'd at least come do it when I'm awake so I can enjoy watching them. I don't mind the squirrels at my bird feeders. I do HATE moles, however.

Now for a deer/cycling experience which was charming, but could have been otherwise. On Sunday I was out riding with a couple of friends. I noticed the friend out front point off to the left; I looked and saw a beautiful young deer bounding through a field toward the road. As it got closer I could see it was just a fawn, not tiny, but still small. It ran between my two friends ... and then started following my friend out front. It just ran behind her ... then veered off to the right ... then came back to follow her again ... then off to the left of the road ... then back to follow again ... eventually it did take off. We think it must have been very confused and thought my friend was its mother. It was quite an experience. Of course, I was worried about the poor thing, thinking it may have lost its mother permanently. Of course, there was potential for all kinds of damage (there were cars passing more than once during this experience). But as it was, my friend who was followed said it was a far more spiritual experience than she would have had if she'd gone to church that morning.

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A landscaper we spoke to said the best way to deter the deer is the "mark" the territory yourself. He suggested my husband slip out after dark and relieve himself around the perimeter of the flower bed. Okay, maybe not the best way to make friends with neighbors, but we got a laugh as we considered the idea.

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ahh! So that explains why we never see deer in our garden......not only were there no deer....the lawn had a patch of incredibly lush dense bright green grass....the result of man communing with nature in the middle of the night...

I don't have deer/cycling story....but will a moose/orienteering story do? I was at an orienteering race with my dad (running through the woods with map and compass trying to find little flags). Suddenly I came upon a huge moose just munching away. He didn't seem to mind me being there, so I stayed down wind and followed along for probably half an hour just watching this beautiful animal. When I next looked at the map, I had no idea where I was. So I hiked up to a high point, saw which direction the fjord was in and headed that way. I figured I'd get to the road one way or another. I did and eventually got back to the starting/finishing point. I didn't find any of the little flags that day, but had a fantastic race!

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Originally Posted by uk elephant

I don't have deer/cycling story....but will a moose/orienteering story do?

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Sure. We don't discriminate against cervids! ;)

K...How about Roo stories?

RoadRaven or KiwiGirl-any Kea stories?

C